“Where capitalism sub-divides and controls, measures and turns land into a commodity – in short, produces abstract space – skaters created spatial enclaves within Los Angeles and, subsequently, other cities worldwide. This is one of skateboarding’s central features, adopting and exploiting a given physical terrain in order to present skaters with new and distinctive uses other than the original function of that terrain.” (Borden, 2001, p. 29, Skateboarding, Space and the City: Architecture and the Body).
The above quote typifies the whole existence of the Undercroft as an organically created cultural hub of activity. The way in which Borden (who has spoken on the Southbank Centre’s Festival Wing, but is also one of the architects behind the new Hungerford Bridge skatepark design proposed by the Southbank Centre, from their demolishing of the Undercroft) speaks so vividly of the sense of skateboarders transforming the space in which they find themselves in, and the subsequent need to adapt these places in order to fit in with their own artistic needs, is precisely how the Undercroft came into its current being. Indeed this correlates with the way in which skateboarding came to be in the world.
In the documentary, Dogtown and Z-Boys, the birth of skateboarding is explored in how children using skateboards would almost take over areas or parts of California, which they deemed appropriate to fit their skateboarding needs. In those times of the 1970s, as skateboarding was in its infancy, there were hardly any purpose built skateparks. In this climate, boarders would use drained swimming pools and other areas to hone and develop their trade. This how the Undercroft came to be used by boarders and other artists, as they found a disused space. This is a clear indication to me of the Undercroft’s immediate connection with how skateboarding came to being across the world, and that the users of the Undercroft today can trace their lineage back to those pioneers who would change the tide of sport forever.
Culture With A Capital U 
A very thoughtful project on who ‘owns culture’. I hope that your film and blog will become an important part of raising awareness about the Southbank undercroft and its importance to skateboarders and the general public. I am looking forward to seeing the film in the public realm.