Gwangju Skateparks: My Vision for Their Future

By William Urbanski

With the growing popularity of skateboarding in Korea, which will surely be bolstered by skateboarding’s inclusion in the Tokyo Olympics this summer, it is time to face a cold, harsh reality: Gwangju needs a new skatepark. Many other urban centers around the peninsula, especially in the Seoul-Incheon-Gyeonggi area, have invested in free, quality skateparks that provide a safe space for people of all ages to participate in an activity that is positive, inclusive, fun, and great physical exercise. While Gwangju technically does already have an “extreme sports facility,” it is a laughable example of virtually every single mistake that is possible to make when constructing a skatepark. After skateboarding for over 25 years and having visited well over a hundred skateparks that range in quality from excellent to awful, I can say with complete confidence that when it comes to good places to skateboard, the Gwangju “extreme sports facility” in Seonam-dong is the worst one imaginable and serves no purpose other than to discourage people from ever picking up a skateboard. Even though those may seem like harsh words, they also mean that right now is the right time for Gwangju to build a world-class, or at the very least a respectable, skateboard facility.

The Current Gwangju “Skatepark”: Mistakes Were Made
Anyone who knows anything about skateboarding will instantly recognize that the current “extreme sports facility” in Gwangju is a brilliant, shining example of how not to build a skatepark – so much so that I would suggest that it is not actually a skatepark, and I will not refer to it as such. The current facility is actually more of a playground that beautifully illustrates what happens when concerned and vocal individuals who have zero idea of how skateboarding works get involved in the planning and design process of a place designed for it. A sticking point seems to be the apparent risk factor involved in riding around on four wheels attached to a piece of wood. Admittedly, skateboarding can be a bit of a dangerous activity, but no more so than biking, taekwondo, or ice skating, and certainly less than contact sports such as hockey and football. That being said, there is a curious phenomenon of parents (and park planners) honing in on the dangerous aspects of skateboarding and trying to design a skatepark that mitigates this perceived danger, ironically making it more dangerous and practically unusable. So, what exactly makes the current facility so bad? Let’s look at the three major violations.

Exhibit A: Rubber Ground
The rubber mat that covers the entire surface is by far the stupidest thing I have ever seen at any skatepark anywhere in the whole world and actually prevents skateboards from rolling. Any attempt to push and roll results in the board coming to a complete stop almost immediately, and more often than not, pitching the rider off the board. Ostensibly, the rubber mat was installed to increase safety when children fall, but the truth is that skateboarding has to be done on hard, smooth surfaces so that the wheels can roll freely and smoothly. Ideal surfaces are concrete or marble (asphalt, the material that roads are made of, is somewhat workable but tends to deteriorate quickly). Putting a rubber mat over a surface made for skateboarding is akin to putting a rubber mat over an ice-skating rink to protect people from falling on the hard ice.

Exhibit B: Skate Stoppers on the Ledge
Many of the basic and most common maneuvers on a skateboard involve sliding and grinding on ledges. Gwangju’s “extreme sports facility” actually has an excellent ledge for this purpose (although it sits on the above-mentioned rubber ground that renders it pretty much unusable). Unfortunately, someone who has no idea of how skateboarding works came along and put rubber knobs (commonly referred to as “skate stoppers”) on each end, thereby making the obstacle completely useless. Why was this done? Probably because the edges of the obstacle are at a ninety degree edge and someone imagined their child falling into the corner of it, slicing their head open and leaving their brains all over the ground. What this ill-informed person failed to realize is that to be used for their intended purpose, the edges have to be smooth, clear of obstacles, and preferably square-shaped.

When you think about it, it is really not necessary to put rubber knobs on the corner of the obstacles because anyone over the age of two would instinctively realize that it is a bad idea to ride full-blast into the corner of anything. Case in point: There are many tables, benches, and ledges all over the world that have true, flush corners, and how many people crack their heads open on them? Few.

