Entries by Jeffrey Ian Ross

The Never-Ending Demonization of the American Inner City

This past week, Trump proposed an executive order aimed at increasing sentences for violent crimes (especially gun-related), quality-of-life offenses (e.g., public urination),  the clearing of homeless encampments, and the removal of graffiti from national monuments in the District of Columbia. Notwithstanding whether Trump has the legal authority to impose these sanctions, over the past century, […]

Tracing the History of Documenting and Sharing Images of Graffiti & Street Art

The documentation and dissemination of images of contemporary graffiti and street art have been integral to its existence and development. Meanwhile, how people have shared images of this material has evolved. Much of this shift parallels advances in photographic, computer, digital, and web-based technology and the culture’s response to these developments. While practitioners and audiences […]

No Soul in the New Hotel?

I’ve stayed in everything from budget hostels to luxury hotels—and, most recently, so-called smart hotels. With this last type of accommodation most interactions with the hotel and the room are either automated, and/or customers can do this through their smartphone or computer.  Guests are usually given a code to check in and out and to […]

Seven Popular Myths About Contemporary Street Culture

Street culture has received considerable attention in the popular press, on social media, and increasingly in scholarly circles. One of the things where less attention is spent is on a reasonably acceptable definition. In short, Street Culture can be defined as “the beliefs, dispositions, ideologies, informal rules, practices, styles, symbols, and values associated with, adopted […]

Stairwells Are More Than Passageways

The built environment has numerous underappreciated liminal spaces, and stairwells are among them. If we examine these structures more closely, we notice many types. They vary based on their placement in a building (e.g., internal versus external), how many sides are surrounded by walls (e.g., open versus closed), their design (e.g., monumental, spiral, split scissors, […]