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:: Saturday, November 22, 2008 ::

Postcode Wars

BS7 Brap Brap
Originally uploaded by gusset.

Horfield Garage BS7
Originally uploaded by gusset.

These two shots were taken just around the corner from my house this morning. They've been there a year but I was motivated to capture them when I read on the following on Bldg Blog last month:

"Researchers at the University of Glasgow, sponsored by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, have spent the past two years asking young residents of Bradford, Peterborough, London, Glasgow, Sunderland, and Bristol to draw maps of their own individual urban experience in order to explore micro-territoriality as both a cause and a symptom of social exclusion. You can read the full PDF of their report here." [6MB PDF]

"Their research uncovered Bristol’s “postcode wars,” where gangs spray-paint their postcode in rival areas as a form of aggression". (Although these examples were actually in BS7 so don't really count. You'll notice a BS2 sneaks into one of them.)

I've seen things like this around plenty before but had no idea they were a local phenomenon. I'm going to see how many postcode zones I can collect. I've started a Postcode Wars Flickr group so others can contribute too.
Labels: Bristol, graffiti, Maps

:: Dan 22.11.08 [Arc] [2 comments] ::
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