How punk changed cities – and vice versa

From New York to Jakarta, punks have long fought for their rights to the city. But just how much have they achieved – and will we ever see a mohawk in City Hall?From its earliest beginnings, punk as a youth cult was viewed as a social nuisance in cities – irritating but tolerated. But the battle lines were truly drawn in what became a focal point for the nascent hardcore scene: early 1980s Los Angeles. “LA was a sketchy place then,” recalled Dave Markey, whose 1982 docume