|
A typology is a related group of similar items arranged in a way to illustrate their differences and similarities. In the context of skateparks, typology describes the organization of skateparks by size, usage, capacity, and so on.
The styles and typology of skateparks can be as confusing to experienced skateboarders as park planners. The language itself is esoteric and fraught with lingo. Street sections, tranny, oververt, Pier 7 hubba, taco, China bank, tight pocket, and many other terms describe styles of terrain and the distinguishing structures within them. There is also an emerging typology of sizes: regional skatepark, neighborhood skatepark, skate spot, and skate dot.
There exists for today’s skater a spectrum of terrain styles that starts in the public streets and ends in ditches and backyard pools. At one end of the spectrum there are bowls that seek to replicate—and even improve upon—the drained swimming pools from the periods when skateparks were not available. On the other end are those structures and obstacles that mimic popular shapes found in the urban wild: steps, railings, traffic barriers, loading docks, picnic tables, and so on. The two extremes are connected by hybrid designs that fuse the two disciplines into new, unique forms. It is not uncommon to see a classic swimming pool replica with a raised extension (“tombstone”) or a quarterpipe with a parking block attached to the top.
The range of sizes is equally diverse. At one end there are superparks that express 60,000+ square feet of skateboarding paradise. At the other, a single structure placed alongside a sidewalk. In between there are 14,000-square-foot neighborhood parks designed to attract skaters within a three-mile radius, 24,000-square-foot regional skateparks that can easily handle competitive events, skate paths that link obstacles and structures along a linear passage, and the microsite that contains little more than a few devices built up to support 5 or 6 skaters at once.
The broadest delineation in designated skateboarding terrain is whether the space is intended to be used solely by skateboarders (and related users like bikes and inline skates) or designed to attract and accommodate a diverse selection of public uses.
Those skateparks that serve as single-use recreational areas fall into categories broadly defined by their relative sizes.
Skate Dot And Skate Spot
A single structure designed for one skater at a time usually placed within a greater community space. Dots tend to be structures devoted to a specific line of approach or trick while Spots are more diverse structures that support different approaches and a greater variety of tricks.
Microsite
These are the smallest of bonafide skateparks. Several structures placed within a centralized area generally smaller than 6,000 square feet. Designed to accommodate two or three simultaneous skaters or up to a dozen skaters total. Microsites do not seek to represent a broad diversity of terrain and tend to favor street-style replicas and shorter structures requiring little speed. Most microsites do not appear to be exclusively skateboarding areas.
Small Neighborhood Skatepark
A skateboarding facility between 5–10,000 square feet that is generally centralized and designated as a skateboarding area. Neighborhood skateparks can accommodate up to 30 skateboarders total or about 6 simultaneous users. These types of skateparks often seek to offer a diversity of terrain types. Neighborhood skateparks usually require a full advocacy effort to be created.
Regional Skatepark
The largest common skatepark features a full diverse arrangement of terrain and are often as large as 40,000 square feet. There are several regional skateparks in North America larger than 60,000 square feet. Regional skateparks provide a full service to its users; parking, lights, concessions, seating, shade, and so on. Most regional skateparks are intended to attract competitive events. These skateparks can easily handle dozens of simultaneous users.
Skatepark design is still in its infancy and today’s skateboarders are lucky to be witness to some bold new types of “skateparks” that are becoming more popular every day. Skateboarding is increasingly seen as an activity that exists well with other non-skateboarding activity. The second cate-gory of “skatepark” might be described as multi-use urban recreational areas. These types of skate areas are differentiated by their various goals of attracting this athletic activity.
The Liberated Spot
Over the past decade many public parks installed anti-skateboarding devices and displaced the skaters who used the park. Without activity, parks often become secluded places for people to engage in vagrancy or illegal activity. Progressive communities are now understanding the value that skateboarders can bring to their urban parks and doing what they can to attract this type of activity back into the parks. Several major American and Canadian cities have removed their anti-skateboarding devices and embraced the skaters as a vital component to a healthy public space.
Skate Paths
Skate spots, described earlier, are a great way to attract small amounts of activity to areas that can benefit from it. By linking several spots together—either within the space of a quarter-mile or a much farther distance—the dispersed skatepark can create a long string of activity with pedestrian traffic traveling between each of the spots. Some skate paths are dense and span only a few hundred feet with several obstacles arranged along their length while others may create a web-like array across an entire downtown area. This type of solution is very flexible and allows for easy modification to arrest certain undesirable results or to encourage improvement.
Street Plazas
Perhaps one of the most exciting developments in recent years is the skatepark design that does not immediately appear to be a skatepark at all but rather a large, urban public plaza. Upon closer inspection, visitors can see that the elements seem to be designed and placed in curious ways. The arrangement of ordinary benches, ledges, banks, and steps is by careful design to appeal specifically to skateboarders.
Sculpture Gardens
Skateboarding structures are often compared to interactive sculptures and public art due to the characteristic contours and intriguing forms. Skateparks and the communities behind them sometimes leverage this association to its full potential by designating the area a sculpture garden. One obvious advantage is that it potentially provides funding channels that might otherwise be unavailable had the facility been designated for recreational use.
In some contemporary cases skatepark designers have added unique and surprising forms to the skateboarding area that clearly provide some skateboarding potential yet do not replicate or have clear association to more traditional skatepark forms. One might see an enormous steel ribbon that creates undulating forms for skaters to travel across, or a simple concrete hump positioned at the junction of intersecting paths. These sculptures are admired for their visual appeal and interacted with by skateboarders. For everyone the space exudes creative excitement and will attract visitors from all walks of life.
D.I.Y.
Lastly, there is a type of skatepark that has no peer. The sanctioned do-it-yourself site (or DIY) has become a major contender in the maturing world of skateparks.
Cash-poor cities everywhere are challenged by what they know is a lack of skateboarding terrain for their community’s youth but little funds to find a solution. Skateboarders, accustomed to finding the most direct solution to any given problem, have simply begun to build their own skateparks in areas that they perceive to be underutilized. While a majority of these ambitious efforts are removed by cautious city managers, a few of these projects cross the desks of those who can see a mutually beneficial solution. While the city essentially receives a “free” capital improvement, albeit with dubious value, the skaters likewise have a skatepark that they are fully invested in. With a few legal gymnastics, more and more cities are sanctioning these efforts and participating in a bold new kind of dialog with its skateboarding community.
All of the multi-use skateboarding areas, and even aspects borrowed from DIY, can be melded and fused into interesting combinations. For example, a community might envision a multi-use pedestrian path with skateable sculptures dotting its edges, or a liberated plaza with additional skate structures created in its confines to attract even more users. Cities everywhere are exploring these innovative approaches.
Finalizing Design
Skatepark design is a fascinating and emerging field of study. The discipline is populated by only a handful of companies, many routinely turning down lucrative projects for lack of skilled staff. Those communities lucky enough to secure the time and abilities of the world’s best designers are well on their way to creating what precious few communities currently possess—a vital, sustainable skatepark that meets the needs of the entire community.
|
