the city a playground

NovaTerra / jaargang 5 / nummer 1 / mei 2005 / 35

The city a playground

As cities become denser will there still be places for recreation or play? Masayuki Tajima argues

that there will be plenty of opportunities for people to enjoy themselves in the concrete jungle

– as long as we do not banish urban sports like skateboarding from our public places.

Americansportsdata.com states: ‘As part of a larger social and technological transformation, the thinking, lifestyles, and leisure behaviour of young people have been profoundly affected in recent decades. And perhaps, as some would argue, the changes in youthful psychology and behaviour are transforming the larger society. Whatever the sociological reality, the landscape of youth sports participation is being altered dramatically.’As most of these sports take place on the street, the public realm is affected as well.

One of these ‘new’ sports is skateboarding. In Europe the subculture associated with skateboarding has become successfully rooted in the contemporary urban environment, despite past political opposition, and skateboarders now make up a critical mass in most of the major cities. The subculture is a strong cultural, social and economic force in the city. Skateboarding itself is quite ‘urban’. Like bicycles, BMX, rollerblades and roller skates, skateboards rely on hard surfaces such as concrete and asphalt.

Skateboarding has entered urban life so rapidly that it deserves to be studied by urban designers. This article looks at skateboarding as an urban play activity, mainly from the perspective of urban design.

finding a spot Skateboarders do not just play anywhere; they tend to search for a perfect spot. This spotting process is often unpredictable and varies for both social and spatial reasons. What makes a great spot depends on the

Masayuki Tajima (West 8 Urban design and landscape architecture, Rotterdam)Illustrations: Maurer United Architects (MUA), Maastricht

Skateboarding: element of ‘play’ in the

concrete jungle – the notion of moving

through the city, experiencing the

city through acting, performing and

skateboarding.

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type of skateboarder: street skater, downhill skater, half-pipe skater or pool skater. Each type of skateboarder moves around the city in different ways. Some consistently move from spot to spot for street skating. Some look for a single good spot within the city, such as a smooth downhill for faster speed and dynamic movement, or special grinding rails. Others will look for abandoned concrete structures where they can skateboard and play. Some just head straight for the skatepark and stay there all day long. Some may even search for an empty pool to skate in. Few skaters seem to use their skateboard as a regular means of transportation; most rely on trams, buses or bicycles to move around the city. In terms of physical experience, skateboarders are highly aware of the city because they directly experience differences in the streetscape design, such as a drop of 5 cm, 1° slopes, or the spaces in the joints between material objects. Skateboarders experience space through movement. Anyone who has

tried it knows the intense feeling it gives – a rush. This is the next level in perceiving the cityscape: moving like a snake much faster than walking speed, skateboarding can become a spiritual statement. Amazingly, this purified pleasure can be created in the middle of a harsh urban environment.Another important factor in finding a great spot is socially determined. The element of ‘seeing and being seen’ is a key factor in understanding how skateboarders choose a spot. Part of the play is showing off to each other and to the public. The most visible spots are found in the city centre, which is easy to get to and provides a large potential public.Skateboarders tend to form groups to learn from each other in an atmosphere of friendly competition. Although skateboarding is an individual sport, those who participate in it like to stick together as friends and as a group. This social aspect is further emphasised by the fact the skateboarders are typical city dwellers

looking for a variety of activities, such as shopping, going to the movies, reading magazines, checking out people and buying gear. Skateboarders display typical territorial behaviour and have their own favourite spots where they feel comfortable, release their energy and capture the special spatial quality of their playground. These spots are their home bases, from where they explore other places. Skateboarders are frequently moved on from the more appreciated spots and are often forced to choose locations we might call ‘non-spaces’ – spots where other people are not bothered by their presence.

spatial conditions Somehow skateboarders have gained a troubled reputation. Cities authorities and property owners do no really like young people hanging out at certain spots. This dislike is sometimes justified by claiming that skateboarding is a dangerous activity, a reputation gained mainly in the United States, where on sloping streets they can

Master class on building one’s own skate facility.

Construction of a skate bowl.

Moving like a snake much faster than walking speed, skateboarding can become a spiritual statement

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Impression of the future Broekpolder site.

ROTTERDAM – De beste skaters van de wereld komen in juli naar Rotterdam voor het Snickers Worldchampionship Skateboarding. Volgens de organiserende stichting is het een van de belangrijkste kampioenschappen voor de skatewereld. De wedstrijden spelen zich af in Ahoyʼ, het randprogramma op straat en op ver-scheidene andere locaties.

De skatedriedaagse op 15, 16 en 17 juli staat niet alleen in het teken van de

westrijden, ook de cultuur die bij deze individuele straatsport hoort krijgt volop aandacht. Zo zal er in het Nederlands Architectuurinstituut NAi een fototen-toonstelling te zien zijn over architectuur in relatie tot skatenboarding. Tussen het NAi aan het Museumpark en Ahoy ̓komt een architectuurroute.

