My city moving, parkour: how the practice of parkour deepens the landscape of London

Abstract

This study looks into the relationship between movement and the environment through an anthropological understanding of the manner in which the practice of parkour deepens the landscape of London. An embodied understanding of the practice of parkour – a process called ‘becoming’ – enables anthropology to gain insight into the world of the traceurs. Through ‘parkour vision’, traceurs deepen their perceptions of the city. Movement offers practitioners the possibilities to explore both the social and the physical aspects of the urban environment. Through parkour, traceurs generate shared experience by facing similar challenges and fears. These shared experiences take place directly and indirectly as they become part of the city’s surface itself.