How is it possible to achieve emotional well-being in public spaces? What role do public spaces play in promoting urban well-being? Considering that sports practices can be a vital component in creating healthy public spaces, skateboarding, one of the most globally recognized urban activities, offers an alternative for building opportunities for the physical, recreational, social, cultural, and even professional development of multiple generations.
At the end of the 19th century, skateboarding emerged in the United States. Officially patented in 1936, the sport has already faced several prejudices, but like the social and urban dynamics of which it is a part, it has lasted to demonstrate that its experience goes far beyond conservative views and brought a new way of experiencing the city by trying movements of our own bodies in light of the urban or architectural design.
Yesporciento is an architecture and research studio founded by Sebastián Castro, architect and skateboarder. From Chile, his interests lie around strategies to maximise and strengthen the public and collective space through the Skateboarding phenomenon. Next, Castro presents his most recent analysis focused on observing, registering and presenting some cultural manifestations related to the recovery and occupancy of disused urban spaces, defining three case studies within the urban area of Santiago.
Skateboarding is its own urban experience. As interactive public spaces and tactile surfaces, skate parks have slowly begun to shape the way we think about urban design. Beyond the boundary of parks themselves, skaters look at the architecture of the built environment outside of its intended purpose, and in turn, are rethinking how we gather, move around, and reimagine the future of urban life.
Skating took root as a sport in California during the 1960s and 70s, a time when extreme activities like surfing found their niche among the United States populace. Beginning as an urban adaptation of surfing, skateboarding became the pastime of choice for adolescents and, by the 1980s, acquired a worldwide following. Soon, city-scapes across the globe began transforming as spaces were created for people to engage in this uniquely urban sport.
