Skateparks and Community Health

Skateparks and Community Health is an ethnographic study of the ‘skateparks-as- easy solutions’ to perceived youth needs within Australian communities and interrogates the systems that influence the approaches and processes utilised by local governments when considering the needs of young people in the community. The study undertakes to deeply understand ‘why’ and ‘how’ some skateparks work, whilst others don’t, and in doing so, provide a framework that can be utilised across a range of possible initiatives, enabling more sustainable developments in the future, resulting in healthier communities.

The study analyses geographic, visual, audio, cultural, and social data from 29 skateparks in Western Sydney, Australia, to generate a working definition of a ‘healthy’ skatepark. From micro considerations including access to drinking water and toilets, to macro concerns including societal perceptions of young people, the research outcomes will offer a practical and translatable ‘checklist’ for governments to do better by young people and their communities.