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How Arada put skateboarding at the heart of community

Written by Niall Neeson

For anyone who has grown up somewhere in which the local skatepark- should you indeed be lucky enough to have one at all- is located on a forgotten plot of land on the periphery of some ring road or industrial estate, the Aljada skatepark complex in Sharjah is set fair to blow your mind.

It is not merely the skateparks themselves which are groundbreaking, but the leisure-led concept in which they take centre-stage which is revolutionary in terms of positioning skateboarding as a vital force at the centre of the wider built environment which everyone can enjoy either as a participant or spectator.

To provide some context for the location of the six interconnected skateparks in which World Skate will be hosting our upcoming WST Sharjah World Championships, they form part of an entertainment destination at the very centre of a designed community which was masterminded by our hosts, Arada.

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Sharjah has looked at the proliferation of skateparks in neighbouring Dubai and taken the concept further: what if, instead of activities like skateboarding being located in a dedicated leisure space as an afterthought, that space instead became the focal point of a development around which a community would then be created.

Nowhere else in the world have international-standard California Skateparks Street and Park constructions become the centrepiece of an elegant plaza space, where families and young people can all experience for themselves the benefits and entertainment which a well designed and maintained skatepark can offer an entire community and not just its youth.

For that reason particularly we are excited as a governing body to break new ground not just in geographic terms for where we can bring skateboarding’s magic, but also to bring the best skateboarding talent in the world into an environment where skateboarding itself is afforded the opportunity to become integrated into the fabric of the community in which these world-class parks are located.

In both respects WST Sharjah promises to be a pioneering skateboarding experience not just for everyone taking part, but for this incredible designed community within Sharjah itself and the skateboarders of the entire United Arab Emirates- who will all be there in there droves this February, rest assured!

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