Säröjä kaupunkitilassa: parkour

In this article we take a look at parkour, a newurban physical discipline. We present parkour fromdifferent angles, taking into account various issuesin geography and urban studies that it raises andforces to reinterpret. First we set out to trace thebackground of parkour and its media representation,after which we discuss parkour as an exampleof urban youth cultures. We then take a look at itspotential for interpreting the aesthetics of everyday,banal landscapes. In order to provide parkour witha broad theoretic and historic framework, we takea look at earlier endeavors to reinvent urban space,e.g. Baudelaire’s flâneur and the avant-garde experimentsof surrealists and situationists. Through theencounters of practitioners of parkour (traceurs)with other people, we analyze the unwritten rules ofhow to use public space. Our analysis of this aspectof parkour is guided by the concepts of tight spacesand loose spaces. We conclude that parkour challengesthe way people interact with urban space, andthe way the city is experienced in terms of aestheticappearance and accessibility to (semi-)public space.At the end of our article, we suggest some subjectsfor further research