Alternative Tourism Experience

Alternative Tourism

This task involved creating a curated, niche or alternative tourist experience in and around Edinburgh. Given that our group has a solid foundation knowledge of Edinburgh’s vibrant skateboarding scene from growing up skateboarding on the East Coast, we decided to begin thinking about creating an experience geared towards the travelling skateboarder. Keen skaters are always analysing their surroundings; benches, stairs etc become obstacles and challenges through the eyes of skateboarders. Although not strictly applicable or perhaps too niche for the casual tourist, the app could be of use to someone who wishes to learn more about a particular location.

Beginning our research at Bristo Square, a classic, well documented skateboarding hotspot in the city that had been closed and recently redeveloped by the University of Edinburgh, we were keen to see what was happening in the scene. To give the spot some historical context, Bristo Square had been at the heart of the Edinburgh and even United Kingdom’s skateboarding scene. Having been covered by various news articles in newspapers such as The Guardian and popular youth online publications like Vice in the past, when the news hit that Bristo Square was being redeveloped, it kicked up a fuss between the University and the local skaters that hoped Bristo would be left unchanged. After reopening this year, skateboarders headed back to their favourite spot in the city and Bristo remained at large in the community.

Having visited Bristo twice, (once in the morning, once at night) we were given two contrasting impressions of the different sort of people that use Bristo. In the day, Bristo is mostly used by university students and commuters. This is to be expected as Bristo Square is situated at the centre of the university and offers resources for learning to the university students. In the day there wasn’t too much skateboarding related activity to be seen, only a couple of skaters were using the benches however the weather at the time wasn’t exceptional and given the time of year we only expected as much. Going back at night revealed more skateboarders, the reason for which can pretty much be reduced down to the fact there is less traffic passing by.

The second location we visited was the newly opened “pump track” situated at the bottom of Arthur’s Seat. The pump track was built with the purpose of being a practice station for the (then) upcoming downhill biking world cup at Fort William. The spot is something of a hidden gem and is quite difficult to navigate to without using a Google Maps or some form of GPS. When we arrived, we were surprised to only see younger children with scooters who presumably live in the nearby area using the facility. This isn’t to say that the facility couldn’t be enjoyed by skateboarders, in fact the track is geared well towards skateboarders, the proportions of ramps are good, it’s made from poured concrete. We felt that it would be a good idea to shed some light upon this location as it is a brilliant facility to have in the community and it appeared to be going unused. It’s important to make use of facilities in the community if people want things like the pump track to continue to pop up across the city.

Continuing our search for good skate spots within the city centre we happened upon the steps outside of The National Museum of Scotland which over the summer last year, a skate shop owner had told me had almost become the new Bristo Square. Upon arriving at the Museum, although having seen no skaters, the evidence of a skateboarding presence became clear, blackened ledges and gnarled concrete from slides and grinds. The people were as you’d expect tourists visiting the museum, people commuting to work and students in attending the nearby university buildings. Having skated here that last summer, I know that the museum steps held a welcoming skate related community which is a huge factor and reason why skateboarding has so much interest.

With this information in mind, the idea generated from the research was to propose a mobile phone application geared towards the tourist skater or anyone interested in British skateboarding, its iconic locations and their history. The app could also be marketed towards BMXers, Rollerbladers and Scooters as the locations are applicable to these spots as well. The idea behind the app is to create a tight knit street sports community where people can suggest new locations, discuss locations, post videos or pictures of skateboarding, an animated hub for the Edinburgh skate scene. Having learned from the issues faced by the pump track (seclusion) we deemed it necessary for the app to have a map service that details the quickest and direct routes to the spots across Edinburgh. Taking inspiration from apps like Uber and Google Maps a map citing the hotspots with a GPS would be essential for navigation. Perhaps a “tap to learn more” screen would help streamline the experience for app users and be the most efficient for sourcing information quickly.

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