The many benefits of skateparks

Skateboarding grows in popularity

Skateparks are now common in cities and towns worldwide. Thanks to their considerable community appeal, skateparks are not only being built by private companies and local groups but also often incorporated into new housing developments and urban improvement schemes.

Skateparks can help revitalise city parks, rejuvenate urban spaces, attract young people, and improve the quality of life for communities.

Their size and structure can vary, from ad hoc prefabricated plywood units to sophisticated concrete plazas that can challenge even the most skilled and experienced skateboarders.

Innovation in skatepark design and construction continues to grow as demand for skatepark construction increases in both the public and private sectors.

Sporting trends, new building techniques and materials, aesthetic appeal and environmental considerations shape developments in skatepark construction.

Popularity of skateboarding

Skateboarding is a high-speed sport that requires agility, balance and nerve. Its popularity has spread, and the sport has dedicated clubs, magazines, online channels, and apparel.

Its appeal is primarily to teenagers who can spend hours practising, but young adults are increasingly attracted to it. It originated in California's surfing scene but soon spread worldwide.

With technological advances, skateboards have become lighter, faster and more durable. It is not without its risks. Performing tricks requires balance, coordination and quick thinking at high speed to avoid injury.

Helmets and protective pads can mitigate the risks of skateboarding, but the thrill of spills is integral to the appeal.

Skatepark design and development

Traditional skatepark design centres on a square or rectangular layout, with jumps and berms arranged in various patterns.

Modern skateparks come in all shapes and sizes, with many designed to integrate into existing urban spaces. Skatepark designers have risen to the challenges posed by demanding skateboarders, environmental constraints, and limited budgets.

Creative skatepark building allows new parks or plazas to be incorporated into multi-use developments or 'shaped' to complement existing public spaces.

Traditional parks often mimic the 'street plaza' features typified by the sharp geometry that echoes city architecture. At the same time, modern layouts opt for more 'transitional' free-flowing curvilinear and bowl-like forms.

Skatepark designers often seek creative, original ways to combine traditional and contemporary layouts with plaza-like street forms and transitional elements.

Skatepark construction materials

As interest in skateboarding boomed, many companies emerged, providing cheap prefabricated structures made of wood, metal and polymers that could be easily installed on an existing concrete or tarmac base.

However, many proved unpopular with skateboarders due to limited designs, damaged surfaces from regular use, high maintenance costs, and safety concerns.

Skateboard structures bolted together to resemble a real skatepark rarely retain their initial appeal, and many companies that offer these 'cheap' alternatives can go out of business.

Most skateboarders favoured concrete surfaces and cast-in-place custom-built plazas, which long outlasted parks built with prefabricated materials.

Concrete provides design flexibility, requires little maintenance, and provides the best grip for skateboarding in all weathers. It requires specialised construction skills and is more expensive to build initially, but it yields long-term cost savings.

Skate plazas constructed with precast concrete structures are as durable as ordinary concrete parks, but skaters often find them unattractive, dull and lacking appeal.

Many skaters agree that the only material suitable for an outdoor skatepark is free-form cast-in-place concrete.

The case for building a skatepark

There are many reasons for communities to consider building a new skatepark. Here are just some of the reasons:

 A well-designed and constructed skatepark will last many years with little maintenance. Plazas in the UK have been operating for over 30 years with little more than occasional maintenance.
 Skateboarders are generally under-resourced, despite offering healthy outdoor exercise for modern youth and being the third most popular recreational activity among teenagers.
 Skateboarding, like BMX riding, has been an everyday activity in urban areas for many years and is now a fixed and enduring part of popular youth culture.
 Skateboarding is a relatively inexpensive activity that requires little equipment, provided there is a place to enjoy it.
 Skating in a well-designed park is much safer than skateboarding in the street, and skateparks are public recreational places that can help bind communities together.
 Skateparks have been shown to improve users' health and well-being and to reduce social exclusion and antisocial behaviour. The skatepark will not only benefit users but also serve as an asset to the entire community.

More on skateparks

 Building a skatepark
 Skatepark terms
 Skatepark design