CONTENTS DIARY OF EVENTS - The Urban Design Group

TOPIC
SK8MK
Andrew Armes describes how to engage street sports enthusiasts in
making places
20 | Urban Design | Spring 2005 | Issue 94
Every time we leave our houses and go onto the street we are
faced with conflicts; between car users, pedestrians, cyclists and
public transport; those who use the street for play, for business,
to trade, to promenade, to see and be seen. When managed
properly, the street is both ‘arena’ and ‘artery’, a vibrant public
space allowing all kinds of activity to co-exist and making a city
cohesive and understandable. When it is managed poorly, or one
need is allowed to dominate, it can divide a city, destroy activity
and become a ‘no go’ zone for whole sectors of society. This
article is about the way in which Milton Keynes is addressing
these issues, in particular managing street sports.
While Milton Keynes is not generally known for its street
life, the infrastructure does provide an extremely attractive
‘arena’ for street sports enthusiasts, which include skateboarders,
BMX riders and in-line skaters, and where there are conflicting
demands on space.
Many authorities have tried to ban street sports, putting up ‘No’
signs and devices to stop skaters, with street furniture, steps and
rails being used. In reality, this encourages
street sports enthusiasts to rise to the new
challenges of this kind of intervention.
So in autumn 2002, the SK8MK
initiative was launched to devise a longterm
design and management solution
to some of these areas of ‘conflict’,
recognising that there is a positive side
to ‘street sports’, as well as some wide
unintended negative side effects.
BACKGROUND
Milton Keynes has become a Mecca for
street sports because of its infrastructure
design and, according to Iain Borden,
professor at The Bartlett School of
Architecture and author of Skateboarding,
Space and the City, it is widely regarded as
one of the top five cities in the world for
street skating.
However, years of activity by street
sports enthusiasts have taken their toll on
the infrastructure of the city, and damage
caused to certain areas was becoming a
concern to the land owners, with pressure
put on the police to deter street sports
participants.
However, “skateboarding is not a
crime” (according to Bart Simpson), and
the view from the police is that as there is
no criminal damage deliberately intent on
destroying the infrastructure, and damage
is cumulative, it is difficult to prosecute
any one individual.
However, when the Milton Keynes
Council and English Partnerships
formed a joint venture to regenerate
Central Milton Keynes through a 400ha
development framework, there was an
opportunity to look at these issues. The
obvious imperative within the framework
was to have a robust infrastructure which
could support a diversity of uses, both
planned and ad hoc.
As the creation of a ‘community
for all’ and ‘social inclusion’ are part of
Milton Keynes Council’s objectives,
an inclusive consultative process was
needed. An earlier successful small street
sports facility had been provided in
Newport Pagnell in which young street
sport enthusiasts engaged with the local
bodies. This provided useful lessons for
this city centre project, and ensured strong
commitment from the council.
PROCESS
The first city centre meeting with local
businesses, landowners and councillors in
October 2002 agreed to:
• examine opposing views and the issues
surrounding street sports