Geographies of Skateboarding - Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead, UK

This map is the result of a year-long research project on the geographies of skateboarding in Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead, UK. Skateboarders are often seen as invaders of urban space, subverting it for their own purposes, contrary to the normative actions of others. In the capitalist system, abstract space is created in which behaviour is prescribed and dictated, often for commercial consumption practices. Borden (2001) has suggested that the act of skateboarding the city rejects this use of urban space by implicitly critiquing space and architecture as a commodity. Through the reproduction of space as a play zone, skateboarders offer no monetary exchange value for the time which they spend at a location. This frequently leads to conflict with those seeking to control urban spaces designed for capitalist consumption.