Perhaps, a reason why Philadelphia stands out among other large metropolitan American cities is may be due to its bright color-filled and vibrant neighborhoods. It is a common understanding that the seeds of graffiti were originally rooted in Philadelphia since the city houses more murals than any other American city. Initially during its germinating stages, street graffiti was a major concern for the city since street gangs used as their weapon to mark their territory, and certain political factions sought it as a medium to broadcast propaganda to the public with minimum cost involvement. The presence of these intimidating graffiti only helped to convey to the public the presence of anarchy in the area. Graffiti at times contains writings or signs that may not signify any particular meaning to every individual and thus, was seen as an act of vandalism that degraded the value of a particular place.
The word "graffiti" connotes to art which is defined as expression or application of creative skill and imagination which is considered to be vandalism to many. However, it involves many ingenious minds that work together to express their perspective by painting on concrete walls and add color to blank spaces in the city. The art is a communication tool to graffiti artists to speak their perspectives on many prevalent issues that concerns ordinary individuals. The City of Philadelphia decided to take initiative to address this issue through a positive manner by introducing the Mural Arts Program which aimed to eradicate graffiti vandalism yet diverted their artistic abilities to create murals which spoke its own artistic beauty to its audience. Mural art is considered to be a public affair that intended to address prevailing issues such as ethnic history, cultural pride, usage of drugs, religious issues, and women's right. The Philadelphia Mural Arts Program gifted the impoverishing neighborhoods with projects that played a fundamental role in uniting to rebuild the area through art.
