This is a resource for advocates and planners seeking information about public skateparks. If you’re working on a public skatepark project — or interested in starting one — you’re in the right place.
We know that a skatepark will improve your community in lots of ways. Skateparks are awesome and people love them because they provide essential social, psychological, emotional, and physical benefits. Young people like them because they’re cool. Parks departments like them because they cost almost nothing to operate. Communities have spoken; skateparks are popular recreational facilities.
There are an estimated 4,000 public skateparks in the United States today. Still, a majority of people don’t have access to a safe place to skate. Without a place to go, skaters often find themselves marginalized by their communities and their interests criminalized. It’s no way to support our youth.
In spite of the benefits they offer, skateparks remain difficult facilities to create. They require sustained, effective advocacy, substantial fundraising, and lots of community and inter-agency coordination.
All public skateparks go through a developmental process that starts and ends with community engagement. The project is launched because residents speak out for it, and after it’s open the community keeps the skatepark healthy and active. Practically all public skateparks today were the result of sustained, volunteer-led advocacy and fundraising campaigns. Every community possesses the skills and resources to produce a public skatepark, and every community deserves access to a local skatepark.
Skatepark.org is the collected advice and wisdom from advocates all over the world. This site, and its companion book, Public Skatepark Development Guide, were made possible through the contributions of skatepark advocates and advocacy groups from across the United States, and with support from the Tony Hawk Foundation.
Popular Skatepark.org content:
Start a New Skatepark Project
Table of Contents
New Skatepark Timeline
Who Are Skateboarders?
Site Selection
Common Issues and Answers
Cost Estimates
Fundraising Strategy
Strategic support from Tony Hawk Foundation
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