There is a great deal of variation between the amount of regulation different cities impose on busking. There are also differences in how strictly that regulation is enforced.
In many cases there is a conflict of interest between policy makers and street performers when it comes to the policies adopted. As part of this research, we want to highlight the perspective of buskers towards these policies and refer to the difficulties that they face in some cases.
The following sixteen reports on key focus cities illustrate many of the different regulatory approaches to busking. They assess how strictly the regulations are applied in the featured cities and contain feedback on the effects of the regulations from buskers.
The reports are listed alphabetically. First by country and then by city for those countries in which more than one city is featured. Each city is given a grade or score which is the combined value of the factors and regulations governing busking in that city.
Busking Policy
There is no grading or ranking for the City of London, as the local boroughs are responsible for decisions on busking regulations. At this point however, we present the strategy that City of London employs and advises the boroughs to adopt. — Busking is considered legal. — There is no specific strategy at the moment. — There is no provision for licensing busking in the City of London. — Although a licence is not mandatory, individual boroughs have a large say in how they manage busking in their areas.