Skatepark System Planning in Vancouver, WA |
|
Monday, 06 August 2007 |
|
Vancouver, Washington sits on the bank of the Columbia River just across from Portland, Oregon – a region with many communities establishing top notch skatepark facilities.
Clark County and the city of Vancouver consolidated their respective parks departments into the joint Vancouver-Clark Parks & Recreation Department (1997). The first piece of their skate terrain puzzle was established in 1998 – when public skateparks were in their infancy. As with any version 1.0, aspects of that initial offering have proved to be valuable as a learning tool – which factored into the implementation of the next skatepark.
While the finishing touches on that second skatepark have just been completed, the visionaries in Vancouver / Clark County P&R are in the process of several additional skatespots: one completed, two currently under construction, and one to be built in the near future. In fact, skateboarding facilities are being considered for every new public park in Clark County during the master planning process that is currently underway. This mix of larger skateparks and smaller skate opportunities is a beautiful model – one that many communities would be wise to pay attention to.
|
|
Last Updated ( Saturday, 08 September 2007 )
|
|
Read more... [Skatepark System Planning in Vancouver, WA]
|
|
Usage Study Pilot Launched |
|
Saturday, 07 July 2007 |
|
On July 1st SPS launched its first SPS-conducted skatepark research project. The goal of this research is to document the usage of skateparks in several ways to better quantify our understanding of skatepark usage. The results of this three-month pilot should help reveal the impact of certain fixed and dynamic factors on skatepark usage (skaters, bikes, other users, and spectators), such as: Weather, time of day, day of week, policy, size, material design, and site amenities.
To our best knowledge this is the first time skateparks have ever been studied in this way and the results should provide some solid insight for skatepark planners in the future. The field research will be concluded in September.
UPDATE:
The pilot was a success! With hundreds of field visits cataloged, patterns clearly emerged about the way we use skateparks. Some shortcomings were found in the study, however, and those have been fixed. The study was officially launched and we'll have solid observations in a few months.
|
|
Last Updated ( Saturday, 01 December 2007 )
|
|
|
Monday, 26 March 2007 |
|
May 25th, 2007, Skaters for Public Skateparks' contributors met in Austin, Texas to meet, skate, and talk about the year's accomplishments and next years plans. Presentations were made by Ideal Skateparks founder Seth Johnson, SPS Publishing Director Peter Whitley, Tony Hawk Foundation Executive Director Miki Vuckovich, SPS Executive Director Kent Dahlgren, and a host of others.
|
|
Last Updated ( Sunday, 08 July 2007 )
|
|
Read more... [2007 SPS Summit Report]
|
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next > End >>
|
| Results 17 - 20 of 20 |
