A comparative guide to outdoor recreation options in communities: from climbing walls to skateparks and outdoor table tennis tables
To start - let’s define ‘community’. We define community in two parts: first is the intangible of belonging to something - this might be students at a school or university, locals in a neighbourhood, residents of a multi-family or student housing development, or workers in a business district. Second, is the where - a physical connection to place - and for this conversation, let’s talk about outdoor spaces.
In outdoor spaces, there are many recreation (read: ‘active’ recreation as opposed to ‘passive’ pastimes) options that can attract, engage and appeal to community members, and some more than others. Keeping to the ‘free-to-play’ options, there are:
- Outdoor table tennis tables
- Climbing walls
- Skateparks
- Pump tracks
- Exercise equipment
- Basketball courts
- Parkour structures
- Playgrounds
- Swings
- Padel and pickleball courts
Communities and their designers can look to these options in new builds or retrofit them into existing spaces, but there are many factors to consider. For any good comparative guide, the practicalities must be taken into account - including:
Some options heavily favour certain users to the exclusion of others. Fortunately, landscape and urban design trends are leaning into (rightfully) gender and age inclusivity over the stereotypical ‘boy spaces’ or ‘children’s playgrounds’ that have dominated parks and public spaces for many decades and generations.
To help make things easy, we have drawn up a table of comparison:
- Capital costs
- Ongoing costs
- Space
- Construction / installation requirements
- Longevity
- Users
- Age inclusivity
- Gender inclusivity
- Frequency of use
- “Regulars” Effect (creating a space where users / players meet regularly)
- Accessibility (and ease of use)
- Injury risk
- Maintenance requirements
Some options heavily favour certain users to the exclusion of others. Fortunately, landscape and urban design trends are leaning into (rightfully) gender and age inclusivity over the stereotypical ‘boy spaces’ or ‘children’s playgrounds’ that have dominated parks and public spaces for many decades and generations.
To help make things easy, we have drawn up a table of comparison:
What are our findings?
There is no ‘one size fits all’ in outdoor recreation, or put a different way - a single recreation option will not be everything for everyone in the community. This is because every community is unique! There are different community members wanting different experiences and activities however, what unites these diverse people is a desire to create and have somewhere in their community that is special, authentic, useful and engaging. It is these types of spaces that communities embrace, maintain and utilise. Outdoor spaces that make the transition from under-used to utilised also help to define communities and reframe their place identities. This concept is at the heart of placemaking - and our findings are that it often requires a multi-pronged approach that incorporates and integrates different recreation options that complement each other and their sub-communities!
We hope this guide helps you consider what active recreation options could be included for your community. As always, if you have any questions outdoor our range of outdoor table tennis tables, say hello at [email protected]
There is no ‘one size fits all’ in outdoor recreation, or put a different way - a single recreation option will not be everything for everyone in the community. This is because every community is unique! There are different community members wanting different experiences and activities however, what unites these diverse people is a desire to create and have somewhere in their community that is special, authentic, useful and engaging. It is these types of spaces that communities embrace, maintain and utilise. Outdoor spaces that make the transition from under-used to utilised also help to define communities and reframe their place identities. This concept is at the heart of placemaking - and our findings are that it often requires a multi-pronged approach that incorporates and integrates different recreation options that complement each other and their sub-communities!
We hope this guide helps you consider what active recreation options could be included for your community. As always, if you have any questions outdoor our range of outdoor table tennis tables, say hello at [email protected]