Graffiti is a growing problem in the largest cities but some politicians believe street art is okay

Copenhagen City Council’s graffiti-fighting unit has been a failure according to new figures, reports Politiken newspaper.

In just five years, instances of graffiti covering the walls, trains and other property in Copenhagen have nearly tripled, going from 5586 to 14,017.

Rail service DSB has been an especially open target for taggers, where the bill for removing unwanted paint from cars will run to about 18 million kroner this year, according to the company.

The city of Århus has also been fighting a losing battle against graffiti, with the amount of it increasing by 25 percent in five years.

But some politicians don’t believe graffiti is such a huge problem. Unsightly ‘tags’ are a plague, while ‘street art’ is something altogether different, say two prominent city councillors.

‘To me there’s a big difference between putting idiotic tags on a wall that a housing association has just painted and making a true artistic statement,’ said Klaus Bondam, head of the city’s technical and environmental department.

‘I think street art can be interesting and even be something that can create a new perspective on a place or object in the city.’

Pia Allerslev, head of the city’s cultural department, agreed.

‘The more innocent depictions that can make you smile and don’t destroy the public domain are okay,’ she said.

Both she and Bondam stressed, however, that graffiti which defaced public or private property was unacceptable.