Melbourne is full of framed bill posters and is arguably the best poster city in the world. How do these street posters work, how are they regulated? And what contributions do they make to the visual character of the city, alongside graffiti and other signage?

Chris Parkinson and I interviewed the four big poster companies in Melbourne to understand how they occupy surfaces.

Andron, S., & Parkinson, C. (2025). Power, Paper, and Profit: Street Posters and the Making of Urban Visual Culture. Space and Culture, 29(1), 4-22.

Graffiti removal isn’t the enemy of art. It’s part of a vibrant dialogue on life in the big city

Graffiti removal is the practice of removing, erasing or obliterating unauthorised displays from publicly visible urban surfaces.

Andron, S (Feb 5 2025) “Graffiti removal isn’t the enemy of art. It’s part of a vibrant dialogue on life in the big city”, The Conversation

Images shape cities, but who decides which ones survive? It’s a matter of visual justice

Our city buildings are covered with posters, signs, art and graffiti. Their creators’ tools are images: profitable, seductive, confronting, removed.

Andron, S and Lata, L (Jan 29 2024) “Images shape cites, but who decides which ones survive? It’s a matter of visual justice”, The Conversation

Public posters and the visual justice of erasure

An argument for the visual justice of defacing street posters.

Andron S, (2024) ‘Public posters and the visual justice of erasure’, The Architectural Historian, Issue 18.

Out late and dirty: curfews and the covid city

There is no public life without disorder. An essay about the loss of right to disorder in public life during covid lockdowns.

Andron, S (2021) “Out late and dirty: curfews and the covid city”, in Espacio Fronterizo/ Borderland Journal, published online March 2021.

To mend the matter, to cultivate sympathy: On vulnerable walls and expressive surfaces

A praise to impermanence, to the vulnerable building, to changes in stone.

Andron, S (2020) “To Mend the Matter, to Cultivate Sympathy: On Vulnerable Walls and Expressive Surfaces”, in Informa Journal of the University of Puerto Rico School of Architecture, no.12, pp. 23-31.

Selling streetness as experience: the role of street art tours in branding the creative city

My most cited academic paper to date on the entanglements of street art and neoliberal creativity.

Andron, S (2018) “Selling Streetness as Experience. The Role of Street Art Tours in Branding the Creative City”, in Sociological Review, Vol 66, Issue 5, pp. 1036-1057

Spatial politics and the right to the surface

Urban ownership regimes and the politics of spatial production are closely related to the question of the right to the city. In thinking about what, and where, the right to the city is, I suggest in this essay that the right to the city might be (in) the surface.

Andron, S (2018) “To Occupy, to Inscribe, to Thicken: Spatial Politics and the Right to the Surface”, in Brighenti, A. M. and Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos, A., “Surfaces and Materials”, Lo Squaderno 48, pp. 7-11

Book forum: Urban Surfaces, Graffiti, and the Right to the City

A discussion with Julia Tulke, Hearther Shirey and Katelyn Kelly about my book in Nuart Journal 🔥

Andron, S., Kelly, K., Shirey, H., Tulke, J. (2024). ‘Book forum: Urban surfaces, graffiti, and the right to the city’. Nuart Journal Vol 4 (2)

Urban Surfaces Research Network Vol 1

Booklet 1/9 intends to inform research, practice, and public discussions on the role of surfaces in urban environments.

USRN Vol 1 contributors: Sabina Andron, Katya Assaf & Tim Schnetgöke, Konstantinos Avramidis, Peter Bengtsen, Andrea Mubi Brighenti, Maria Chatzidakis, Anne Cronin, Eduardo de la Fuente, Kurt Iveson, David Pontille, and Tom Ward.

Andron, S., Avramidis, K., Ward, T. (2024). ‘Urban Surfaces Research Network Vol. 1’. Melbourne Centre for Cities, University of Melbourne.

Urban Surfaces Research Network Vol 2

Booklet 2/9 intends to inform research, practice, and public discussions on the role of surfaces in urban environments.

