Importance of Public Spaces

Pops Skatepark located in Black Coyle and McBride Park was the first of many parks built by Jesse Clayton, co-owner of 5th Pocket Skateparks. The project began after a volunteer from New Kensington Community Development Coalition came into his then employer, Exit Skateshop, asking what he knew about building a skate park. NKCDC and Friends of Pops had no authority to authorize the project, but they pushed forward.

“Hey, no one's looking, we got a group of really motivated people that are going to try to make this happen, and it's going to make the neighborhood better,” said Clayton. Construction continued until the city eventually found out and told them to stop. Not knowing what the city was going to do with their project, they met with the Parks and Rec Department. “Before that meeting, we had gotten notification through the Tony Hawk foundation, that this grant that we applied for early on in the project had finally come through. And it was just about enough money to finish,” said Clayton.

Their grant totaled around $10,000 and with the support from one of the only household names in skateboarding the city allowed them to finish the project and planned for a grand opening event with the city council. The opening day was a success with almost 300 people showing up to break in the new park.

“That neighborhood is kind of nice now, back in ’08 that neighborhood was really gnarly,” said Clayton “Every morning we would come to work at 6 or 7 am and there would be junkies on the park benches.”

You cannot assert that without Pops Skatepark being built the area and park would still look as it did in 2008 but the line from the park Clayton described to the park to what we see now shows the investment’s value to the quality of the park and surrounding area. Regardless of what form investment into parks takes because having a safe and high-quality space will make people want to use the space.

“It's quite obvious, you want your kids playing somewhere decent. Kids shouldn't have to worry about falling on needles or broken glass. You know it builds up civic pride too. I mean, it makes you feel better about where you live,” said Dennis Johnson, Kensington resident and father. “When I first moved here [early 2010s] Fishtown did not have that ring to it that it does now.”

Johnson frequents the park both with his son and alone using the playground and skatepark area to practice his BMX tricks.

There are 571 parks in Philadelphia according to the Trust for Public Land. Here is how they scored the city’s parks. Playful Learning Landscapes believes “that children and adults learn and develop skills from all kinds of play, and learn best when learning goals are intentionally integrated into joyful play. We challenge ourselves to reimagine our cities and public spaces as playful learning opportunities for all learners.” This is an approach towards improving our public spaces. And through this organization they have been able to give more people chances to interact in their communities with focus on how these spaces can teach. They have completed a handful of projects in Philadelphia and a forum for people to pitch their ideas.

In a 2018 study done by The Brookings Institution, PLLs and urban thinkscapes were shown to increase the length of conversations between caregivers and children in areas with urban thinkscapes. Along with a significant increase in the percentage of caregivers who followed their child’s focus which “means that caregivers were engaged with their children in ways that supported the contributions of children and are critical for the development of children’s communication foundation.”

Implementation of PLL’s goals and ideas can help with the city’s lackluster parks. Their focus on implementing their methods into existing infrastructure will keep costs down and be a more sustainable option for a city with an abundance of public space to use. 5th Pocket Skateparks went about improving Pops by building the skatepark but this is not a one-size-fits all solution. Communication and collaboration are essential to figuring out what best works for the community and the space provided.

“People need to go to their community group meetings. So you don't feel left out when changes happen,” said Johnson.