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Skateboarding: element of ‘play’ in the

concrete jungle – the notion of moving
through the city, experiencing the
city through acting, performing and
skateboarding.

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.

Masayuki Tajima (West 8 Urban design and landscape architecture, Rotterdam)

Illustrations: Maurer United Architects (MUA), Maastricht

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 Y

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 NovaTerra / jaargang 5 / nummer 1 / mei 2005 / 36
Moving like a snake much faster
than walking speed, skateboarding
can become a spiritual statement
Master class on building one’s own skate facility.
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
80283_NovaTerra.indd 36
Construction of a skate bowl.
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 Y
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 NovaTerra / jaargang 5 / nummer 1 / mei 2005 / 38
Impression of the future Broekpolder site.
Wereldtop skatewereld komt naar Rotterdam
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
80283_NovaTerra.indd 38
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 Ahoyʼ 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
zienʼʼ, 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.
20-04-2005 09:37:17
 NovaTerra / jaargang 5 / nummer 1 / mei 2005 / 39
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.
Broekpolder
An 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.
80283_NovaTerra.indd 39
Westblaak
Skateboarders 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: tajima@nova-terra.nl
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.
Z
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