Patterns of social interaction

skateparks, was the strategy selected to highlight if the two variables were related. In space syntax theory, choice measures how likely an axial line or a street segment it is to be passed through on all shortest routes from all spaces to all other spaces in the entire system (Hillier et al., 1987). Normalised angular choice (NACH) is an average choice by total depth for each segment in the system (Hillier et al., 2012).

Patterns of social interaction

In order to record the behaviour of the actors in Mile End, the preferred shared location found with SNA methods, the use of space syntax observation techniques such as traces and snapshots describe the dynamic among skaters and general users in the skatepark.

First, traces of forty single individuals recorded the routes of their movements for five minutes. Inactivity and interaction among individuals are what was recorded. Second, snapshots mapped the main activities found in Mile End, differentiating between the places of interaction and non-interaction of the users as well as other activities (sitting, standing waiting to tricks, standing public).

Consequently, the shape of the final methodology consisted of a combination of mapping, spatial analysis and sociometric methods that were explained in this section of the dissertation.

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4. Results of analysis

London’s community of skaters and their movement around the city’s skateparks was studied in this section. The following section addresses how this phenomenon is shaped from the city scale to the human embodiment in one of the London’s skatepark. The analysis of the bonding and interaction among the members of the skater community from the traced networks was done.

Eight skateparks as interviews sites, and fifty-four additional locations served as the final data for constructing the networks. The in-depth study of the city skateparks’ networks of practice and their user’s characteristics (frequency of usage, gender, profession, and interaction during the sport practice) was done in six steps. The first one was the analysis of the skateparks’ infrastructure distribution in London. The second was the skateparks–skaters network of practice (two-mode network) showed the most popular locations among the community. The third, the skateparks–skateparks network of practice (one-mode network) showed the most shared practice locations among the interviewed users. The fourth, the skaters–skaters network of practice (one-mode network) shows the users’ characteristics. The fifth was a measurement of the popularity of the city’s skateparks by the analysis of the distance travelled to visit the skateparks, using the average NACH r: n of the destinations. Finally, after systematic observations were made in the shared practice location, movement patterns and snapshots were recorded.

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