City Mill Skate – UCL East, Skateboarding and the Public Space

UCL’s City Mill Skate project is working with east London artists and skateboarders to democratise the street and co-create a series of ‘skate dots’ that will form part of the fabric of the new UCL East campus on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Bringing people together across genders, ages and abilities, City Mill Skate uses participatory design to engage the community, including people traditionally not connected to the design of skateable architecture like women and people with disability, in proposing ideas for skateable architecture.

Supported by UCL’s Public Art Programme, the project leads, Esther Sayers and Sam Griffin, led pilot workshops with young people, before sending DIY kits at the start of lockdown in early 2020 – which their vibrant community used and extensively shared on Instagram.

In this talk, Sam and Esther will be joined and introduced by Prof Iain Borden, Professor of Architecture and Urban Culture at The Bartlett, UCL, who will explore the relevance of City Mill Skate to skateboarding, public space and urban design worldwide.