Skateboarding and Exclusion from Public Space
One teenage group who faces major exclusion from using public space, and quite often
penalisation, is skateboarders. Interestingly, this group of ‘active’ teenagers have caused
such a major impact with their presence in public space (i.e. parks, streets, public steps)
that the public has been divided into those who support skateboarding (and the creation of
skateparks) and those who dislike them. Along with the public, local authorities, planners
and policy-makers worldwide have taken a stand either in support of or against
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Literature Review: OPENspace Research Centre, Edinburgh College of Art/Heriot Watt University 18
skateboarding. Particularly in the last decade, when skateboarding has become a trend
among teenagers, the debate on the sport is immense. This is probably because
skateboarding cannot be defined as a real criminal activity like alcohol and drug abuse,
vandalism, shoplifting and other forms of juvenile delinquency. Instead, it is a young urban
counterculture that seeks to challenge power relations by questioning the privatisation of
public space (Loukaitou-Sideris and Banerjee 1998; Urban Action 2001). Due to its
ambiguous character, skateboarding’s position has shifted from the urban street to the
political arena (Borden 1998a; Stratford 2002). According to some academics who study
the spatial conflicts of skateboarding:
“The 'problem' of skating has been conflated with a 'problem' with young people in
public spaces, reflecting a rise in fear of crime from the mid-twentieth century and
referencing more general questions about public space and citizenship” (Stratford
2002: 193).
Ian Borden, who has extensively commented on the ‘politics of skateboarding’, argues
that:
“Skateboarders have encountered a politics of space similar to the experiences of
the homeless. Like the homeless, skateboarders occupy urban space without
engaging in economic activity of interiors, to the annoyance of building owners and
managers. As a result, the urban managers have declared skaters as trespassers, or
cited the marks skateboarding causes as proof of criminal damage>” (Borden 1998a:
2)
As the above extract shows, skateboarders deny the production of architecture and urban
space as a commodity for exchange, or as a place where the exchange of commodities
might take place (Borden 1998b; 2001). As a result, these teenagers experience similar
exclusion from public space to those from low income backgrounds who are also not
potential consumers and therefore perceived as a nuisance by shop owners and the
general public (White 1993). Where the latter group is ejected from business and
commercial centres by such measures as juvenile curfews, so the former encounter
similar treatment. The intensification of skateboarding in public space has led to a
pervasive form of repression and legislation (Borden 1998a). An increasing number of
cities in Britain and abroad have placed curfews banning skateboarding in public areas.
For instance, in Melbourne, skateboarders were banned from the forecourt of the State
Library.
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Literature Review: OPENspace Research Centre, Edinburgh College of Art/Heriot Watt University 19
“Anyone caught skating there now faces $200 fine. And this is a scenario that’s
happening in urban centres all over the world, as skateboarders, and those who
engage in other forms of street sport, are increasingly being regarded as a public
nuisance and public liability” (ABC Radio National 1999).
In Britain, similar laws have restricted skateboarders’ movement for the last decade
(Woolley and Johns 2001). For example, local authorities in Sheffield, Manchester and
Cardiff have passed a by-law banning skateboarding from the whole of their city centre.
However, the ban has not discouraged skateboarders from using public areas for
performing their sport. As with any other group of teenagers, the idea behind
skateboarding in central urban areas is the opportunities that these places offer for
gathering, relaxing and ‘hanging out’ with friends. According to studies on skateboarding,
the enjoyment of the sport comes from watching and learning from others and that can
happen only in large areas like parks and streets (Woolley and Johns 2001). The problem,
of course, with these places lies on the fact that they are favourite ‘hang out’ spots for
other users (e.g. elderly people, parents with toddlers), too. As a result, tension and
conflict is created among them. Many people, because of their lack of knowledge about
skateboarding practices, confuse skaters with teenage delinquents. According to Woolley
and Johns (2001), this hostile attitude towards skaters is unreasonable as, contrary to
what it is believed, they seem to be fairly understanding of other users and happy to
‘share’ the same spaces with others.
Due to ‘spatial antagonism’ between skaters and other users of public space, local
authorities and planners are forced to take direct action. In most cases, the solution
provided is the creation of a skatepark, offering teenagers a place to gather and recreate
without necessarily mingling with other users who may be hostile towards them and their
activities. For decision-makers, this is an easy and successful plan, with the public
applauding the direct outcome of it: the creation of a ghettoised youth space. Apparently,
skateparks have become
“Much more complex places where public and private agendas clash with the desires
of teens who want a place to recreate, hang out and have fun. [...] In terms of power,
control and skateboard parks themselves, it becomes clear that the parks
themselves are often-times gifts of a sort, as well as being ‘battlegrounds between
users and between groups (homeowners versus skateboarders, for example)” (Jones
and Graves 2000: 136, 146).
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Literature Review: OPENspace Research Centre, Edinburgh College of Art/Heriot Watt University 20
Through research into six skateparks in Oregon, Jones and Graves (2000) came to the
conclusion that these teen places are often misunderstood and misused by those in power
and designers as a way to control young people’s spatial mobility. Skateparks were seen
as a way to fence the activity, constructing boundaries to a sport and young trend in a
manner that most likely results in a facility-based mentality that supports the sport without
supporting the needs of the users as people.
“In short, the skatepark became a compromise to get the skaters off the streets, and
gave the skaters a place to skate where they ‘wouldn’t be hassled’” (Jones and
Graves 2000: 146).
However, ‘getting skaters off the streets’ by creating skateparks is not a simple solution.
Planners and decision-makers forget that young people have additional needs than just
engaging with their favourite sport: they also need places where they can feel independent
and free from any control (Borden 1998a). As, most of the times, young people are not
consulted about the facilities provided for them, these places do not fit their real needs. It
is not rare to see skaters going back to the streets to perform their sport and reclaim their
independence (L’ Aoustet and Griffet 2001; Woolley and Johns 2001). Older and more
experienced skateboarders, especially, feel that skateparks, resembling playgrounds, are
not designed for them.
“To escape the crowd of novices, the experienced participants adopt two strategies:
they either meet up at late hours (with the implications that can generate:
delinquency, non-attendance at school), or they abandon the place and invade other
public spaces, squares, parks or streets