Public spaces and sport-related recreational practices: The expression of a sport-based urban culture

摘要

With the development of new sport-related recreational practices over the past two decades, the social uses of public spaces and utilities have evolved. Skaters, rollers, joggers and all sort of street sports became new figures of the urban landscape that cannot be ignored. This article analyses the relations between the sports practitioners and their activity spaces - but also the relationship between them and others urbanites. This gives food for thought on the role of public spaces in contemporary cities. Beyond the conflicts or the conviviality observed, what do we learn about urban social relations? Do these sporting activities contribute to in the social fragmentation of the city? In an attempt to answer those questions, our analysis shows the specificity of new sport-related recreational practices as urban habits and how they produce their own social bounds while renewing the role of public spaces.