Urban knowledge regime: Considerations about practices, cartographies and knowledge forged by São Paulo’s graffiti writers

Graffiti writers not only acquire skills and techniques for painting but also engage in a reading activity that allows them to perceive and understand the city in specific ways. Through this activity, they observe the rhythms of urban spaces, identify police presence, choose surfaces, recognize peers and interpret the messages conveyed on walls. Based on these observations, they create maps that dissent from conventional cartographies, incorporating epistemological, ethical, political and emotional layers. These maps serve as guides, recording memories, sharing stories and fostering relationships. Additionally, these maps indicate the existence of particular knowledge about urban spaces, derived from experiences in street painting and shared through narratives. In essence, the cartographies produced by graffiti writers challenge the dominant knowledge regime that seeks to define and impose specific ways of thinking, imagining and existing within cities. This article explores various dimensions of the knowledge regime shaped by writers from São Paulo, Brazil, drawing on ethnographic research conducted by the author since 2016 and 2021.