[[alternative]]The Utopia of Skateboarder in Taiwan

[[abstract]]Skateboard, a grass-roots sport on the street, has been in Taiwan for almost ten years. Three years ago, a succession of utopian spaces—extreme sport parks—have appeared and caught skateboarders’ attention. Because of that, there were suddenly fewer skateboarders on the street. The space in the park did make the skateboarders have different imaginations, but according to the researcher’s observation, the skateboarders went back to the street one after another. For the skateboard players, the space in the park was completely different from the space on the street. The park was built by the government for convenient practice. The differences of these two spaces didn’t mean opposites. On the contrary, we could observe the players’ attempt to complement these two spaces by traveling between one and the other. The texts used in this thesis are two representative spaces in Taipei City. One is Zhong Shan Extreme Sport Park; the other is Zhongshan Hall Square. The researcher participated in the sport and interviewed the skateboarders to observe their lifestyle in the spaces. The purpose was to clarify the skateboarders’ position to travel between spaces: They did so not only for mental complementary. Actually, the lifestyle in spaces was the spirit of skateboard. This thesis begins with the differences of the community ideologies in the two spaces. In French scholar, Henri Lefebvre’s(1901-1991) viewpoint, the thesis explains skateboarders’ lifestyle of floating between two spaces. With his brilliant theory--production of space--, Lefebvre explains the relationship between body and space: a relationship between “space as a symbol of knowledge and power” and “space giving people the imagination of body.” This thesis understands the world of skateboard from a prevailing point of view, explaining the reasons why specific adolescent community love skateboard. As for theory study, the researcher applies Lefebvre’s notion of production of space, in which Lefebvre highlights that the research on space cannot be free from the influence of politics and economics. Therefore, to discuss space, the researcher also applies M. Foucoult’s viewpoint of “heterotopia” as the basis. Though in two spaces, the skateboarders demonstrate themselves in similar ways, presenting the consistent process in which their bodies precept spaces. On the other hand, the development of spaces also portrays the skateboarders’ real lives. Furthermore, the skateboarders reappear on the street not only for identifying themselves but also for expressing their dissatisfaction with the present situation.