Sliding across a ramp, a 360° Ollie and a backwards somersault against the wall… Rotterdam Zuid was a playground for freerunners and BMXers during Your City 2009.

During YOUR CITY the young people of Rotterdam Zuid and professional architects created a Freestyle Sports stadium and a Rotterdam Street Map. The Freestyle Sports stadium was a sports track constructed with unusual materials such as concrete blocks, silos and containers where each and every Freestyle sportsman and sportswoman could do their thing. The stadium was in the Motorstraat area.

The Rotterdam Street Map is a map including all the favourite spots of the various street sportsmen and women in Rotterdam Zuid. This map shows how young people would like to use their city and its public space for street sports.

Young people and 2012Architecten created a Sports Track, a Freestyle Sports stadium for freestylers where residents and other visitors were also welcome to come and watch. Young people got their hands dirty, quite literally, building this stadium. It was not a traditional stadium with a grass pitch or running tracks but an unpolished area full of car tyres, concrete blocks, cable reels and container doors where freerunners and BMX-bikers could stunt.

The official opening of the Freestyle Sports Stadium was on 26 and 27 November 2009. Young residents gave demonstrations and clinics of their sports in their own arena.

For more pictures please have a look in the gallery.

Iris Schutten and the freerunners created a map of Rotterdam Zuid. During various brainstorming sessions they learnt to see public space through each other’s eyes and put their favourite spots for various street sports on the map.

Download the Streetmap hier.

Freerun pictures: Cornelie de Jong ©2009