What sports can do

Skate parks in areas of crisis: photo exhibition and presentation at the FSB

Ralf Maier

Cohesion

Sport streng­thens us, espe­ci­ally in the commu­nity. When ever­yday life really chal­lenges us, our need for balance and stabi­lity becomes even greater. We know that, studies show that.

The importance of sports and sports faci­li­ties in crisis areas is ther­e­fore simply huge. The FSB shows this impres­si­vely with the photo exhi­bi­tion “Iden­tity through Skate Parks” and the lecture “Skate Parks — elements of peace­ma­king in crisis areas”.

Skating faci­li­ties combine sports, indi­vi­dual and social aspects. They offer less stan­dar­dised compe­ti­tion areas and leave plenty of room for indi­vi­dua­lity. It’s not about personal bests, it’s about iden­tity, self-confi­dence and cohe­sion. In crisis areas, skate parks are ther­e­fore a school for life.

Exhibition and lecture

Ralf Maier has built many such faci­li­ties — inclu­ding Afgha­ni­stan, Beth­lehem, Namibia, India and most recently in Damascus. The photo exhi­bi­tion “Iden­tity through Skate Parks” at the exhi­bi­tion boule­vard shows its faci­li­ties throug­hout the entire FSB, namely from 5 to 8 November 2019 — on large-format, impres­sive pictures with lots of happy people.

Under the title “Skate Parks — elements of peace­ma­king in crisis areas”, Ralf Maier pres­ents these projects (and more) on 7 November at the FSB. The lecture is part of Land­scape Archi­tect Day orga­nised by the BDLA.

Who does something like this?

In order to imple­ment such projects, you indeed need a few coura­geous and deter­mined people. One of these is Titus Ditt­mann, a former sports teacher and himself a pioneer of skate­boar­ding in Germany. He reco­g­nised the huge poten­tial of skate parks for huma­ni­ta­rian projects and founded the skate-aid foun­da­tion. Today, skate-aid is the moral and often the finan­cial sponsor of the vast majo­rity of projects presented at the FSB.

Another is Ralf Maier, founder and owner of Maier Land­schafts­ar­chi­tektur / Beton­land­schaften (Cologne). The long-stan­ding BMX profes­sional and world cham­pion has been lending his support to skate-aid since the crea­tion of the foun­da­tion in 2009 in the role of hono­rary planner and land­scape archi­tect.

Visit Maier Land­schafts­ar­chi­tektur

Diversification

Once completed, the skate parks will remain super­vised and offer free recrea­tional acti­vi­ties for children and young people, and of course regard­less of age, reli­gion, skin colour, social class and gender. In addi­tion to work­shops with free skate­board lessons, skate­boards, access­ories and protec­tive gear are provided. It also takes a lot of courage, resources and people to do it all.

Ther­e­fore, skate faci­li­ties are an important and sustainable contri­bu­tion to peace work in affected regions, which can change society on the ground. Sport can achieve all this.

Take a look.

Links…

…und further Infor­ma­tion

Exhibition

“Iden­tity through Skate Parks”
FSB Boule­vard
5 to 8 November 2019, all day

Pumptrack Seminar

Pump tracks – The New Roller Sports Faci­li­ties

BDLA Day

Program and further infor­ma­tionen

Further Informationen

Dipl.-Ing. Ralf Maier
maier land­schafts­ar­chi­tektur
Rösra­ther Straße 769
D‑51107 Cologne

Trade Fair

FSB 
Fach­messe für Frei­raum, Sport- und Bewe­gungs­ein­rich­tungen

skate-aid

skate-aid inter­na­tional e.V.
Wall­straße 86
D — 10179 Berlin 

Exhibition

“Iden­tity Foun­da­tion through Skate Parks”
FSB Messe-Boule­vard
5 to 8 November 2019, all day

maier landschaftsarchitektur at the FSB

Hall 7.1 | Stand D042

Text

Johannes Bühl­be­cker
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