Business
One man’s mission to live in painted cities; how can street art transform both buildings and communities?Holding a PhD in Evolutionary Mathematics from Cambridge, Lee was a former break-dancer with the Soul Mavericks Crew where he represented the UK and he has travelled the world extensively documenting street art world-wide. In 2012, he co-founded Global Street Art with a mission to live in painted cities. This is achieved in three ways:Curating the world’s largest online street art platform with artists from over 100 countries and hundreds of thousands of photographs and over half a million followers on social media;Organising legal street art murals; having organised over 2,000 since 2012;Forming an agency that works on commercial projects.In this podcast:What is street art and how is it already shaping our cities?What role does art have in helping to create vibrant communities?How are brands helping to fund the growth of street art?How does street art retain authenticity as it enters a new, “legal” era?Is street art designed to challenge communities or represent them?Can we measure the impact of street art on a location?Lee’s favourite building is the Schindler House in West Holywood; an experiment in 1920’s social architecture and arguably an early forbear of the current trend of co-living. His hot pick for innovation in the sector is Gyana AI, focused on retail analytics. The recommended addition to the Building Our Future reading list is:Frans Johansson, The Medici Effect: what elephants and epidemics can teach us about innovationYou can find & follow Lee and Global Street Art on social media via Instagram or Twitter for further information.Image courtesy of Tony Briggs (http://www.tonybriggs.com/_photo_15181401.html)