Exhibit C: Extremely Large Modular Ramps
A “modular ramp” simply means a ramp that was made in a factory somewhere then transported to a skatepark. Modular ramps stand in stark juxtaposition to custom-made wood or concrete ramps that are made onsite. Now, I am not opposed to modular ramps per se, but they are often problematic because of their scale. Case in point: The “halfpipe” ramps at the “extreme sports facility” are intimidatingly oversized and too steep. These large halfpipe structures often take up an inordinate amount of space and are underused because learning how to ride them properly is a special skill set that requires instruction. Therefore, it is actually a really bad idea to install a ramp over one meter high because only a small percentage of all skateboarders will ever use it. Now of course most people have seen very large halfpipes and bowls on TV or YouTube, but it is important to remember that these usually exist in areas where skateboarding is long-established and firmly entrenched into the culture, unlike in Korea where it is relatively new. Mostly, these ramps end up being used as slides by children.

Rubber mats on the ground, skate-stopped ledges, and huge modular ramps are what happens when people who have no experience riding a skateboard are put in charge of making decisions about a skatepark and focus on ways to make a skatepark “safer.” The real way to mitigate skateboard accidents is to provide some basic instruction and build a quality, smooth skatepark.

Leapfrogging into the Future: Skate Plazas and Skate Dots
Counterintuitively, as a worldwide trend, the idea of a “skatepark” is becoming a bit of an antiquated notion. In many urban centers, city planning committees working closely with skateboarders are foregoing bland, standardized skateparks for “skate plazas”: designated areas for skateboarding that mimic and even replicate city areas that are ideal for street skateboarding. A far cry from modular ramps dropped onto rectangles of concrete, these skate plazas integrate well into existing areas and at first glance could be confused for urban art installations. The useable obstacles that could be included in these plazas vary, but almost always include ledges of various sizes, rails, and stairs – all things that could be encountered in the streets. One of the greatest advantages of a skate plaza is the aesthetic appeal that can feature expressive and innovative skateable architecture. The skate plaza is also the antidote to one of the biggest problems that plague skateparks worldwide: poor construction by grizzled, old contractors who have no clue about skateboarding. All too often, contractors or cement companies are not well-equipped to create the concrete bowls and curves featured in the pre-conceived notions of what a skatepark should be, resulting in skateparks that are horrible and fall into disuse. While building a skate plaza does require a degree of specialized expertise, it does not require the deft craftmanship of top-tier (and prohibitively expensive) skateparks. All a skate plaza really needs is some flat ground, a few rails, some ledges, maybe a few low stairs, and a special designation by the city.

Speaking of prohibitively expensive skateparks, which are by nature centralized and large, many cities have started to develop “skate dots,” which basically resemble miniature skate plazas that are spread out over a city. A shining example of this is the CKE Skatespot in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, which looks like a sort of smooth, wide sidewalk with perfect ledges on the side. This approach greatly reduces the probability of a city putting “all its eggs in one basket” with one massive skatepark that risks being a massive piece of dog caca.

The fact that Gwangju does not have a skatepark now actually means that it has a unique opportunity to create something great. Viewed on an evolutionary timeline, the progression of skateparks looks something like this: concrete bowls > wooden ramps > modular parks > poorly constructed skateparks > properly constructed skateparks > skate plazas and skate dots. Instead of creating a run-of-the-mill skatepark, it has a chance to leapfrog right into making skate plazas or skate dots. The beauty of this approach is that there would be many more options on how to construct the park so it would not really matter who did it (as long as it is not the same construction company that was responsible for the disaster in Hak-dong).

Building with the Community for the Community
In the same way that it would not make sense to build a race track without consulting with someone who knows about racing, or to build a ski jump with someone who has never tried on a pair of skis, building a proper area for skateboarding, be it a skate plaza or a skatepark, requires close cooperation between the concerned parties: those who live near the area, those who will use it, and those who allocate the funding for it. A skatepark should not be considered a necessary evil, a way of giving noisy skateboarders a place to go far away from people they might disturb. Rather, it should be seen as an excellent way to build community ties and exhibit cooperation between all the people who live in an area by providing useful infrastructure for an activity that is already big and only growing by the day.

Photographs by William Urbanski.

The Author
William Urbanski is the managing editor of the Gwangju News. He is eagerly awaiting his second dose of vaccine so that he can start traveling again. He can also eat spicy food. He can be found at Instagram @will_il_gatto