"the art of displacement"

The original French term for parkour, which translates into English with brilliant ambiguity. The whole spatial, physical movement of parkour, the ability to move through and in a city space; the phrase certainly captures that plus maybe a sense of difference and alternative. On the other hand it is pretty good summary of the attitude of many city centre managers to the presence of street sports; make them go away, not cluttering up the streets and getting in the way of customers and their cash. Displace the skaters, BMXers and free runners to somewhere out of site and out of mind. Here is another view of NEPK displacing the conventional view of a grade II listed building from polite heritage to living, lively space. Displacing, it seems, works in several ways.