- Understanding Graffiti in the built Environment:The case in Ankara, Turkey    311 kb by    Günes, Serkan & Yýlmaz, Gülsen | sgunes@arch.metu.edu.tr    Short Outline This study focuses on analyzing graffiti as an alternative way of communication between city-dwellers in historical and message content context by examining Ankara and New York cases. Abstract ABSTRACT City, as it covers different social classes, serves as a medium for communication and integration. City-dwellers use the city for communication for their socialization processes. However, this process does not serve equal opportunity for some clusters so graffiti becomes an alternative medium for communication and expression. An analysis of graffiti on the built environment can serve as an excellent tool in understanding behavior, attitudes and social processes of certain segments of society and their communication. There are two common but opposing stances on graffiti. The first is more widespread: the belief that graffiti is a nuisance and an act of vandalism against public and private property owners. The second view graffiti as more than scribbles on a wall. It is claimed that some forms of graffiti as public art, and that the form of expression portrayed in this illegal form of writing has merit. In this context, the aim of this study is to find out complexity and the relationships between the design of the built environment and graffiti. Firstly, the literature review will be conducted, then the cross analysis between New York and Ankara will be handled according to the local dynamics which are embedded in space and graffiti characteristics as style and type of expression by graphic analysis of the artifacts. Keywords: Graffiti, Urban Street Culture, Culture, Ankara, New York Keywords Graffiti, Urban Street Culture, Culture, Ankara, New York Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2006: Cities between Integration and Disintegration   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper