As a skateboarder of 20 plus years (even through the lean 80s) I am thrilled to have choices when it comes to terrain. Up until just a few short years ago skaters had to skate where they would be least likely to be busted or…more often the case…skate until they felt that they’d pushed their luck.

Now skaters can choose where they want to skate. Like restaurants, proper skateparks each have a character all their own. When I am bored with one facility I can visit another with different features and surroundings.

Unfortunately what I don’t see in the example pictures is that unique character that is so vital to a sustainable play environment. Where are the places to sit when it’s time to take a break? Where is the shade? Where is the “design” of the place? What the example pictures show is not a skate place but a designated facility for skateboarding…about as charmless and exclusive to remove the “public” in public park.

Landscape architects should be wary of skateparks that look like a few charmless ramps on top of a slab of concrete. A skatepark should be designed with the same expectation of excellence that landscape architects would put to any other part of a public space…invite active and passive participation, make the place pleasing for everyone, and take some pride in the structures. To me, those ramps look like playground equipment. I don’t see a “place” for skateboarders.