The National Opera of Greece receives 20 million euro grant
It will give great impetus to the international presence of the hall
This urban phenomenon is so widespread that it requires proper and dedicated attention
A couple of months ago, the Madrid Municipal Police launched its Urban Heritage Protection Section (SEPROPUR), which is a task force with the mission to investigate and solve illegal graffiti crime and hopefully reduce its presence in the urban environment.
The unit, which will consist of 39 agents, will work in conjunction with the Urban Planning, Environment and Mobility Area of the City of Madrid and with the Environmental Prosecutor's Office. The police officers will work in shifts in order to provide 24-hour coverage and protection for the urban architectural heritage.
The anti-graffiti municipal police officers are in charge of carrying out actions based on the diagnosis of the situation and preparing risk maps of the affected public spaces of the city, as well as photographically documenting the graffiti.
They carry out an analysis of the damage and identify its authors as best as possible. Subsequently, and in collaboration with municipal cleaning services, they will restore the damaged area.
The identification part is interesting because SEPROPUR will go around the city photographing the illegal street art and create a database of it so they can identify common patterns, both in terms of areas, that attract graffiti artists and the specific authorship behind the mural paintings and tags.
Even if the works are mostly anonymous, they still demonstrate the specific style and signatures of their authors.
The latter are revealed by calligraphic expertise “so that through the study of graphology they are quite easy to trace, and we can be certain that it is the artist’s signature,” explains Marisa Robles, commissioner of the Madrid Environment and Heritage Commission.
She added that the city will focus mostly on the vandalism aspect of graffiti and tagging, rather than the works of established street artists who have a mission to express protest about social injustices. The differentiation is not always easy to make, though.
In 2023, the cleaning of graffiti in Madrid covered more than 560,000 square meters of urban space, 70% more than in 2022.
Silesian is spoken by about half a million people in the south of the country
Legislators and magnates have to await a preliminary ruling from the European Court of Justice
The building will then serve as the site for a new museum dedicated to Finnish-Russian relations
The tool helps identify undeclared swimming pools and garden sheds
It will serve as a virtual companion to the municipal network of libraries in the country
In addition, the federal government has launched the National Week of Action against Bicycle Theft to raise awareness of the issue and the new solution
The city thinks that it’s time to update pet-related street cleanliness rules for the 21st century
Experimenting with public transport provision in Germany is clearly in a state of creative fervour
Legislators and magnates have to await a preliminary ruling from the European Court of Justice
Silesian is spoken by about half a million people in the south of the country
The benefit will last until the Dutch parliament adopts the transgender law
Experimenting with public transport provision in Germany is clearly in a state of creative fervour
Urban dwellers across the EU are having a say in making their surroundings friendlier to people and the environment.
Forests in the EU can help green the European construction industry and bolster a continent-wide push for architectural improvements.
Apply by 10 November and do your part for the transformation of European public spaces
Catch up with some recommendations for the 2024 European Capital of Culture programme from the mayor of Tartu
An interview with the ICLEI regional director for Europe аfter the close of COP28
An interview with a member of the No Hate Speech Network team