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peejayohhsee.bsky.social
Paul O'Connor
@peejayohhsee.bsky.social
210 followers 150 following 17 posts
Sociologist - University of Exeter
Skateboarding Scholarship
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Reposted by Paul O'Connor
leisurestudies.bsky.social
Most Cited Research Article 🛹

Skateboarding in the Anthropocene: Grey spaces of polluted leisure.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

#Skateboarding #Leisure #GreySpaces
July 2, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Reposted by Paul O'Connor
leisurestudies.bsky.social
New Research Article 📚

The leisure of grey spaces, urban play and the chromatic turn.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

#Leisure #GreySpaces #Environment
June 10, 2025 at 11:02 AM
peejayohhsee.bsky.social
The Editorial to our Special Issue on Grey Spaces and Chromatic Leisure for @leisurestudies.bsky.social is now published. @indigowilling.bsky.social @benjaminduester.bsky.social @sanderholsgens.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
The leisure of grey spaces, urban play and the chromatic turn
Published in Leisure Studies (Ahead of Print, 2025)
www.tandfonline.com
June 7, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Reposted by Paul O'Connor
lindakopitz.bsky.social
Next up in our Seminar Series on ‘Playable Cities’ at @uvahumanities.bsky.social: On April 25, @peejayohhsee.bsky.social will give a guest lecture on “Play through the Grey Prism: Addressing Chromatic Leisure in Cities“ 🛹

www.cities.humanities.uva.nl/news/asca-ci... @carobirdsall.bsky.social
April 14, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Reposted by Paul O'Connor
alisonstenning.bsky.social
Lots of really interesting looking papers coming out in the “grey spaces” special issue of @leisurestudies.bsky.social - making time post-strike to read them all.
abikaras.bsky.social abi karas @abikaras.bsky.social · Mar 21
wrote about grey spaces, russia and the capitalocene. hope this enriches the chromatic leisure paradigm in some way ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
I believe that the use of the term ‘Capitalocene’, which locates climate change and ecological breakdown within the history of capitalism and colonialism is particularly relevant in the contemporary Russian context. This is not only due to the high levels of inequality experienced within the country but in particular because of Russia’s status as a petrostate and in light of its war against Ukraine, an explicitly imperial endeavour with wide-reaching environmental consequences
March 25, 2025 at 2:00 PM
peejayohhsee.bsky.social
Fantastic new paper on Roofers and the grey spaces of the capitolocene framed by the skyline of St Petersburg. Bravo!
abikaras.bsky.social abi karas @abikaras.bsky.social · Mar 21
wrote about grey spaces, russia and the capitalocene. hope this enriches the chromatic leisure paradigm in some way ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
I believe that the use of the term ‘Capitalocene’, which locates climate change and ecological breakdown within the history of capitalism and colonialism is particularly relevant in the contemporary Russian context. This is not only due to the high levels of inequality experienced within the country but in particular because of Russia’s status as a petrostate and in light of its war against Ukraine, an explicitly imperial endeavour with wide-reaching environmental consequences
March 21, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Reposted by Paul O'Connor
alisonstenning.bsky.social
This is just a selection of the photos I’ve taken on Tyneside. It’s clear to see the kinds of spaces they are erected in - green & grey spaces on post-war estates, spaces that afford easy doorstep playing & hanging out, in communities experiencing disinvestment with few other accessible facilities.
A screenshot of some my iPhone album of photos of No Ball Games signs across Tyneside
March 18, 2025 at 8:26 AM
peejayohhsee.bsky.social
1) Grey Play - taking down the no ball games signs on a Lambeth Housing Estate. Good to see the urban debate on play gathering momentum... www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Yes, ball games: drive to take down signs warning against play begins in London
Charity says thousands of signs on capital’s estates deter children from being active, and is covering some of them up
www.theguardian.com
March 18, 2025 at 9:24 AM
Reposted by Paul O'Connor
skateorphi.bsky.social
I’m calling it, spring is here! @peejayohhsee.bsky.social in Rotterdam
March 13, 2025 at 9:19 PM
peejayohhsee.bsky.social
A new article by @skateorphi.bsky.social 'Skateboarding, Pollution, Decolonisation' in Leisure Studies, another superb and novel contribution to our Special Issue on Chromatic Leisure and Grey Spaces. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Skateparks, pollution, and decolonisation
Street skateboarding, known for its appropriation of urban architecture and space, is thought to be a decolonialising force in city streets through its manifesting of Indigenous concepts such as th...
www.tandfonline.com
March 12, 2025 at 7:41 PM
peejayohhsee.bsky.social
New Special Issue of Sport & Society on Surf and Skate scholarship. Papers on surfing mixed in with work on skate scenes in Tijuana and Northern Ireland, a paper on skaters of colour, and our own ( @skateorphi.bsky.social @texturologies.bsky.social ) on sound. www.tandfonline.com/toc/fcss20/2...
Sport in Society
Surfing and Skateboarding; Michael James Roberts,Kristin Lawler. Volume 28, Issue 2 of Sport in Society
www.tandfonline.com
March 1, 2025 at 4:57 PM
peejayohhsee.bsky.social
Another valuable research paper on the therapeutic side of skateboarding. Really please to see this in print after spending some time in Inverness and seeing some of this project unfold with Mari and Marc. @leisure-studies.bsky.social - Open Access. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
A different gravitation: acceptance of authentic selves, becoming through doing, and support through connection within a Highland skatepark
Previous research has suggested that skateparks can provide spaces which enhance social, psychological and physical wellbeing, whilst building support and a sense of community. The purpose of this ...
www.tandfonline.com
February 21, 2025 at 8:46 AM
Reposted by Paul O'Connor
jameskneale.bsky.social
What a great idea and argument--looking forward to reading this
alisonstenning.bsky.social Alison Stenning @alisonstenning.bsky.social · Feb 14
This is something I’ve been thinking about for ages, and am pleased Leisure Studies’ special issue on “grey spaces” gave me a change to explore it.

