Skateboarding is a popular sport with dedicated fans. The activity combines exercise and art. The unique combination of discovery, community, challenge, and freedom. This means that skateboarding can appeal to kids. Who doesn’t enjoy participating in team sports? Or for whom the financial burden of team sports is too great. Skaters are free to explore the urban terrain as they wish while practicing.
As children are increasing drawn to screens and passive games. Boarding is an effective way to encourage movement. Skateboarding can burn an average of 150 to more than 222 calories in 30 minutes. The benefits of regular physical activity are well documented. According to the Centers for Disease Control, regular physical activity. This can help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity, and cancers. Which increases your chances of living longer. Improve your mental health; and many other benefits. Creating spaces that encourage physical activity isn’t an investment in exercise. It creates healthier communities that must less maintenance in the future.
Skateboarding is also great for giving participants a strong sense of belonging and community. Skaters come from all backgrounds and can connect with each other through shared experiences. Many schools around the world are starting to see the benefits of skateboarding and are incorporating it into their curriculum and after-school programs. One of the most successful initiatives is Skatistan, an award-winning non-profit organization that supports youth in developing countries through education and skateboarding.
There are many fair criticisms of urban skateboarding. It can be noisy and destroys property. And skateboarders can potential hurt themselves or other pedestrians.
Many cities discourage skateboarding and other “undesirable” activities with unfriend architecture. This architectural practice uses environmental design. To dictate the use of space by creating areas. Where sleeping is impossible, or skateboarding is tricky. It is often used to design spaces to exclude certain groups of people. Such as the homeless, a practice often criticized. This type of design favors one group over another. Hostile architecture creates an environment of exclusion and sets the intention. This is not a free outdoor space but a space under control. It leads to tension and limits creativity. When hostile architecture installed. Many people feel that. They cannot stay long or that they do not belong. Even if they are not in the group that the architecture intended to discourage. The exclusion of some groups further removes the widespread organic interaction between people. It leads to less vibrant, connected communities. Hostile architectural practices criticized for not treating the root causes of problems. Such as homelessness, instead of only combating the symptoms.
Contrary to the fears of those who support cruel architectural practices. Skateboarding has shown to animate urban environments and create hybrid, dynamic spaces. With diverse people in one space, proper traffic management, and building products. And inclusive design practices become critical to success. Cities worldwide such as Paris, Malmo, Copenhagen, and London. And Los Angeles is starting to embrace skateboarders as part of their city cultures. Creating multi-purpose spaces that don’t have predefined uses. Malmö and Copenhagen even have official “skateboard coordinators”. To find ways to incorporate skateboarding into urban design and infrastructure.
Should skateboarding ban in public spaces?
According to Ocean Howell, an associate professor at the University of Oregon. Incorporating skateboarders into public spaces can use as a community reactivation tactic. Often, such as LOVE Park. Skateboarders have helped bring in several creative individuals. And improve high-risk areas before known for drug activity and theft. But, the use of skateboarders as a tactic to reactivate. Or revitalizing a community must be careful monitored. It should do in cooperation with municipalities. So as not to displace the current population.
Another example of skateboarders helping to revitalize an area in Paris. Once a celebrated roundabout, designers from TVK. Architecture and urban planning firm from France. They have transformed the Place de la Republique into a thriving multi-purpose space. Commenting on the proposal process, TVK stated that:
Gustav Eden, the official skateboarding coordinator in Malmö, Sweden. Said in an interview with Free Skate Magazine that
skateboarding has helped create social centers by rethinking previous underutilized public spaces. Sometimes it was enough to add a few granite benches to the square. To help unify neighborhoods and give children somewhere to go.
In another interview with Acclaim Magazine:
how incorporating skateboarding into Malmö’s urban design. That leads all people to appreciate better their city and the people who live there. By activating dormant spaces and creating opportunities for different groups to interact.
Skateboarding has allowed the city to create a stronger sense of community. Previous, underutilized spaces with problems with crime. Sudden became home to vibrant, engaged communities. Skateboarders and business people alike have learned that. Skateboarders have as much right to skate on a bench as they do to sit on it.
Due to their attractive skateboarding environment, cities. Such as Malmö and Copenhagen have found an influx of tourism and exposure. Competitions such as the world-famous Vans Park Series hosted. The first ever World Championship Finals in Malmö, Sweden. And the city has continued to host world Vans Park Series events in later years. It is one of the biggest skateboarding events in the world. Which sets the stage for who will go to the 2020 Olympics for skateboarding. Gustav Eden also noted how they had seen an influx of families, usually with children. Who ride skateboards, coming to Malmö all year round to skate. Places like Southbank in London and MACBA in Barcelona. Which have also become cultural hubs, attracting tourists thanks to skateboarding.
Skateboarding can be a controversial activity. Making it difficult to please all stakeholders. Where and when skateboarding should take Place. LOVE Park was unable or unwilling to incorporate skateboarding into the park’s vision. But, as places like Paris and Malmo show. This goal of blending skateboarders into the urban landscape is not impossible. It can be beneficial when done correct.