SKATEBOARDERS' PARADISE: No one can have failed to notice the creeping dominance of our public urban spaces by teenage skateboarders. Environment correspondent Frank McDonald on the craze that is re-shaping our cities
Sam Stephenson could never have imagined when he designed the Central Bank more than 25 years ago that its plaza would become a skateboarders' paradise. But then, the idealistic architects of Temple Bar never thought all their alcoves would be used as "pissoirs".
The Central Bank has taken counter-measures, of course. Even before railing off its steps against a gang of "Goths" hanging about the place, it had corners cut into granite upstands on the open plaza to thwart jumping skateboarders. But this deterrent was only partially successful.
The ESB tried a similar tack outside its headquarters on Fitzwilliam Street in Dublin by attaching small stone cubes to the granite podium in front. However, these are being hacked off by the skateboarders so that they can continue using the place as a venue for their own brand of fun.
Jumping skateboarders are destroying the perimeter of the Bank of Ireland, just around the corner in Baggot Street. Indeed, it seems that nowhere is safe from their antics - not even public parks designed for everyone's enjoyment, rather than for an energetic, youthful few.
Look what happened to Wolfe Tone Park, on Jervis Street. Once surrounded by high railings, it was opened up and re-designed by Peter Cody, a young Dublin architect, following a competition in 1998, with austere hard landscaping, new trees and five concrete benches.
Even then, he knew that skateboarding might present a problem, so the benches were to have timber tops with regularly-spaced gaps to deter jumping. But selecting the right timber presented a problem and, in the meantime, the park became another skateboarders' paradise.
Dublin City Council reacted by bolting timber battens into the concrete in what one must presume is a crude, temporary measure aimed at restoring the park to public use. And it has worked: on recent sunny days, lots of people were sitting out on the timber-strapped benches.
Wolfe Tone Park, as re-made, will only come into its own when the conversion of St Mary's Church into a pub and restaurant is completed. The intention here is that its tables will spill out into the northern end of the park - hopefully not with a physical boundary between the two.
The problem is that skateboarding precludes more passive uses of public space. In other countries, some municipal authorities have recognised this by providing purpose-built skateboarding facilities for afficionados to indulge their passion. But so far, there are none here.
Even if we had similar facilities, skateboarders might not use them. After all, as Peter Cody conceded, "it's part of their culture to do it in the street rather than go to some designated place".
And if they're shunted on from public plazas, they'll find somewhere else to play.
