Event 011 explores the complex relationship between skateboarders and urban public space. In collaboration with Hawkins\Brown, it will examine how architecture in cities is appropriated, adapted and (occasionally) contested by skaters in pursuit of their sport.
Fundamentally a spatial activity, skateboarding is rooted in movement, flow and improvisation. What begins as public infrastructure, intended for sitting, walking or gathering, becomes terrain to be interpreted, challenged and reimagined. Benches, ledges, handrails and pavements are temporarily transformed, which generates a push-pull dynamic between skateboarders and local councils.
Skateboarders read architecture differently from other city users. The event aims to provoke discussion about whether skateboarding can coexist with urban design in a mutually beneficial way. The debate will uncover what it means to claim space in a city – and ask, who gets to decide how that space is used? As skateboarding gains recognition through Olympic sport status and increased mainstream visibility, the conversation about its place in the public realm has never been more relevant.
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Panel 01
Leanne Cloudsdale • Host | Concrete Communities
Seth Curtis • Skateboarder
Yẹmí Aládérun • Architect | Head of Develoment
Dr Iain Borden • Historian | UCL
Wig Worland • Photographer | Archivist
Panel 02
Leanne Cloudsdale • Host | Concrete Communities
Agnieszka Wood • Everyone on Boards
Stuart Maclure • Dev. Manager | Betong Park
Jeremy Donaldson • Architect | Skateboarder
Ed Jarvis • Design Lead | Camden Council
We look forward to welcoming you!
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concretecommunities.com
