The benefits of skate spaces and culture
Skateboarding is a naturally all-embracing activity with the thread of inclusion coming from a common love of skateboarding. The supportive culture and act of skateboarding in itself can offer sanctuary from problems.
Skateboarding culture is often located at purpose-built skateparks, but almost as frequently at known skate ‘spots’ – often civic spaces or otherwise ‘dead’ space, such as underneath flyovers, bridges or forgotten corners of parks.
Unwritten codes in our culture are significant to how skaters share those spaces. The most important code is All Are Welcome. This purely natural, yet crucial etiquette allows for, and inspires individualism, creativity, but also cohesion in a shared sanctuary. Significantly, this inclusivity encourages meaningful bonds between diverse social groups.
Free, community skateparks and, crucially, skateboarding in the urban landscape, are proven to create community perceptions of safety within these spaces. Mainstream culture considers skateboarders as active, purposeful and possessing a positive mindset.
Skateboard culture also exists beyond skate spaces, extending into art, film, photography, design, writing, music and fashion.
As a worldwide family, skateboarding culture is also evident in community actions, from building skateparks to creating youth development programs.
Skateboarders can also become entrepreneurs, including starting companies, creating brands, and building media. Some say skateboarders can make great entrepreneurs because they are dynamic, applying the life lessons learned in skateboarding to business success: Embracing failure, setting goals, practicing, being consistent, learning from mistakes, and taking risks.
Skateboarding in numbers
Today, there are around 50 million active skateboarders worldwide and 750,000 in the UK.[source Skate GB] Of the UK’s 68 million population, approximately 1.1% are considered active skateboarders.
- 70% are under 18 years old, 13% are 18 – 24, 15% are 25 – 44, 2% are over 45. [RoSPA]
- The average age of a skateboarder is 14 years. 90% of those are male
- Skateboarding is the 6th most popular sport among Gen Z
- Average participation 50 days per year
Skateboarding’s potential in Newham
Based on the UK’s average skateboarding participation and taking into account; affordability, accessibility and culture we estimate that of Newham’s population of 351,000, there are approximately 3,861 active skateboarders.
Other Wheels
- One million micro scooters in the UK equating to 1.47% of the population. This puts approximately 5,159 micro scooters in Newham
- 71,000 roller-skaters 71,000 in the UK – approx 0.1% of the population, putting approximately 358 in Newham. (However, we also know that Newham has a stronger-than-average roller-skate culture)
- It’s more difficult to estimate the UK’s BMX population. We know the USA has around 3.8 million BMX riders – approximately 1% of population.If we equate that to the UK, there are around 3,500 BMX riders
Estimating the potential need for skate spaces in Newham
- Newham’s Resident Physical Engagement Report 2021/22; Q14 Outdoor Offer; 21% of survey responses requested skatepark provision: https://www.newham.gov.uk/downloads/file/4402/active-survey-v15
- USA’s SAM Report; Skatepark Adoption Model recommends a 10,000 sq ft skatepark for every 25,000 residents: https://publicskateparkguide.org/vision/skatepark-adoption-model/
- The UK currently has 1,786 skateparks equating to one skatepark per 37K of population. This means the UK is short by 1000 parks based on the SAM model
Putting Newham’s skatepark provision into context based on the current UK-wide provision and the SAM report recommendations, our borough is short by 10 skateparks when equated to current UK provision levels, and 14 x 10,000 sq ft skateparks based on the SAM model.
UK borough populations and skatepark provision
| BOROUGH | POPULATION | SKATEPARKS |
| Isle of Wight | 141,600 | 14 |
| Bristol | 467,000 | 10 |
| Nottingham | 328,513 | 22 |
| Brighton | 290,000 | 7 |
| Glasgow | 1,681,000 | 13 |
| Birmingham | 1,149,000 | 9 |
| Newham | 360,000 | 3 |
Some potential skatepark spaces