Making Space for Community

Abstract

Hardcourt bike polo has become an increasingly popular sport in the United States in the past two decades, highlighting opportunities for new spatial responses in landscape architecture and planning. However, the appropriation of informal spaces for bike polo recreation suggests that many public parks are ill‐equipped to manage this land use. This article shares a case study highlighting a bike polo club in Eugene, Oregon, using interviews with players, fans, and design experts to identify opportunities and challenges for hardcourt bike polo design. The results of this study point to a series of recommendations for more integrative professional design services, with a focus on a relatively affordable and accessible palette of design interventions that could be adopted to facilitate emergent communitarian recreation activities on public hardcourt surfaces. The article makes the case that although alternative park activities remain underrepresented in landscape architecture practice, their examination offers inroads to more diverse programming in public spaces.