May 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 71

Often, it is best to design a skatepark as a two-stage (or more) project
so that the available financing allows
at least some of the park to be completed, which can help build support
for the next phase or phases.
Designing the Park to
Meet Local Needs
Community engagement is key to
developing successful skateparks
given local realities. It may be best
to start with an analysis of the community - its economy, demographics, location of existing parks and
schools, traffic patterns, location
of emergency services and the like.
Possible locations for a park are chosen, to include geophysical factors
such as slopes, soil stability and potential floodplains.
Often, the objective is to find a site
that will be usable without major
work in site preparation so that the
maximum possible amount of the
budget can be directed into facilities
that make the skatepark itself truly
spectacular.
Under this planning process, the
early stage of information gathering
helps guide two kinds of stakeholder
meetings.
First, a community meeting might
be called to provide information
about the idea of a skatepark, with
the purpose being to gather evidence
about the best possible location, respond to community concerns and
find supporters in the community.
A second meeting can then follow,
intended to engage the local skating
enthusiast community to design a
park that will support their vision.
Help at this stage can often come
from members of the community
who are avid skaters, who travel to
other skateparks and have informed
themselves about what works. The

Los Angeles youth showcase their individuality with customized skateboards. Some
skateparks also encourage artistic expression through graffiti tagging.

group can be shown pictures and
diagrams of possible elements to
include - bowls, rollers, quarter-pipes, hubbas, benches, steps,
rails and other features.
One way to bring the community's
ideas to life is to give the skaters large
sheets of paper and drawing pens,
which allows them to show what
elements they want to include. The
resulting diagrams are attached to
the wall, and each skater present is
given three small stickers so they can
attach one sticker to each of three
elements that they would like to see
in the park. This low-technology way
of voting is transparent and yields a
good idea of the desired future park.
The designer's experience then
comes into play - perhaps by pointing out that some distances in the
park are too great to jump, or maybe
that there is a need for features suitable for very young skaters, perhaps
in the 4-to-5-year-old range. Various
specialists and pro skaters can be
brought in to test the design ideas.

The park can also be announced
online so other skaters and BMXers
from abroad can visit.
With this guidance, it is possible
to design a park that fits the terrain
and other site conditions. Some designers will then render this as a rotatable, 3-D computer-based image.
This image forms a basis for further
discussion with the skating community, and once there is at least rough
consensus on the design, the park
can become a reality.
All skateparks/BMX parks have
unique elements and/or combination of elements that are special to
that community, like the " floating
pretzel " at Chinguacousy Skatepark
in the Toronto suburb of Brampton.
True innovation and inspiration is the
byproduct of specially designed youth
consultations and involvement.
Patrick G. Morello, CSLA, OALA, ASLA, IFLA,
is Principal of LANDinc, an urban design and
planning, infrastructure and landscape
architecture firm (pmorello@LANDinc.ca).

W W W. N R PA . O R G | M AY 2 0 1 4 |

Parks & Recreation

May 2014 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of May 2014 - Parks & Recreation