Skateboarding, Space and the City: Architecture and the Body

Buy this book, fantastic for any skateboard finatic, informative and really interesting, it's theory so not for your average reader but I would recommend this to anyone, used it for an art project and it beats john baulldriard anyway

one of the best books i've ever read on skateboarding, Iain Borden is a genius and has done so much research it's incredible to read.

This book is incredible. Deep and thought provoking I places. Inspirational and compelling in others. Books like this mark skateboarding's coming of age as a pursuit and a way of life.

The author may be one of very few people to be interested in both skateboarding and architectural theory, but that shouldn't deter readers who aren't familiar with both. Borden's book is clearly written and will guide you through with little confusion - or, better yet, go and watch the skaters at the Undercroft on the South Bank, then read this, then you'll really understand the intersection of theory and movement in architecture that Borden seeks to express.For readers coming from the urban studies direction, 'Skateboarding, Space and the City' has particular appeal for the way it explains the ideas of Henri Lefebvre. No-one actually likes reading Lefebvre, for his writing is tangled and unclear - but Borden makes it relevant and painless. Theoretically he discusses ideas about the production and representation of space, of performance and use as central to urban space rather than fixed structures 'authored' by one designer. Skateboarding, this marginalised, counter-culture sport, makes a perfect partner for this cutting-edge reinterpretation - and the liveliness of this book is not just in its topic, but also the many pictures and straight-talking quotes taken from actual skaters about how they think about skateboarding. Even for a non-skater, its treatment of the development of skateboarding is a fascinating slice of cultural history, particularly when watched in tandem with skateboarding films such as  Dogtown and Z-Boys [2001 ]Hugely interesting, theoretically bang on, innovative, and absolutely recommended.

I thought it will be more about architecture, but this book moustly about skateboarding elements and it history. It could be interesting for skateboarders to know sport history.

Fantastic!

Great book

great book, a complete story of skateboarding from the beginnig.But the book miss a point: today street skating is 50% made of freestyle-flatland skateboarding of the '90s (see Rodney Mullen)