The full field investigation of graffiti was conducted in Chikusa-ward in the city of Nagoya, and has revealed the following results.
・ Graffiti can be classified into five categories as follows: (in descending order of points): Tagging(Type-C), Graffiti(Type-B), Seal(Type-E), miscellaneous(Type-D). Artistic-type Graffiti(Type-A) was found the least, which accounts for 4% of total.
・ Wall surfaces and urban objects, which holds a certain amount of surface areas, tends to be chosen as a base/background of graffiti. The type of graffiti is relevant to the characteristic of surface types. Especially, the artistic type of graffiti can be found the most on the large wall surfaces.
・ Graffiti is likely to be found at commercial-use districts with business activities, where it is highly visible to draw people’s attention. In residential-use districts, where people hold a high attention toward their local safety, graffiti tends to be removed.
・ Type of Graffiti is linked to the street widths. Most graffiti are found along the wide heavy-traffic streets, to draw people’s attention. The artistic-type graffiti, in particular, is located along the wide streets in order to capture their eyes.
・ The number of graffiti, located on the sidewalk with the pedestrian-oriented view, and the street with car-oriented view, is almost the same. This result bears out that the purpose of graffiti conduct is not limited to show off to a specific viewer, but is more likely to attract people’s attention in general.
・ Graffiti is deeply associated with the shape of the surface to be drawn. Majority of graffiti is drawn on the flat and/or outer-corner surfaces, whereas the inner-corner is likely to be avoided, due to the less visibility. Especially the artistic type of graffiti is found on the flat and/or outside-corner of spaces, which accounts for about 80%.
・ The most relevant factor, which relates to the type of graffiti, was proved to be the shape of the surfaces, in connection to the visibility. It also revealed that the type of graffiti is associated with the local attributes and the characteristic of urban spaces.
As can be seen, the detailed analysis of graffiti, following the full investigation and documentation, enabled us to grasp the main purpose of graffiti conduct, in relation to the spatial characteristics. The close observation suggests that, it could be a possible planning approach in an early phase, to incorporate some uneven surfaces in the urban areas with high visibility, and/or try to maintain a certain distance physically, to reduce the high risk of graffiti.
In addition, as a countermeasure for the tagging and seal types, it would be effective to try to avoid, from a planning phase of design, an inner corner with low visibility. Taking into consideration the characteristics of graffiti types and putting a deal of thought into the planning, would lead to reduce the risk of graffiti in order to create a safe city environment.
