"Skateboarding is both a sport and a way of life. Creative, physical, graphic, and controversial, it is full of contradictions - a vibrant feature of the urban world that has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry and yet remains as counter-cultural as ever. Skateboarding and the City presents the only complete history of skateboarding, exploring the story of skate subculture from the surf-beaches of '60s California to the latest developments in street-skating today. Written by a life-long skater who also happens to be an architectural historian, this passionate, readable and rigorously-researched book reveals a vivid understanding of how skateboarders, through their actions, think about and experience the city in a unique way. Packed with full-colour pictures and interviews with the legends of the sport, it explores the history of the sport and its complex relationship with the city, examining skate graphics, film, photography, and the architecture of skate parks along the way. Ultimately, it shows how skateboarding culture sheds light on many of the most fascinating issues of urban life today" --