USRN Vol 2 contributors: Sneha Annavarapu, Anneke Coppoolse, Jacob Kimvall, Panos Leventis, Susanna Newbury, Cristián Simonetti, Myrto Tsilimpounidi, Julia Tulke, and Gerda Wielander.

Andron, S., Avramidis, K., Ward, T. (2024). ‘Urban Surfaces Research Network Vol. 2’. Melbourne Centre for Cities, University of Melbourne.

Urban Surfaces Research Network Vol 3

Booklet 3/9 intends to inform research, practice, and public discussions on the role of surfaces in urban environments.

USRN Vol 3 contributors: Cecilia Brazioli, Lucy Finchett-Maddock, Mia Gaia Trentin, Alex Hale, Ingrid Halland, Adam Hudec, Tim Ingold, Simon Marvin, Liz Oakley-Brown, Chris Parkinson, Rafael Schacter, and Sprya Sharma.

Andron, S., Avramidis, K., Ward, T. (2024). ‘Urban Surfaces Research Network Vol. 3’. Melbourne Centre for Cities, University of Melbourne.

Urban Surfaces Research Network Vol 4

Booklet 4/9 intends to inform research, practice, and public discussions on the role of surfaces in urban environments.

USRN Vol 4 contributors: Elijah Agwaru Anomet, Natalie Bauer, Taylor Coyne, Tom Critchley, Megan Hicks, Joumana Ibrahim, Christoph Lueder, Nian Paul, Lorenzo “SERRAGLIA” Servi, Pierre-Édouard Weill.

Andron, S., Avramidis, K., Ward, T. (2025). ‘Urban Surfaces Research Network Vol. 4’. Melbourne Centre for Cities, University of Melbourne.

Urban Surfaces Research Network Vol 5

Booklet 5/9 intends to inform research, practice, and public discussions on the role of surfaces in urban environments.

USRN Vol 5 contributors: Chris Boyko, Ruth Dalton & Kevin Muldoon-Smith, Adrian Burnham, Susan Hansen, Dan Johnston, Miti Kinaawola, Friederike Landau-Donnelly, Diana-Raisa Lolici, Richard Müller, Jazoo Yang, Dina Yunis, and Yufeng Zhao.

Andron, S., Avramidis, K., Ward, T. (2025). ‘Urban Surfaces Research Network Vol. 5’. Melbourne Centre for Cities, University of Melbourne.

Urban Surfaces Research Network Vol 6

Booklet 6/9 intends to inform research, practice, and public discussions on the role of surfaces in urban environments.

USRN Vol 6 contributors: Alison Barnes, Jane Elizabeth Bennett, Peta Carlin, Joanne Choueiri, Lucy Irvine, Ronald Kramer, Margarethe Kusenbach, Moral Masuoka, Petr Vašát, Iain White, and Erna Husukic & Emina Zejnilović.

Andron, S., Avramidis, K., Ward, T. (2025). ‘Urban Surfaces Research Network Vol. 6’. Melbourne Centre for Cities, University of Melbourne.

The Right to the City Is the Right to the Surface

An early version of my urban surfaces theory.

Andron, S (2018), “The Right to the City Is the Right to the Surface: A Case for a Surface Commons (in 8 Arguments, 34 Images and some Legal Provisions)”, in Brighenti, AM & Kärrholm, M (eds), Urban Walls. Political and Cultural Meanings of Vertical Structures and Surfaces, London: Routledge, pp. 191-214

Interviewing Walls: Towards a Method of Reading Hybrid Surface Inscriptions

The first exploration of my walls interview method.

Andron, S (2017) “Interviewing Walls: Towards a Method of Reading Hybrid Surface Inscriptions” in Avramidis, K. and Tsilimpounidi, M. (eds), Graffiti and Street Art: Reading, Writing and Representing the City, London: Routledge, pp. 87-104.

Paint. Buff. Shoot. Repeat. Re-photographing Graffiti in London

A methodological note on repeat photography of urban walls.

Andron, S (2016) “Paint. Buff. Shoot. Repeat. Re-photographing Graffiti in London”, in Campkin, B. and Duijzings, G. (eds), Engaged Urbanism. Cities and Methodologies, London: IB Tauris, pp. 138-144.