Re-styling en Bescherming van In- & Exterieur TAGS 2009 Graffiti in The Netherlands

Re-styling en Bescherming van In- & Exterieur

TAGS 2009

Graffiti in The Netherlands


Short introduction• Personal• Professional background

– Employers (US, Swedish, Dutch)– Geographical (worldwide)– Experience (B2B, adhesives, plastics, commercial

graphics, electronics related)

• Owner Fleetshield– Anti graffiti films, removers, coating – Project management– Consulting– Graffiti Proof Graphics


Markets • Rail / Public Transport (original market)• Public areas• Facility Management• Airport

But enough of this…


For those of you who think The Netherlands is just about legalised soft drugs…….check out this…….


?


Yes we’ve got graffiti too!


HISTORY

1978 first graffiti in Amsterdam (Punk Wave) 1980 hip hop scene starts to experimentStart up of USA (United Street Artists)

serious graffiti attack against the city1987 Commerce discovers graffiti too

Largest Dutch retail/wholesaler releases graffiti contest


HISTORY

1990 dramatic turningpoint – massive “ bombing” of Amsterdam metro’s Amsterdam metro desides to a full stop on graffiti cleaning for environmental reasons result – explosive growth in graffiti bombing, making Amsterdam metro a sacret place to be for European graffiti ‘ artists”

By the way…..this was a typical example of Dutch decision making.




And even today…….


GRAFIITI IN THE NETHERLANDS

variety in background vandals majority between age 12 – 18 years wide variety in background why? Bored, adrenaline, protest, respect, no specific reason, easy availability of spray paints, creating self esteem etc

the variety in back ground doesn’t make it easy to aim law enforcement programs on specific groups depending on control or adequate security it in- or decreases


Translated: Prohibited to apply graffiti


AMSTERDAM EXAMPLES

Yearly average cost graffiti removal > $ CND > 1,5 mill(e.g. for Dutch Rail cost adds upto $ CND >15 mill)

Law enforcement of graffiti violations is complicated because of: low police priority (understaffed) jungle of regulations make successful prosecution difficult

old structural approach could not bring clarity in ROI a new approach was implemented……


AMSTERDAM NEW APPROACH

1. Quick removal of graffiti2. Immediate transparency for all parties of related cost 3. Registration of graffiti for quick status evaluation4. Security/ cameras at risk areas for continuous monitoring5. Choice of penalty or removal activity for offenders (HALT program)6. Create legal public graffiti spaces• Total graffiti vandalism reduced by almost 50% after strict enforcement of above measures• But after a while – strict enforcement decreased and up again went graffiti


GRAFFITI IN POLITICS & SOCIETY

• Graffiti is on almost each city council agenda • Each city council develops its own policy• On average the policy consists of:

• creating yearly budget ($ 70 k to > 300 k) for removal• only once a year physical check of risk areas – worst case: object with graffiti is not cleaned for >11 months• graffiti is accepted as part of society aspect

• in other words: we tolerate it, create projects to reduce it but often fail to report/ enforce/ evaluate it• result: nobody cleans up the mess

• Penalties are sometimes even opposite to other laws making enforcement impossible


MUCH HAS BEEN SAID AND DONE

study’s on vandalism responsability study’s on causes and perpetrators study’s on social behaviour and crime study’s on ‘ The Broken Window Effect’ etc... however, the problem remains


AND MANY MAKE A LIVING

But how strange it may sound… We care, try to reduce the effects, decrease maintenance cost and combine prevention with restyling

In case of Amsterdam metro: graffiti removal time (and therefore cost) has dropped with 60-75%


Did you know that:• One of the first known graffiti/ vandalism acts are those out of

anger and fear by an Egyptian priest in 2000 BC• Graffiti (graffito) is an Italian word for scratching, scrawled,

painted or marked writing in walls etc. • City of Rome has a cleaning squad of 16 people working in

shifts 24 hrs a day (estimation of 3,500 taggers in Rome)– The city has now set aside 6 miles of walls for legal graffiti activity

• Average age of Eastern European taggers is higher than Western Europe

• Resistance groups during WW II used graffiti to express their opposition against the German aggressor

• The Berlin Wall graffiti which was initially tolerated spread out in the city after the wall came down.


Nee, Graffiti ProofGraphics

‘ Beautifoil Holland ’ ‘ Beautifoil Holland ’


Thank you !

Documents

Re-styling en Bescherming van In- & Exterieur TAGS 2009 Graffiti in The Netherlands