Urban Markup Language

If you know the lingo, you can visualize the dense architecture that sprawls beneath our streets.

1 minute read

September 3, 2004, 11:00 AM PDT

By Chris Steins @planetizen


You've seen those spray-painted marks on the street –- usually they have a line, arrow and read “USA". As a planner, you have this nagging sense that you should know what they are.

A one-page feature in the September issue of Wired Magazine offers nine images of the most common forms of the graffiti, along with descriptions of what they mean. (Unfortunatley, the web version doesn’t include the great photos.)

For example, “USA” stands for “underground service alert", a blue line is for water, and a red line for power.

Thanks to Chris Steins

Monday, October 31, 2005 in Wired

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