The People’s Republic of Stokes Croft, a public art project in a rundown district of Bristol, is attempting to harness the creativity of local graffiti artists to transform the area for local residents. Does it offer an alternative to the usual business-led model of urban regeneration? David Matthews investigates

From graffiti and street art to massive corporate-funded structures such as the Ebbsfleet Landmark (the size of the Statue of Liberty, twice as tall as Antony Gormley’s Angel of the North), public art has never been more in vogue. Steve Platt, a reformed ‘graffitist’, surveys the artistic landscape