Säröjä kaupunkitilassa: parkour

Abstract

In this article we take a look at parkour, a new
urban physical discipline. We present parkour from
different angles, taking into account various issues
in geography and urban studies that it raises and
forces to reinterpret. First we set out to trace the
background of parkour and its media representation,
after which we discuss parkour as an example
of urban youth cultures. We then take a look at its
potential for interpreting the aesthetics of everyday,
banal landscapes. In order to provide parkour with
a broad theoretic and historic framework, we take
a look at earlier endeavors to reinvent urban space,
e.g. Baudelaire’s flâneur and the avant-garde experiments
of surrealists and situationists. Through the
encounters of practitioners of parkour (traceurs)
with other people, we analyze the unwritten rules of
how to use public space. Our analysis of this aspect
of parkour is guided by the concepts of tight spaces
and loose spaces. We conclude that parkour challenges
the way people interact with urban space, and
the way the city is experienced in terms of aesthetic
appearance and accessibility to (semi-)public space.
At the end of our article, we suggest some subjects
for further research.