In de Witte de Withstraat belichten gale-ries en kunstinstellingen de culturele uitingen uit de skatewereld zoals muziek,

beeldende kunst en fotografie. ,,Het is een apart wereldje met zʼn eigen muziek en kleding. En dat willen we ook laten zienʼ̓ , aldus Jongeneel. Over dat wereldje en aanverwante zaken zullen dagelijks talkshows worden gehouden in Calypso. Verder staan er feesten in Nighttown en Off-Corso op het programma. Het publiek kan zich vergapen aan de kunsten van de skaters op het Schouwburgplein waar een halfpipe wordt geplaatst.

Wereldtop skatewereld komt naar Rotterdam

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reach considerable speeds and can cause serious accidents. The Netherlands is a flat country where you cannot benefit from downhill streets and skateboarding here is mainly a sporting activity. Injuries, if any, are self-inflicted and do not affect others. Nevertheless, skateboarders are often moved on, or have to use regulated places: so-called planned environments. Roughly speaking, there are two kinds of such environments: indoors and outdoors.

Indoor skateboard parks can offer a lot. Although not located in the city centre and not situated in the public eye, skateparks can still provide a strong domain for grouping. These unchanging and comfortable environments, with warm temperatures in the winter and no rain, attract many users. In Eindhoven, Europe’s largest wooden skatebowl, designed by Maurer United Architects (MUA) and Eindhoven University of Technology, has attracted considerable publicity and won many prizes. Unlike ordinary Dutch architectural offices, MUA actively promotes the skateboarding culture. In Utrecht MUA designed a skateboard pavilion made of polyester, and on location gave children master classes on building their own skate facility.

BroekpolderAn interesting new outdoor skateboarding environment will be built in Broekpolder, an urban extension located between Beverwijk and Heemskerk. Here MUA designed a linear skateboarding park in collaboration with Dutch skateboarder Maarten van Viegen and American skateboard culture specialist Jocko Weyland. MUA approached the project by asking the young film-maker Sarah Domogala to document the local skateboarder’s wishes for a future skate facility, and after further investigation and consultation decided that the design should focus on speed. This unique skate court allows skateboarders to reach very high speeds and perform dynamic actions.

WestblaakSkateboarders in the Netherlands also depend on planned environments outdoors. Generally speaking, these are skateboarding ramps in parks or special skateparks. A successful example is the skateboarding park on the Westblaak in Rotterdam. The idea of locating a skatepark right in the city centre arose after skateboarders became tired of constantly being moved on. They drew up a petition and the city responded positively to the initiative. The city council proposed an underused green area in the middle of the Westblaak, a major traffic artery bordering the shopping district. Westblaak can be perceived as an urban void in the middle of the central area of Rotterdam. This central location is so effective that it guaranteed the skatepark’s success and it is always crowded, especially in summer. It became a symbol for skateboarders and an icon for the cultural identity of the city of Rotterdam. But despite its success, and despite the high level of appreciation of this space by the general public, the usual problems surfaced. Property owners, concerned about the depreciation of the value of their property, have twice filed lawsuits against the municipality to have the skatepark removed. Fortunately, they were not successful in their attempts and young people in Rotterdam still have a perfect spot to play.

the playful city When I interviewed professor Iain Borden from the Bartlett School of Architecture (BSA) at University College London, who is also the author of the book Skateboarding, Space and the City, the first thing he mentioned about skateboarding was the joy it gives. First and foremost, skateboarding should be seen as a source of joy, of extreme pleasure within the ‘concrete jungle’. Because skateboarders play with urban materials such as concrete, asphalt, and steel, they can make any place in the city their playground. They can enjoy weatherproof indoor facilities, but outdoor facilities provide an added value for the public domain.

Promoting the use of public space in different ways is valuable because it eventually creates a lively city. Skateboarding and any other urban play can help to reinvent the city in creative ways by drawing on childhood memories that are linked to the idea of the ‘attractive city’. And because it promotes creative thinking, the skateboarding culture should be seen as an asset for city dwellers: it can help to produce a wonderful and playful city.

For reactions: [email protected]

summary The skateboarding subculture in Europe deserves to be studied by urban designers because skateboarders intimately experience the physical and spatial qualities of the streetscape. In the mainly flat Dutch cities, and because of social pressures, skateboarders often rely on planned indoor skate courts and outdoor skateparks, including some innovative environments: the prize-winning wooden skatebowl in Eindhoven, the largest in Europe; the polyester skateboard pavilion in Utrecht; the famous Westblaak skatepark in Rotterdam city centre, already an icon of the city’s cultural identity; and a planned outdoor environment in Broekpolder designed for speed in line with skateboarders’ wishes. But skateboarding can also be an asset for reinventing the wider city in creative ways to produce joyful, lively and playful urban spaces.

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the city a playground

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