Skateboarding and the City

Skateboarding is both a sport and a way of life. Creative, physical, graphic, urban and controversial, it is full of contradictions - a billion-dollar global industry which still retains its vibrant, counter-cultural heart.

Skateboarding and the City presents the only complete history of the sport, exploring the story of skate culture from the surf-beaches of '60s California to the latest developments in street-skating today. Written by a life-long skater who also happens to be an architectural historian, and packed through with full-colour images - of skaters, boards, moves, graphics, and film-stills - this passionate, readable and rigorously-researched book explores the history of skateboarding and reveals a vivid understanding of how skateboarders, through their actions, experience the city and its architecture in a unique way.

"Skateboarding is both a sport and a way of life. Creative, physical, graphic, and controversial, it is full of contradictions - a vibrant feature of the urban world that has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry and yet remains as counter-cultural as ever. Skateboarding and the City presents the only complete history of skateboarding, exploring the story of skate subculture from the surf-beaches of '60s California to the latest developments in street-skating today. Written by a life-long skater who also happens to be an architectural historian, this passionate, readable and rigorously-researched book reveals a vivid understanding of how skateboarders, through their actions, think about and experience the city in a unique way. Packed with full-colour pictures and interviews with the legends of the sport, it explores the history of the sport and its complex relationship with the city, examining skate graphics, film, photography, and the architecture of skate parks along the way. Ultimately, it shows how skateboarding culture sheds light on many of the most fascinating issues of urban life today" --

The book is superbly researched, colorfully and beautifully illustrated, and thoroughly analyzes the topic. It has the physical appearance of an elegant coffee-table book combined with outstanding scholarship, effectively employing theory and empirical data, particularly the oral and written testimony of participants. --CHOICE

"There's absolutely no way I can do the work justice here - the book is incredibly thought-provoking, especially from the perspective of actually being a skateboarder. I highly recommend it." --Sidewalk Magazine (praise for Skateboarding, Space and the City, 2001)

"SA fine book that I recommend to any skateboarder who can read at a college level." --Big Brother Skateboarding Magazine (praise for Skateboarding, Space and the City)

"This is an amazing book and a real surprise ... A first. Pick it up and you'll learn something interesting about the cities you skate in; you might even learn something about skating itself." --Slap Skateboard Magazine (praise for Skateboarding, Space and the City)

"Skateboarders help us to think about buildings and their use. Borden argues that they draw our attention to the city as the site of perpetual change." --The Independent (praise for Skateboarding, Space and the City)

"Borden owes as much to 30 years of personal passion and experience as he does to any architectural or social theory." --The Architect's Journal (praise for Skateboarding, Space and the City)