Exploring perspectives: Vancouver street-style skateboarders in urban public space and beyond

This is an ethnographic project that explores the articulation by urban communities of ways of using public space by examining how and why people skateboard in Vancouver. By conducting semi-structured interviews and employing the use of photovoice, this research project discusses the perspectives of skateboarders to discover the motivations behind their interactions with urban space. This project is contextualized by highlighting the historic process of skateboarding in the urban realm, and the design and development of the skatepark as purpose-built public space intended for skateboarding. The purpose and meaning of the skatepark and other urban spaces is identified by participants using verbal (semi-structured interviews) and visual (photovoice) methods, and analyzed using a place-attachment framework. This study discusses the narratives of street-style skateboarders in Vancouver to tell a story about interactions with the urban environment.