Go Skateboarding: Sculpting Form and Landscape for Inclusive Connection in Halifax’s Urban Core

Abstract

In many cities, skateboarding is treated as a nuisance; a lack of understanding surrounding its positive reality inhibits its space within the city and prevents meaningful investment or consideration at the municipal level. Contrary to the male-dominated, risk-centric narrative that skateboard media portrays, skateboarding can be and is widely utilized as a tool for empowerment, community, and creative self-expression. Accepting skateboarding as an intrinsic part of urban public space (and designing for it as such) allows skateboard spaces to become focal points of accessible community at a time when skateboarding is growing and diversifying to include more women, LGBTQ2S+, BIPOC, and other typically marginalized demographics. This thesis presents a dialogue between art, sculpture, form, and movement that shifts the lens surrounding skateboarding and creates a network of multifunctional and user-interpretive skate spaces across peninsular Halifax, Nova Scotia - connecting the city physically, socially, and culturally.