The colourful works form the basis of a Griffith University investigation into how public art is used to drive urban regeneration and boost social capital.

Researcher Dr Tony Matthews assessed 26 artworks that form part of a public art walking tour.

"They were right on par with anything you would see internationally in terms of quality of art, quality of delivery, quality of materials, choice of location," he said.

"Townsville is way out in front."

The city was one of three regional Queensland locations picked for the investigation, which involved researchers interviewing key producers of public art, elected officials, urban planners and public art specialists.

The findings have been published in the international journal Cities, which Dr Matthews believes will thrust Townsville onto the international stage.

"The major importance of this research is not that it looks at public art, but also that it looks at regional cities in Australia that are doing really well and are coming up and should be of attention internationally," he said.

"We were very happy to give Townsville the nod as a place that has been quietly impressing me in a number of ways for a number of years."

The process:

But it hasn't happened overnight.

When Townsville artist Garth Jankovic arrived in the city in 1992 the scene didn't exist.

"I was pretty much the OG [original gangster]," he said.

"I just started painting street art graffiti in probably illegal spots in the early days.

"The council came on board in the late '90s and started actively participating and nurturing the scene."

Working alongside friend Nicky Prior, Jankovic pioneered combining First Nations scenes and Euro street styles to create the mural Girroogul and the soap tree, which forms part of the street art walking trail.

"If you go to Melbourne, it's very European graffiti style,"Jankovic says.

"Townsville's a bit more, you know, you have a bit more understanding of the demographic [and] if you combine street art and graffiti with traditional stuff, you win over a lot more people."

The 48-year-old has been so instrumental to the scene, his portrait features on the art trail, painted by mentee and good friend Lee Harnden.

"I don't go there often because it spins me out," Jankovic said.

Tourism potential:

The Griffith University study identified a variety of figurative and abstract styles and vivid colours.

Dr Matthews said, considering the quality of the works, more could be done to promote the trail as a tourism drawcard.

"I know the city has a walking guide for the public art trail and it's quite popular with tourists and has brought tourists in," he said.

"But I think it could market itself more aggressively as a regional cultural hub, attracting those kinds of short-stay visits using public art in part as one of the attractors."

Townsville City Councillor Liam Mooney said it was an ongoing project.

"We are always looking for diverse street artists to work with and for property owners within our CBD and beyond to have a canvas for these artists to work on as well," he said.

Councillor Mooney welcomed the Griffith University study findings.

"It legitimises what I believe — that we should be spending our time, our effort, our resources on art spaces," he said.

Jankovic said the Townsville street art scene reflected the character of north Queensland.

"It really makes people that come there think that it's not just an outback town, or a sea town or a tropical town," he said.

"It's a bit of a melting pot of all those things put together and I think the street art really captures that."

Story By | Sally Rafferty