Document Type

Thesis - University Access Only

Award Date

2002

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department / School

Geography

Abstract

The popular culture and sport of skateboarding has altered the urban landscape on both a micro and macro scale throughout western society, and cultural geography can help explain how that came to be. Skateboarders have advanced their maneuvers to the point where they can now ollie on to elements of the cityscape and perform grind variations across them for "extreme sport" entertainment. They are performing stunts on the designed city terrain that architects, landscape architects, and the general public never would have dreamed possible. As an attempt to remedy this problem, as many perceived it, communities began building skateboard parks, or skateparks. Skateparks serve to relocate skateboard activity from the popular skate-spots of the city streets to parks with skateboard friendly terrain and obstacles. Skateparks are conglomerations of elements of typically aesthetically pleasing cityscapes. They are composed of handrails, embankments, half pipes, curbs, steps, and sometimes dry swimming pools. Although skateparks are composed of the visually pleasing structures of cities, there has been a NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) attitude toward their placement within communities. Skaters historically have been shunned by the public, and citizens have been apprehensive toward acceptance of skateparks. Site selection of community skateparks has been, and may continue to be, an urban geography problem for many cities. Surveys were conducted and analyzed to get some idea of the importance of certain amenities near potential skatepark sites. Conclusions and site selection suggestions are given based on research, survey results and available literature.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Skateboarding Skateboarding parks Urban geography

Format

application/pdf

Number of Pages

65

Publisher

South Dakota State University

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