I stumbled upon this skatepark while visiting Chicago recently. These things (new skateparks) happen when you move away from a city for 15 years or so. This street plaza-style park is much more interesting than this panorama photo may lead you to believe. I’m standing on top of a wall that is maybe 10 feet tall. Under my feet and out of view for the most part, are the assorted transitions and banks that butt up against the wall. The panorama makes everything seem more spread out than the reality, but it is a pretty expansive park. There was not much going on there during my accidental visit, but it looks fun.

Spohn Ranch is giving a facelift to a lowlyconcrete slab in Ft. Duchesne, Utah to make a plaza style skatepark for the Ute Indian Tribe. The tribe has 617 people, each human being gets 10.53 square feet of skate able terrain at the end of the deal. You do the math, or look at the pictures on Flickr.

It may have been pen for months already, but the Ed Benedict grand opening celebration is this Saturday, May 30th. 1:15 PM Ceremony: Commissioner Saltzman, Commissioner Fish, PP&R Director Zari Santner 1:30 PM Adidas/Tribute Skateboards Skate Jam 2:00 PM Best Trick Competition 2:30 PM PP&R Skate Jam Invitational (grades K-8 and 9-12)

There are a bunch of renderings of the Newline street plaza project found over at Deluxe. I don’t know if it’s the low contrast color palette or what, but I’m having a hard time getting a feel for this park. The

Taking influence from a skipping stone, this design focuses on a rhythm of circular plazas that are linked through paving and skate-boarding features. The design offers features for riders of every skill-level and style. The paving pattern consists of a large saw-cut concrete pattern within a circular paver banding that helps de? ne space and add visual appeal. The first meeting for the Happy Valley, Oregon skatepark saw three different Newline concepts presented, and this is the design that was the overwhelming favorite. The plan now is to refine it to “to serve as many different levels of skateboarders as possible.” The argument about street plazas vs. tranny and out of state (and Country) contractors is moot here, so please don’t waste anyone’s time by flogging that dead horse. The Clackamas County planners would do well to talk to Portland about the Ed Benedict project. I have heard that when it came time to actually build the park, there were numerous delays and attempts to get more money out of the project than was set forth by the agreements in the contract.

This is a shot of an amazing looking collection of concrete at Chingaucousy Skatepark in Brampton, Ontario, as designed and constructed by Spectrum Sk8parks. Soak it all in, then watch some video after the jump.