From graffiti to murals and back again: Philadelphia’s spectacular streetscape

Abstract

Philadelphia’s contemporary streetscape is remarkably varied and colorful with thousands of municipal murals and extensive graffiti competing for attention on city walls. It is the result of a longstanding contestation between a vigorous tradition of transgressive street art and an ambitious municipal program aimed at controlling urban visual space by means of officially approved and sponsored public art. Philadelphia’s role as a center of graffiti innovation is discussed as are the city’s Anti-Graffiti Network and Mural Arts Program which aim to control graffiti by means of civic murals. Other efforts to beautify neighborhoods by means of public art as well as newer forms of illicit street art such as poster and stencil graffiti contributing to the graphic embellishment of public space are discussed.

Keywords

• Streetscape
• public art
• graffiti