Graffiti and Street Art Register is a policy recommendation initially made for the city of Sydney (McAuliffe, 2014) indicates that a site has permission to avoid being ‘buffed’. The minimal condition for inclusion on the register is an agreement between site/building owners and artists who would enter it. Once a site is included, graffiti removing teams will monitor and curate graffiti rather than remove and clean. This, however, is not an approval mechanism. The plan is to have a customer service system that aims to connect stakeholders and the people who own these sites and voice their concerns. If the complaints go over a threshold these agonistic practices will be guided through the council, through processes of community engagement, to a new body, which is the Graffiti & Street Art Advisory Panel. The register works as a passive protection - for example it provides protection from buffing.
This response action has the potential a) to reduce maintenance and cleaning costs for local authorities, b) to provide physical spaces that can be self managed and/or community managed, and c) to drive collaboration and engagement between various stakeholders.