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

Re-styling en Bescherming van In- & Exterieur 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

Re-styling en Bescherming van In- & Exterieur Markets Rail / Public Transport (original market) Public areas Facility Management Airport But enough of this…

Re-styling en Bescherming van In- & Exterieur For those of you who think The Netherlands is just about legalised soft drugs …….check out this…….

Re-styling en Bescherming van In- & Exterieur ?

Yes we’ve got graffiti too!

Re-styling en Bescherming van In- & Exterieur HISTORY  1978 first graffiti in Amsterdam (Punk Wave)  1980 hip hop scene starts to experiment  Start up of USA (United Street Artists)  serious graffiti attack against the city  1987 Commerce discovers graffiti too  Largest Dutch retail/wholesaler releases graffiti contest

Re-styling en Bescherming van In- & Exterieur 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.

Re-styling en Bescherming van In- & Exterieur

And even today…….

Re-styling en Bescherming van In- & Exterieur 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

Re-styling en Bescherming van In- & Exterieur Translated: Prohibited to apply graffiti

Re-styling en Bescherming van In- & Exterieur 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……

Re-styling en Bescherming van In- & Exterieur AMSTERDAM NEW APPROACH 1. Quick removal of graffiti 2. Immediate transparency for all parties of related cost 3. Registration of graffiti for quick status evaluation 4. Security/ cameras at risk areas for continuous monitoring 5. 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

Re-styling en Bescherming van In- & Exterieur 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

Re-styling en Bescherming van In- & Exterieur 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

Re-styling en Bescherming van In- & Exterieur 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%

Re-styling en Bescherming van In- & Exterieur 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.

Re-styling en Bescherming van In- & Exterieur Nee, Graffiti Proof Graphics ‘ Beautifoil Holland ’

Re-styling en Bescherming van In- & Exterieur Thank you !