Skateboard Urbanism on the Rise

As Cassie Owens writes on Next City, the proliferation of skate parks around the country marks the surge of skateboarders becoming more civically engaged that want to take urban design seriously. In Owens word, "the kids who clung to their boards in the ’80s and ’90s have grown up, some of them into advocates." This advocacy is seen all across the United States as various cities such as San Antonio, Seattle, Portland, and Philadelphia begin designing skate plaza programs, skate spots, and even skateboard routes.

With upwards of 12 million skaters in the US according to market research firm Board-Trac, these suburban and urban dwellers are looking for legal spots to practice their craft. Even though skating activists often have to push state, city, and private funders to raise millions of dollars for these projects (as in the case of Franklin's Paine Skatepark in Philadelphia), cities see these investments as ways to potentially curtail illegal, unauthorized skating.

However, many times these design implementations can be simple fixtures less than 1,500 ft. Indeed, Owens illustrates how the, "range of design options allow planners to start small when cash-strapped and reach audiences outside of teens with dreams of making the X Games. And with the diversity found among skateboarders, building a new bowl in the neighborhood may not stir fears of gentrification as other projects might."