Street art tours and the brand of creative cities

What is it about?

This article is a critique of the street art tours industry in London, and its role in turning street art into a brand for London creativity. The article examines the content and material on several London street art walking tours, and suggests that tours contribute to gentrification and displacement in the capital, as they promote a generic, international, mural-based type of street art.

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Why is it important?

This is the first comprehensive analysis of the content and mechanics of street art walking tours. Based on ethnographic observations, maps and interviews, it provides a critical approach to their role in establishing the creative city paradigm, which I argue is problematic and damaging to independent, local creative production. The article could be of interest to urban studies scholars, geographers, sociologists, researchers looking at graffiti and street art, but also fields such as tourism studies and visual culture. Moreover, the methods and analytical tools could be used to create similar research projects in other parts of the world, to better understand the role of institutionally-enabled street art in shaping urban environments.

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