Jump Lisbon! Notes from an ethnography of urban flows

Parkour is a relatively new practice in Portugal. It became popular in Lisbon because it has some public places, including Telheiras and the Parque das Nações, that are appreciated by parkour protagonists. Telheiras has a very special architecture that is ideal for parkour jumping, while the Parque das Nações is a renewed part of the city with good areas and is well served by public transport promoting the meetings between traceurs from across the city and the country. Focusing on the results of an ethnography that has these two points as its main research fields, we will discuss how an examination of these practices requires the construction of an ethnography of urban flows within a multi-scale analysis. This article is based on the results of doctoral research. Intensive fieldwork was carried out with participant observation and the use of ethnographic methodology in an attempt to understand the traceurs’ map of Lisbon.