The Alex and Ani City Center, located near Kennedy Plaza in the heart of downtown Providence, Rhode Island, operates as an ice-skating rink from late November to mid-March and a "premier event and programming center" from mid-March through October. As this sign makes clear, however, skateboarding is not allowed at any time during the year.
And yet...
The Spaces Inbetween
As mentioned above, the rink is rather busy with serving ice skating patrons during the winter months, operating from 10 AM to 10 PM.
During the spring and summer months, it transitions into the "premier event and programming center." Just look at how busy it is during the months of April and May:
You may notice that in April, there is one scheduled event. In May, there are three. So, whenever the rink takes a well-deserved break from being a "premier event and programming center," it just sits there. Empty. All day.
Well, not exactly...
The Skate(board)ing Rink
Remember that calendar of events? Those 25+ days out of the month were there was no scheduled use - no "sanctioned use" - for the rink? Think of those less like days on a calendar and more like fissures. When the city makes clear - like through the sign above - that skateboarders are not welcome, that they are not legitimately using the city-space as it was planned to be in a top-down fashion - the skateboarders then take those "days of the week" and, growing out of the fissures, appropriate the space for their own use, a use not originally intended for that space. [2, 3]
When top-down city-planners and enforcers create this dialectic between themselves and the group of people that they "other" - the people they turn into a subculture, a category for which skateboarders are probably the best known - they force that subgroup's ascension out of the fissures created by that process. What better example of those spaces waiting to be filled with action than those empty days of the week being taken over by skateboarders? [4]
When top-down city-planners and enforcers create this dialectic between themselves and the group of people that they "other" - the people they turn into a subculture, a category for which skateboarders are probably the best known - they force that subgroup's ascension out of the fissures created by that process. What better example of those spaces waiting to be filled with action than those empty days of the week being taken over by skateboarders? [4]
A History of Skate(board)ing at the Providence Rink
Skateboarding is clearly banned at the rink now, but it wasn't always that way. Skateboard apparel companies like Vans used to sponsor skateboarding events at the rink. Skaters from all over the city and beyond could come downtown to practice tricks, see new moves, make friends, and have a fun place to skate.
Fountain of Youth, a former skate shop, used to sponsor an event on Thursday nights during the late spring and summer months where people could come to the rink and skateboard in a sanctioned setting. People who skate at the rink now still have fond memories of having access to the space and being able to congregate with fellow skaters in the community.
Unfortunately, the skate shop closed after a few good years of business. The Thursday skate jams at the rink we're shuttered up with it. Skaters at the rink now lament its passing, wishing their was some apparatus that facilitated have access to that prime, unused space to just skate around. Nevertheless, sanctioned skateboarding at the rink came more or less to a close.
Illicit
Alas, any and all skateboarding that happens at the rink is unsanctioned and illegal.
Surely, the officials running the rink do not ban skateboarders for no reason. They say that all the impact from people skating affects the heating system under the concrete, which is necessary for the ice rink to properly function. However, the skateboarders claim, all the aforementioned sanctioned skating at the rink over the years never once prevented ice skating from occurring.
When asked if the illicit nature of their activity makes them feel like they should not be there, virtually every skateboarder I asked said "no." Whether they know it or not, they are participating in a contestative act. While top-down planners and rule enforcers declare that their act is unsanctioned, they respond that as members of the city, they have a right to use it and find new, creative ways using its space. This right is to exercise it in whatever way they want, not merely in the narrow and defined ways delineated by authority. [4]
When asked if knowing the existence of other sanctioned places to skate would deter their illicit use of the skating rink (there are only two skate parks in the city of Providence, and the second one only broke ground last year), the skaters responded that the rink has a special purpose. It has a central location in the middle of downtown. It is more than just a skate spot; it is a locus of community, where friends get together after school or on the weekend, friends only seen at that spot come together, and new friends are made as the love of skateboarding is shared.
Surely, the officials running the rink do not ban skateboarders for no reason. They say that all the impact from people skating affects the heating system under the concrete, which is necessary for the ice rink to properly function. However, the skateboarders claim, all the aforementioned sanctioned skating at the rink over the years never once prevented ice skating from occurring.
When asked if the illicit nature of their activity makes them feel like they should not be there, virtually every skateboarder I asked said "no." Whether they know it or not, they are participating in a contestative act. While top-down planners and rule enforcers declare that their act is unsanctioned, they respond that as members of the city, they have a right to use it and find new, creative ways using its space. This right is to exercise it in whatever way they want, not merely in the narrow and defined ways delineated by authority. [4]
When asked if knowing the existence of other sanctioned places to skate would deter their illicit use of the skating rink (there are only two skate parks in the city of Providence, and the second one only broke ground last year), the skaters responded that the rink has a special purpose. It has a central location in the middle of downtown. It is more than just a skate spot; it is a locus of community, where friends get together after school or on the weekend, friends only seen at that spot come together, and new friends are made as the love of skateboarding is shared.
Skateboarding walks a weird line at the rink. It is officially banned, yet not strictly enforced. Police may come over and ask you to leave, but you can usually just come right back. After 5 PM, it is usually smooth sailing. However, police always have the ability to detain you, whether they choose to or not. Indeed, many skaters are always on the watch for cop cars, and will not hesitate to wrap it up for a day if they see one. In this way, that power dynamic is not avoided; the mere idea that police officers could be present, or could stop and detain you at anytime, or are an antagonist that one always has to be cognizant of when trying to have fun induces what could be called a paranoia in the skater. Although it may not always effect itself, it's there. As long as the power dynamic is there, the othering of skateboarders will occur. As long as the "others" continue to congregate illicitly and remake city space in the face of authority saying otherwise, the process of asserting a right to the city will always be present in something as seemingly innocuous as skating around. [1]
So, as it stands now, skateboarding - despite the precedent and clear avenues for it - remains illegal at the Providence Rink. The enforcement may be lax, but it is still codified and always remains to be used against those that would challenge it in the name of using city spaces in new ways. Nevertheless, perhaps all is not naught for the skateboarders. As they continue to claim their right to the city through their practices everyday, perhaps some friendly admirer will help out in their struggle...
:)
Bibliography
1. Borden, I. (2001). Another pavement, another beach: Skateboarding and the performative critique of architecture. In Skateboarding, space and the city: Architecture and the body. Oxford, England: Berg.
2. Daskalaki, M., & Mould, O. (2013). Beyond urban subcultures: Urban subversions as rhizomatic social formations. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 37(1), 1-18.
3. Fischer, C. S. (1995). The subcultural theory of urbanism: A twentieth-year assessment.American Journal of Sociology, 101(3), 543-577.
4. Iveson, K. (2013). Cities within the city: Do-It-Yourself urbanism and the right to the city. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 37(3), 941-956.
2. Daskalaki, M., & Mould, O. (2013). Beyond urban subcultures: Urban subversions as rhizomatic social formations. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 37(1), 1-18.
3. Fischer, C. S. (1995). The subcultural theory of urbanism: A twentieth-year assessment.American Journal of Sociology, 101(3), 543-577.
4. Iveson, K. (2013). Cities within the city: Do-It-Yourself urbanism and the right to the city. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 37(3), 941-956.