The Kids Are Alright:

Skateboarding, Temporary Urbanism

and Boston
Outline

1. Introduction

2. Skateboarding
i. History
ii. Art
iii. Issues

3. Questions and Goals

4. Issues

5. Site

6. Precedents

7. Design

8. Moving Forward
 Introduction

What is the role of public space?

1. A site for contestation and protest

2. A site for gathering and meeting

3. A site to be seen and to act out one’s identity

Questions

1. Can we plan/design spaces for alternative communities?

2. Does planning/designing these spaces for them defeat their

power and appeal?

3. Is it possible to redefine skateboarding as a creative endeavor

rather than a criminal one?

4. Can we bring a sense of theatre and play into the city as a

whole?
Goals

1. Reactivate moribund public spaces throughout Boston

via skateboarding

2. Increase the scope of the ‘public’ included in the notion

of ‘public space’

3. Chronicle and document the culture and art of

skateboarding in Boston

4. Provide space for alternate uses of a public space

without disrupting or interfering with its other users
and uses

5. Utilize design, laws and planning to push for

temporary spaces
 issues

Pro-Skateboarding Arguments:

1. There are no spaces in the city for this popular activity,

unlike many facilities for sports like baseball & basketball

2. This is a multi-billion dollar industry that is the 6th most

popular sport in the world, 3rd with those ages 12-18

3. The physical damages are overstated, particularly when compared

with the effect of automobiles and buses

4. There are few spaces for teenagers to gather safely that don’t
require money
 issues

Anti-Skateboarding Arguments:

1. Vandalism – destruction of public property

like benches, stairs and railings

2. Interferes with the use of public spaces for non-skateboarders

3. Deters tourists, shoppers and residents from using the space,

and subsequently surrounding facilities and stores

4. Safety of skateboarders and those who come into

contact with them
 art

"Kids don't see the world in the same way that adults
do. They see a beautiful marble ledge as being a great
thing to jump off.”

-Fran Richards
former publisher,
Transworld Skateboard magazine
 culture

-Much more than just a sport or art form

- Diverse group of young people come

together and enact a world every day in
urban spaces

-These skate spots are the spaces where

teenagers come together to interact with
each other and with strangers
Love Park setting in the best-selling video game, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater
International icon and destination for young travelers
The infamous “Love Gap”
video

Excerpt from Philadelphia Love Park: The Story of a Skate Landmark

“Build a park in which to skate. Don’t build a skatepark.”

- Rob Dyrdek,
professional skateboarder
Burnside Skatepark - the first Portland skate site and
model for all future developments
Ed Benedict Skate
Plaza, most recent
skatepark to open
in Portland (2009)
Portland Mayor’s Chief of
Staff Tom Miller –
skateboard advocate,
former skateboarder and
major force behind the
network of skatepark’s
the city has built
 Moving forward

- Design Help

- Designing/Building an object for this skate space:

either a temporary skate-only object or
one that could serve both skaters and other park users

-More feedback and dialogue with Boston skaters

- Suggestions