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Skateboarding as a process for rethinking architectures manifold possibilities :
“ Both situationist dérives and the skater subvert this unitarian urbanism , proposing and fulfilling alternative usages . Psychogeographical roamings debunk the ideology of contemporary architecture through a theoretical awareness ( with practical implications ). Skateboarding does the same on a practical level ( but with theoretical implications this time ) through the virtuosity of tricks .
Skateboarding has a deep appreciation and understanding of architecture , regardless of how unconventional or subversive it may be . Ultimately , skateboarding helps to rethink architecture ’ s manifold possibilities . Through the movement of the skateboarder across urban space , and in its direct interaction with the city , skateboarding forms its critique on architecture . When skateboarding values are applied to architecture , architects must reconsider conventional conceptions of space , values of experience , notions of control , ideals of freedom and architecture ’ s contribution to corporate structures . Through the values of skateboarding however , the city is reconceptualised as an amorphous space in constant transition , a space for the flow of ideas , events and activities .
Architecture recognises space for production and reproduction . Space is neither stable nor fixed , but is constituted by the discourses and practices of social life . Architecture should be understood beyond the construction of built space ; and through the practice of skateboarding , architecture can be defined broadly to be the tools , experiences , mappings , compositional processes and social relations that pertain in space .
Innately , such laws add to the anarchic character of skateboarding , and form part of its dependence on , as well as struggle against , the modern city . Architects have often worked alongside the city to deter skateboarders from using public or private space . The danger that skateboarders possesses to the city goes beyond physical considerations and legalities ; it is about what they symbolise . Skateboarding is the freedom of movement , it does not produce a commodity , and it is an unpredictable and unconventional anti-capitalist value .
The skateboarder requires an object ( the skateboard ); it involves great effort but produces no commodity in exchange . In contrast , architects exist because they produce a commodity ( the building ); they inherently support and make money from capitalism .
The Situationists responded to the ‘ Society of the Spectacle ’ by bodily movements of derive and détournement . The skateboarder actively moves through space using the same Situationist desire lines . Skateboarding is a true form of urban derive that refutes the reduction of activity solely to the spectacle of the image . Skateboarders say almost nothing as codified statements , yet present an extraordinary range of implicit enunciations and meanings . Skateboarding ’ s critique of capitalism is through the negative dialectic that denies exchange and through the positive dialectic that restlessly searches for new possibilities of representing , imagining and experiencing the city . Skateboarding is not only a critique upon the product of architecture but also upon the role of the architect . Skateboarding describes the need for architecture to consider social value , to be productive of things , and to encourage activities that are not explicitly commoditised . The skateboarder undermines the ordered and commercial atmosphere of the city .
The value of skateboarding when applied to architecture requires the architect to question the city in its conventional arrangement of floors , walls and stairs – to re-evaluate the importance of spatial experience .
‘ freespace ’: a space with no commodity or pre-determined use that allows pedestrians to use the space socially and culturally however they choose . The skateboarder applies the ideas of ‘ freespace ’ throughout the entire city and has therefore developed an unorthodox appreciation and ability to seek out potential social relations .
Without licence , authority or professional obligations , the skateboarder creates