Sociology

Major cities in the world are the central places for both urbanization and civilization. This is because most of the factors that foster development are found in the major cities. However, there are some transgresive behaviours in these cities that create a bad picture of the same. In UK, such behaviours are evident in large cities like London, Manchester and others. This study shall therefore describe how such behaviours like homelessness and graffiti in the UK cities, particularly in London both disfigure and threaten its functioning.

The homeless people in the cities are those who do not have any place they have established to be their permanent dwelling place. This includes those who sleep in the streets due to lack of enough finances to rent houses. Some of the homeless people are forced out of their own house after their failure to pay mortgage loans while others find themselves there due to lack of any employment to support their up keep. According to Bowcott (2009), the number of the homeless in UK has continued to increase and in the year 2009 it increased by 15.

Bowcott continues to note that those people suffering from mental health problems constitute about 85 of the total homeless people and also 85 of these people are drug users (2009). Further studies of the same reveal that these people either take drugs so as to cope with the hardships and due to that they develop mental health problems. There is still a possibility that these people do suffer from mental health problems and due to this they lose their jobs and end up in the streets. Whichever the case, homelessness has never been tolerated in any city. The government as well as other charitable organisations offer some support to these people so as to reduce the ever increasing number of these homeless people.

The law requires every person to have a well established dwelling place to ensure that law and order is maintained. This is the reason why it is illegal to be homeless. Every city is supposed to be well planed. For instance, residential houses and the business premises are supposed to be located in different places. Homeless people interfere with the arrangement of the city because they can occupy any place. They generally disfigure the city and interfere with its functioning especially where law and order is concerned. This is more so because the criminals also tend to stay in the same places.
Moreover, most of the homeless people also engage in the criminal acts in order to survive. Studies have revealed that most of these people have mental problems as a result of substance abuse. People who are mentally unstable do not only create a bad site but are also a security threat because they can easily engage in any unlawful acts. In fact, their in activities lead to transgressive performance which is law violation.

The homeless people do not usually have access to facilities like toilets and other sanitation facilities. They usually cause a lot of sanitation problems in the cities. It is therefore quite difficult to maintain the proper sanitation where there are a large numbers of homeless people. These people do not have access to clean water and thus they cannot afford to maintain their general cleanliness.

While there are people who are usually homeless with genuine reasons, others are homeless due to mismanagement of their finances. Others who actually do not want to work hard to earn a living may also find themselves in such situations. Under age persons who cannot get housing benefits also find themselves in the streets especially when they ran away from home (St Mungo, 2010). Nevertheless, the government and charity organisations work towards eradicating homelessness and therefore it is only under limited circumstances that a person is supposed to be homeless.

Homeless people may sleep at the back of business premises or on the verandas of such premises.  Since the owners would not allow them to, they usually occupy without anyones permission. Once a certain person or a certain family acquires such a place then it becomes their dwelling place and another homeless family cannot occupy such. Generally, the first group to access a certain place becomes the rightful owner of the place.

According to (Halifax Regional Municipality, 2006), graffiti is any form of writing, drawing or symbols applied to any surface without the prior permission of the owner. It can either be created using spray paint, engraving, using crayons or even permanent paint. Despite the fact that it can be found anywhere, some places like recreational facilities, post mail boxes, walls of public and also private buildings, in vehicles, play ground equipment among others are more prone to it.

Graffiti affects everyone including the citizens, organizations and also businesses. It is considered to be a criminal offence and also vandalism if it is placed in any facility whether private or public without the permission of the owner. In case where graffiti is not removed then the problem intensifies because such a site attracts more to be placed in the same place. This is because people conclude that may be it is not unlawful to put more in such places.

As any other transgressive act would, graffiti has serious impacts not only to the owners of the properties where it is placed, but also to all members of the citizens. Moreover, the impacts are not only social but also financial. Halifax Regional Municipality (2006)

 records that, financially the owners of the properties where graffiti is placed incur a lot of costs while cleaning and repainting their properties. Corby Borough council (2008) reports that, in London alone the cost due to graffiti is approximately 2.5m annually. Due to the fact that it ruins the outlook of a city, the investors and also the tourists are turned off. If the graffiti contains messages that may be targeting a certain group of people then such peoples feeling are often hurt by such messages.

As it has been recorded earlier in this study graffiti increases once the already existing graffiti is not removed. People who put graffiti in buildings and other places put more in areas where they find such. In cases where regular clean ups are not done, more and more graffiti accumulate leading to more destruction of property. Graffiti is an unlawful act because it is actually done without the permission of the owner of the property. The drawing and the writings sometimes contain hateful, offensive or unpleasant writings or paintings. Moreover, the fact that graffiti disfigures buildings and generally the city makes it unlawful. As the law does not allow such acts, it is usually done at night and that is the reason why very few graffiti artists are arrested (Graffiti News, n.d.). The same studies reveal that the only way to deal with graffiti is only to remove it within twenty four hours so as to prevent more to be put in the same place.

Both homelessness and graffiti are unlawful acts which threaten the development of the city of London and other cities in the world. This is because they affect the functioning of the city by creating unnecessary problems.  They contrast the beauty and the beautiful outlook of the city. For instance, the homeless create quite a bad site as they always move with belongings since they do not have any storage place. In cases where they possess a cart they even interfere with the traffic. Just like in any other city or town, in London you will mostly find them in garbage selection sites where they look for items to sell so as to get money for the upkeep. Any visitor who sees such people and the graffiti in all building gets a poor impression of the city.

Failure for the action to be taken on such unlawful acts creates continuity. History records that, despite the fact that the government has been having programs to help eliminate the homeless the number is still on the increase. As long as there are people on the streets there would still be more. People who have a problem with affording housing for their families will always results to sleeping in the streets because that has been the norm for a very long time. The same case applies to graffiti. In the cities where graffiti is mostly found, there will always be more. Due to the fact that people are used to putting graffiti in vehicles is an indication that even in future people will continue with the same trend.

In conclusion, it is clear that although homelessness and graffiti have not been identified as the major problems, actually they are among the major problems. Studies of St. Mungos, (2010) reveal that of all 498 people who sleep outside in England daily 248 are from the city of London. This means that homelessness is a problem in London as is the case other cites all over the world. The two problems often interfere with the development projects in the cities. Big cities like London are mostly affected because they attract many people. Some may actually be idle and that is the reason as to why they find time to engage in such unlawful acts. Others are those who have retired from their jobs and they find it quite hard to adapt to the normal life and end up in the streets.  Graffiti itself is very destructive due to the financial and social impact. Unless interventions are put in place such problems are bound to continue not only in London but also in other cities as well.