Skateboarding – Radical and Romantic Physical Use of Urban Architecture

Inter: A European Cultural Studies : Conference in Sweden 11–13 June 2007

Skateboarding in an urban environment has been analysed as a creative activity where opposition to meaningless architecture is expressed. The ac­tivity becomes a symbolic challenge to the normal. To challenge the normal is also one of the most ostensible images that the skateboard media portrays. The media put forward the image of the radical skater and underground rebel who defies both order and the ordinary. Creativity takes the form of expression in movement, not only skateboarding as a physical activity but also as a movement through the city. Even if skaters stay in one place longer than other urban visitors, they move between different skating locations and therefore cover large areas. Skateboarding has a spatial and temporal aspect, but how challenging and “unusual” is this physical use of the architecture? And what conclusions can be drawn on the relation between physical activity and the architecture of the city?