I've been interested in creating a methodology for identifying where people skateboard in their neighbourhoods and around their cities. Of course the challenging part of this is that it the presence of someone skateboarding is ephemeral. You only really know someone is doing it if you happen to witness them. The other options for understanding where and people skate and have been skating is through changes to the built environment (the creation of a park, the linear scraping of paint, the compressed shine of a wood, the removal of caps, or the addition of wax to certain surfaces).
Skate wax is something I find particularly interesting because it is often applied to concrete surfaces, like curbs, metal rails, and other uneven surfaces. In the city and suburbs of the west, the land where the car truely rules, concrete curbs are everywhere. Previously in some cities, curbs wheere made from painted granite. A city couldn't formulate a better low ledge for a skateboarder today. Granite is hard, dense, and smooth, the thick paint would add even more slickness. Now concrete curbs are extruded, and highly textured, but still everywhere. To grind a low textured ledge, skate wax is added to smooth out the surface and allow the deck or trucks to glide more easily. Often "skate wax" is only a product sold, and it's a lot more common to see a dollar store parafin candle passed around for curbs, ledges, and rails.
Skate wax is easy to spot once you know what you're looking for. It can be a dirty, grey sheen, coming off the concrete, or cinnamon scented sticky red layer on a rail. What I find interesting is because it is not as ephemeral as a skateboarder, but respondes to weather and time, coming away, or continually built up by years of skaters at a specific spot, it actually carries a lot of context. It tells us that maybe someone was skating here, but a little while ago, or maybe that a spot is beloved and well used by many, or maybe that a place got really hot or cold, or a peices of infrastructure came apart. There is so much contextual value that is carried through wax. It offers a form of dating for a creative physical activity that looks for unsual ways to leverage the environment to it's advantage.
To be quite honest I think I've made a case for myself at least as to the value in skate wax, and the variety of information that can be gleaned from it's presence about a place, and how it can be used. I really need to flush out those tools now lol
I'm thinking a walking audit will offer an approach to counting skate wax.