As access to green space is widely promoted, I argue *for* play in grey space.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Children's play in grey spaces: ludic geographies and the chromatic turn Children have long played in 'grey spaces', on doorsteps, roads, car parks, back lanes, but this ludic geography is not uncontested. Debates around the proper place for children's outdoor play, in the UK and beyond, have recurred regularly, with the apparent superiority of green spaces being repeatedly promoted, from the emergence of the first 'play streets' in the mid-twentieth century to the centring and proximity to nature today. Based on research on play on streets in the UK, this paper argues for play in grey spaces. Children often express a preference for these spaces; the physical and social affordances of such grey spaces are many and varied and point to a more nuanced chromatic geography of play. Children's play reflects their valuing of these spaces and children animate - colour - grey spaces as they play in them. The presence of children in and around their neighbourhoods, in ambiguous, undervalued, interstitial spaces, can act as a catalyst for revaluing these spaces, opening possibilities for change and challenge. In all these ways, engaging in and reflecting on play in grey spaces can open up conversations, on the doorstep and beyond, which can - and do - connect to questions of social, spatial and environmental justice.
February 14, 2025 at 10:27 AM
peejayohhsee.bsky.social
Fantastic paper by @alisonstenning.bsky.social on children's play in UK streets. Progressing the discussion of chromatic leisure and advocating for play in grey spaces. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Children’s play in grey spaces: ludic geographies and the chromatic turn
Children have long played in ‘grey spaces’, on doorsteps, roads, car parks, back lanes, but this ludic geography is not uncontested. Debates around the proper place for children’s outdoor play, in ...
www.tandfonline.com
February 14, 2025 at 8:40 PM
peejayohhsee.bsky.social
Turning Green Space into Grey space. This seems like an awful idea to transform 53 hectres of park into all weather pitches. Pleased that women's football is getting support, but need it come at the cost of the little urban green space available. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
‘Dark day for parks’: Plans to build Spurs academy on London green space approved
Residents had unsuccessfully challenged Enfield council in court over club’s plan to build pitches on rewilded area rich in bats and newts
www.theguardian.com
February 12, 2025 at 3:00 PM
peejayohhsee.bsky.social
A short piece on our recent research paper exploring the sound of skateboarding. theconversation.com/the-sound-of...
The sound of skateboarding offers skaters a therapeutic way to connect with the city
It is as if the skateboard is an extended sensory appendage, to feel and hear the world at large.
theconversation.com
January 31, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Reposted by Paul O'Connor
lbilli91.bsky.social
New OPEN ACCESS paper by Stephen Crossley, Gijs van Campenhout and me, about the past, present & future of informal youth football in the UK.

Provides a history of informal football and highlights the dangers of formalisation, containment & instrumentalisation.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
‘It’s a far cry from small boys in the park, jumpers for goalposts. Isn’t it?’ the changing space of informal youth football in the UK
It is often remarked that all that is required for children to play football are ‘jumpers for goalposts’. Space is also required, however, and so is permission to play, and to see the game through....
www.tandfonline.com
January 11, 2025 at 9:01 AM
peejayohhsee.bsky.social
New Publication 'The Skater's Ear' addressing the sensory world of sound for skateboarders - Open Access and free to download www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
The skater’s ear: a sensuous complexity of skateboarding sound
The sound of skateboarding is an issue fraught in controversy: the sound is a common basis for public noise complaints as well as participant praises. We consider a possible basis for this controve...
www.tandfonline.com
January 6, 2025 at 11:22 AM
peejayohhsee.bsky.social
New publication - taking a Jungian approach to #skateboarding www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
The Application of Carl Jung’s Thinking to Action Sports: A Skateboarding Case Study
This paper contributes to the development of psychoanalytical theory in sport philosophy. It addresses the work of Carl Jung and notes the paucity of discussion on his thinking in the realm of spor...
www.tandfonline.com
November 28, 2024 at 3:34 PM
Reposted by Paul O'Connor
lindakopitz.bsky.social
In this year's #ASCA Cities Seminar (co-organized w/ @carobirdsall.bsky.social), we will approach the city through the lens of play with Ekim Tan, @peejayohhsee.bsky.social, Sam Hind, Christoph Borbach and Max Kanderske ✨ Open to all! www.cities.humanities.uva.nl/news/2024-20...
November 26, 2024 at 9:59 AM
peejayohhsee.bsky.social
New Publication post - Conceptualising Grey Spaces in Skateboarding: Generating Theory and Method for use Beyond the Board - in International Review of the Sociology of Sport … journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Conceptualising grey spaces in skateboarding: Generating theory and method for use beyond the board - Paul O’Connor, 2024
This conceptual paper elaborates on the paradigm of ‘grey spaces’ in skateboarding. It presents the fundamentals of the grey spaces concept as a bond between th...
journals.sagepub.com
May 30, 2024 at 12:42 PM