Spatial Appropri-Action – Tactics for the post-industrial designer

Throughout this work I have analyzed skateboarders’ ability to re-interpret architecture and make use of objects for different purposes than they are designed for. I argue that skaters are in fact the post-industrial designers of their everyday life, and that the perspective of skaters carries potential for sustainable change as it allows for greater diversity and multitudes of behaviors within the same space.

Through several design iterations I have explored how skateboarding offers tactics that can be applied by others to start a process of imagining and performing alternative ways of engaging with public spaces. Furthermore, I have facilitated the creation of a collaborative patchwork map of Copenhagen which I offer as a method to start a collective process of reimagining shared spaces and mediate between the lived realities of the city. Both the map and the tactics have been gathered and communicated in a folder, which can be downloaded here.

I propose the term ‘spatial appropri-action’ which I see it as a post-industrial method for performing democracy, claiming everyone’s right to the city, as well as shaping and reimagining public spaces in ways that are meaningful to each one of us.By embracing spatial appropri-actions and reinterpretations of public spaces and objects, we can make room for social diversity and include groups who are otherwise being excluded.