Publisher's Synopsis
Skateboarding has become a permanent and vibrant feature of the contemporary urban landscape. Creative, physical, graphic, controversial and full of contradictions, it is a sport and a way of life that has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry, and yet remains as counter-cultural as ever.
Skateboarding and the City presents the only complete history of skateboarding, exploring the story of skate subculture from the surf-beaches of '60s California to the latest developments in street-skating today. Written by a life-long skater and architectural historian, this passionate, readable and rigorously-researched book reveals a vivid understanding of how skateboarders, through their actions, think about and experience the city in a unique way. Packed with full-colour pictures and interviews with the legends of the sport, and including new chapters on skate graphics, film and photography, this new edition is brought fully up-to-date with the last decade's worth of evolution in skateboarding styles and controversies. Ultimately, it shows how skateboarding culture can shed light on many of the most fascinating issues of urban life today.
