Our Approach

A person skateboarding on a city street with skateboard mid-air, surrounded by onlookers and tall buildings, with a sign indicating a bike lane.

Skate Urbanism & The Rollerscape

It’s difficult to concisely describe a place that is like a skatepark, but more than just a skatepark. We love skateparks, but we also love integrated skate spots, multi-use public spaces, sculptural playscapes, roller rinks, pump tracks, and everywhere else where wheels can roll. That’s why we coined the term Rollerscape. It’s a landscape where people of all ages and abilities are free to roll, and it can take many different forms.

Our work is informed by the developing field of Skate Urbanism, the practice of designing places where opportunities for skateboarding are woven into everyday public life, not isolated in fenced concrete rectangles. It views skateboarding and other roller sports not as a problem to be contained, but as an activity that makes public space safer, more inclusive, and more alive.

Rollerscape is your guide to implementing that practice - helping municipalities, design firms, and community advocates plan, integrate, and activate rolling spaces that people actually use and love.

Learn more about Skate Urbanism

Roller sports can’t be compartmentalized.

Skateboarding and other roller sports are not golf. They’re not pickleball. You don’t just drive to the park, play a game of skateboards, and drive back home. These activities are so much more than an organized sport - they are a mode of sustainable transportation, they are an art form, they are a connection to community and a means of self-expression. There are no rules or referees, there are no boundaries that cannot be crossed. These activities are ever-evolving, growing, changing and expanding, which is why thoughtful planning and integration into public space is so essential for them to thrive.

The practice of Skate Urbanism has embraced this approach, and the results are already overwhelmingly positive. Roller sports bring positive energy and vibrancy to otherwise neglected or underutilized public spaces, benefiting far more than just the active participants. However, new terrain must be thoughtfully implemented for the intervention to yield the results planners hoped for. Not every attempt at Skate Urbanism has been a success, primarily instances when non-skatepark and roller sport experts attempt to implement a new feature without getting the details right. That’s where Rollerscape comes in!

Let’s collaborate to shape the next generation of master planned and expertly integrated riding spaces. Beyond building a conventional skatepark, we can shape a progressive rollerscape across your project or community to connect a diverse range of people, places, and wheel durometers.

What Skate Urbanism Looks Like in Practice

Skate Urbanism isn’t about making every space into a skatepark, but rather considering holistically how people on wheels move through their cities and identifying where opportunities for playful rolling could benefit the broader community. It might look like:

A waterfront promenade that includes resilient furnishings instead of ubiquitous skate stoppers, with thoughtful design details to ensure pedestrian safety.

A new plaza space with artwork by a local sculptor that can be played upon rather than roped off.

A multi-use pathway with an undulating pump-track diversion to encourage active transit use.

A skatepark development strategy that identifies opportunities and creates a city-wide plan to meet growing needs over time.

A new sport court in a park that can be shared by a variety of different users without conflict.

This is the kind of approach needed to truly meet the needs of all roller sports participants. If you think Rollerscape could help your project or community achieve better outcomes, let’s talk!

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Examples of Rollerscape typologies and design services include:

  • Concrete Playscapes

  • Master Planned Networks

  • Rideable Sculptures & Public Art

  • Active Transit Enhancements

  • Resilient Furnishings

  • Skate Spots

  • Urban Plazas

  • Roller Rinks & Tracks

  • Pump Tracks

  • All-Wheel Accessible Features

  • Renovations & Upgrades

  • Skatepark Assessments

  • Feasibility Studies

  • Covered & Indoor Spaces

Why it Matters for Cities and Communities

A well-designed rollerscape can benefit more than just skateboarders. The research and practice consistently shows that integrated rolling infrastructure can help you:

  • Activate Underused Spaces

    While some may find the activity of skateboarding to be intimidating or dangerous - especially when it’s in conflict with other public uses - many people are delighted by it when it’s done so safely. A place like an underpass or plaza may have the potential to function as a vibrant multi-use public space, but if people are hesitant to visit, try introducing roller sports and see it come alive. Attracting positive, healthy activity like roller sports is proven to improve the sense of safety and vibrancy of an otherwise neglected public space.

  • Foster Inclusive Communities

    Every day there is more diversity in roller sport participants’ disciplines, ages, and identities. These various activities, styles, and abilities can absolutely co-exist - but only when designed for thoughtfully. Conflicts between various activities and participants have always been a concern for communities and designers, and we have the depth of design experience and love for all activties to help you navigate that dynamic successfully. We can indeed all get along and roll together!

  • Support Youth Wellbeing

    Youth today face an uphill battle when seeking opportunities for social enrichment, healthy movement, and free expression, and a well designed rollerscape addresses all of these issues. The diversity of participants exposes them to new perspectives and identities, fun movement gives them a healthy outlet for their energy away from screens, and through this process they learn more about how to be confident in themselves and navigate the world around them. Learning to fall, get back up, and try again - without any parent or coach making you - is an essential life skill.

  • Maximize Investment

    Rollerscape can help your community or organization maximize the public benefit for the investment in facilities by better planning, distributing, and integrating them. Major budget efficiencies are possible when taking a skate urbanist’s approach to master planning, but we can also help guide you towards the most effective traditional skatepark design. Too often skateparks prioritize the wrong terrain, lack essential amenities, or fight against the site rather than working with it - our extensive firsthand experience in design/build projects will pay for itself many times over in an optimized design for your community.

