Literary cities and creative public spaces: an analysis of street poetry in Latin America and Europe

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of street poetry (as a graffiti-like expression) in Latin America and Europe. My main objective is to discuss how this form of poetic intervention in public spaces builds dialogue with the city’s inhabitants, in other words, how it acts as a tool to encourage reflections within urban spaces towards the constitution of new shared public spaces. Thus, this analysis is divided into three parts: (i) relationships generated in the city and its inhabitants in reference to street poetry; (ii) the place of ‘artivism’ (the conjunction of street art and political-social activism) as a poetic expression in public spaces; and (iii) the role of social networks as channels for the dissemination and promotion of street art, in this case, a poetic assault. Finally, a qualitative methodology based on a set of interviews and on work with secondary sources (visual documents) was used for the analysis. Hence, I used photographs of street poetry taken in Latin America (Buenos Aires, Lima, and Montevideo) and in Europe (Barcelona, Berlin, Florence, and Porto).