New Urban Order: Philly Had the Answer to the Manosphere

Last week, the New York Times published a piece by Willy Staley about a skatepark in Malmö, Sweden that was built from pieces of Philadelphia’s former LOVE Park.

Located at the center of Philadelphia’s downtown, Love Park’s granite benches and ledges improbably turned a public space into a skateboarding mecca. But because Philadelphia in the 1990s and early 2000s was trying to jumpstart a downtown rebound, envisioning a city that appealed to white collar workers, the City thwarted skateboarding at every turn, first banning skateboarding and then eventually renovating the park in the mid-2010s. (I highly recommend this photo essay about the original LOVE Park’s last days.)

Now, that same, board-scratched granite — having reached icon status in the skateosphere — is serving skaters