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...owned. Privately owned skateparks usually have admission fees, while publicly owned skateparks generally charge no entrance fee. Many privately owned skateparks are indoors, usually in warehouses, roller rinks or buildings with tall ceilings, especially in areas of the world with snowy winters. Public skateparks are almost always outdoors.

Concrete parks, now "pretty much the industry standard", according to an editor of Transworld Skateboarding magazine, can cost three times as much to build as parks with ramps and wooden obstacles, but in the long run they require fewer repairs and little maintenance.

History

Skateparks first emerged in the 1970s, and were primarily private, non-profit endeavors, although several public parks were built all over the world. Parks of that time included pools, bowls, snake runs, freestyle areas, banked slalom areas, half-pipes, and full pipes. Most were built of concrete and were located outdoors, although in more extreme climates indoor parks were built.

None of the private parks of the 1970s remain, with the notable exception of Kona Skatepark in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. Many of that country's public parks remain, such as Derby Park in Santa Cruz, California. Most of the parks of that era were poorly designed and built by "get-rich-quick" business people who wanted to make money from skateboarding. The best parks, such as Upland, California's Pipeline, designed by skateboarders and carefully built, survived well into the 80's, until they were overrun by escalating land values that made their survival less profitable than if their sites were to be turned into shopping centers or condominiums. Outrageous liability insurance premiums made possible by the fears of enormous lawsuits also were a contributing factor in the decline of the original skateparks.

Modern skatepark design can be traced back to Alen Walker, in 1990, with the commencement of the Burnside Project, a DIY "barge build" sited underneath one end of the Burnside Bridge. Skateboarders took an area that was populated primarily by what the city would call "undesirable elements" and created a skatepark there, slowly building one section at a time. That process came to be known as "design/build" (DB), and is characteristic of nearly all the best skateparks in existence today. The design/build process makes sure that adjacent skatepark features are harmonious and rideable, allowing skateboarders to create endless "lines" to ride among the many elements extant in the design.

The modern public skatepark is a relatively new creation, made possible by legislation, such as California's 1998 law stating that skateboarding is an inherently "Hazardous Recreational Activity" (HRA), and therefore municipalities and their employees may not be held liable for claims of negligence resulting in skateboarders' injuries. Usually for persons 14 or over.

In recent years, estimates have it that a new skatepark opens somewhere every three days.

In May 2007, the Alamosa Skatepark Environment, Albuquerque, New Mexico (aka West Side Skatepark), a design collaboration by Artifex Skatepark Environments and Morrow Reardon Wilkinson Miller Ltd. Landscape Architects (MRWM) was featured in the Eleventh Edition of Architectural Graphic Standards by the AIA, American Institute of Architects. Widely known as the “architect’s bible”, this reference book establishes standards for construction materials, methods, and practices. The commemorative Eleventh Edition is the most thorough and significant revision of Architectural Graphic Standards in a generation. Substantially revised to be even more relevant to today's design professionals, this edition is the first since 1932 to include project case studies. The West Side skatepark environment is included, as one of only two site design case studies, because of its relevance to a broad range of site design criteria, as well as being on the leading edge of a new generation of skateparks. This precedent setting accomplishment gives much-deserved professional prestige to the niche of skatepark design.

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