  • Build Community Consensus

    Roller sports participants are often more informed and much more opinionated on the design of their spaces than most of the general public. While it’s challenging to satisfy every user’s desires, there is a better way to approach the process. When all participants are treated with respect, listened to, and spoken to in terms they understand, they’re much more likely to get on board - even if they didn’t get everything they wanted. Building this consensus and sense of ownership is essential - when users feel a space is their own and reflects their values, they’ll encourage others to care for it too.

  • Encourage Movement

    What if active transit was more fun? Encouraging citizens to cycle, skate, and roll creates healthier communities by removing barriers to exercise, taking cars off of the street, and making corridors safer through greater utilization and activation. From make rolling surfaces smoother and more connective, to adding elements making cycling and roller sports more enticing, the act of rollerscaping enhances public space at every level. There are no age limits to this approach - a friendly, wavy bypass beside a multi-use pathway can be enjoyed by a toddler on their scooter, their grandmother on a bicycle, and a parent pushing a stroller alike.

Start planning your Rollerscape

Let's Get Things Rolling

Let's Get Things Rolling

Rollerscape can support your project or community at any phase of development, from initial planning and community engagement through design development and construction support. We know every project is different and requires certain services depending on the scale, context, and preferences of local riders. For the best possible outcome, though, an end-to-end comprehensive approach to planning and implementation is the best approach to these projects, large or small. Here’s our recommended process - we’re here to help you through every step!

Our Process

  • Contextual Analysis:

  • Once we know what you would like to accomplish for your project or community, our first step is to develop a deep understanding of the local context. We’ll want to know what has been done in the past, why, and how it went. We will spend time understanding the local culture and its history with roller sports. And we’ll conduct a wide ranging analysis of opportunities across the community to identify the potential in every space and neighborhood. Following this research and analysis, we’ll want to discuss our understanding in depth with local decision makers to ensure we have a comprehensive understanding of how to proceed before engaging with the public.

  • Master Planning:

  • Before developing any designs or going to deep on any particular site, we’d like to look at your project or community as a whole, identifying opportunities and challenges across the entirety of the landscape. Skatepark projects too frequently skip this step, missing opportunities and going down a path that doesn’t best serve local participants’ needs, usually too late to redirect by the time issues or opportunities are flagged. We then present a variety of adaptive approaches to the project team and community for their input and guidance to ensure the new rollerscape starts off on the right track from the beginning.

  • Genuine Engagement:

  • Our approach relies on extensive but productive public engagement - recognizing the importance of community feedback and offering ample opportunities for input, but in a meaningful and useful way that doesn’t waste people’s time. We know what to ask and when to maximize both the utility of information received to guide the design and the public’s satisfaction with the process. Many skatepark engagement processes fall far short of this aim, become contentious, and leave local riders feeling unheard and disrespected. Let’s talk about how we can do it better, together.

  • Team Building:

  • Every project is different, but each requires the right team to come together. What does your project need to succeed? A designated community liaison group? The right geotechnical engineer? A neighborhood outreach team? Arborists? Lighting designers? Artists? Let’s figure out what the right combination is for your project and assemble the team rather than trying to reverse engineer further down the line.

  • Progressive Design:

  • Now that we’ve gone through the proper project start-up, planning, research, engagement and resourcing - it’s finally time to design. Rollerscape’s principal designer has led this process on dozens of innovative and beloved skateparks around the world, and can handle whatever scale or level of complexity your project brings. A great skatepark design is always a balancing act, and our process helps you strike the right one. We believe every skatepark can be unique, innovative, fun, friendly, challenging, creative, efficient, and effective, no matter the budget. Let’s see which way your project needs to go, and lean into it.

  • Implementation:

  • Skatepark construction is both an art and a science, and requires unique experience and skill to get the details right - we’re here to help make sure that’s what happens. When it comes to roller sports, especially small wheels like roller skates and skateboards, every millimeter matters. You feel every change in slope, every joint; every texture impacts the riding experience. There is a growing network of qualified builders, but they speak a language of radii and waterfalls, blends and transitions, not to mention the slappies and hubbas. Our extensive design/build experience helps you navigate the complex construction landscape for an exceptional finished product with minimal municipal headaches.

  • Programs & Activation:

  • Once you’ve built a successful rollerscape, what happens now? If it’s planned and implemented right, the new space will take care of itself and the energy and activation will happen organically, without intervention. That being said, skateparks are incredible spaces for programs, events, activations and competitions, and we’d love to help you plan these. Considering these activations connects back to planning and engagement - what do we really want to happen in this space? Beginner learn-to-ride camps? Community group rolling parties? Music, art, performance? Professional contests? We’ll help you figure that out and weave it into the space rather than tacking it on after the fact.

  • Lifetime Value:

  • Current thinking around concrete skateparks is that they should last 20 years with minimal maintenance, then likely need replacement. However, skateparks have only gotten stronger and more robust over the last 20 years, and there’s no reason why a new skatepark shouldn’t last for 50 or more years of fun. Now that many modern, quality skateparks are starting to reach that 10-20 year old age mark, we’re seeing a new sub-field of skatepark renovations, restorations, and expansions. Rollerscape has firsthand experience with numerous varying lifespan-extension projects, from polishing and sealing to upagrades and expansion, and ultimately replacement with modern terrain when necessary. Let’s help fix up your old parks while learning their lessons and planning even better ones for the future.