Lecture Synopsis:
How do we experience urban space, and how are the politics of the public realm made manifest through these experiences? In this talk, I consider recent work on automobile driving and, in particular, on-going research about skateboarding to explore how the different ways of moving through cities involve different cultural meanings, conflicts, negotiations and opportunities. With reference to Henri Lefebvre’s political and spatial theory, issues touched upon include aspects of appropriation, spectacle, social inclusion and exclusion, historic preservation and privatization. Examples of skateboarding practices referred to range from Los Angeles and London to Hong Kong and Kabul. READ More>