the succinct Definition

"Parkour is a discipline centered around the utility of movement.  It demands that we move, that we think about how we move, and that we train ourselves with the goal of making our movement more effective at achieving our objectives. "

-Rick King, Revolution Parkour Head Instructor

According to David Belle, the founder of parkour:

"Parkour is a way of adapting to the environment around you [...] it's working on techniques through physical training to get over obstacles."

"It can be the art of flight, of the chase, of helping someone with a problem, something ordinary [...] I believe that the end result of Parkour is to become entirely autonomous in life and to be able to say all by yourself, 'Well this here... I don't have the distance, but I'll train for 15 days, drilling 50 jumpsin the morning and at night.  In a month, I'll have it.' That's knowing yourself. Setting goals and attaining them."