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Space and Culture
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Skatepark as Neoliberal Playground

Urban Governance, Recreation Space, and the Cultivation of Personal Responsibility

Ocean Howell

University of California, Berkeley

More than 2,000 skateboard parks have been built in the United States over the past decade. Although these parks are a response to community demand, many cities have provided these facilities on certain neoliberal conditions. As a review of parks management literature reveals, cities assume no liability for injuries and expect skateboarders to secure private funding; urban managers also expect skateboarders to display character traits of personal responsibility and entrepreneurial-ism. This is in contrast to Progressive Era playgrounds, where cities completely financed playgrounds and took responsibility for personal safety; urban managers also sought to inculcate values of loyalty, which they viewed as necessary in an increasingly bureaucratized society. The comparison highlights how the skatepark can be viewed as an instance in which neoliberal governance practices have reconfigured the citizen—state relationship from one of entitlement to one of contractualism.

Key Words: skateboard parks • skateboarding • playgrounds • neoliberalism • urban governance • Progressivism • personal responsibility

This version was published on November 1, 2008

Space and Culture, Vol. 11, No. 4, 475-496 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1206331208320488
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