The Field

by Bronwen Mastro, ASLA, LEED BD+C, and Hans Klein-Hewett, ASLA, PLA

Does it seem like suddenly everyone is talking about going to the pump track (or the need to build one in your community)? Is futsal now the rage? Are you wondering if pickleball is still reigning supreme or on its way out? If your landscape architecture practice involves parks and recreation in any capacity, you may find yourself scratching your head regarding the trends in recreation and the associated need for facilities to support the activities. The Parks & Recreation Professional Practice Network (PPN) leadership team was asking ourselves the same question and wondering whether the trends we were seeing in our own regions were happening nationally or unique to our own part of the country. To get a clearer picture of what practitioners are seeing in the field, we decided to bring this question to the entire PPN in a Friday Forum, which took place February 28, 2025.

To help prepare for the conversation, the PPN leadership team published a survey asking landscape architects across the country about trends they are seeing in their own community. The goal was to identify not only what trends are popular today, but also to see whether they differ by geographic regions. The feedback from the survey was used as the foundation of the forum conversation.

The findings in the survey results may (or may not) surprise you. Pickleball does in fact reign supreme, as do other perennial favorites such as off-leash dog parks, trails (paved and soft surface), and restrooms. These popular park amenities may not qualify as emerging trends since they have been around a while, but they are still in high demand.

The conversation during the forum followed an arc similar to the survey results. There was a long list of unique activities and facilities that would come up, but the topics that had the most traction in conversation were the ones that felt more commonplace in parks and recreation. In fact, many of the most popular demands are for infrastructural improvements that accommodate a variety of activities and users. This aligns with recent Park Pulse findings from the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) which looked at why people go to parks. The number one reason was to be with family and friends. Other top reasons include exercise and taking a break from day-to-day stresses. Because people recreate differently, it is not surprising that spaces with flexibility to accommodate a variety of activities and uses are in higher demand than those requiring special facilities and/or equipment.

A snapshot of the forum discussion includes:

• Pickleball—everyone wants it, but no one wants to hear it. Strategies for noise abatement such as heavy vegetated buffers and court regulation/management were discussed.
• The rise in private facilities such indoor pickleball courts and off-leash dog parks. However, this rise does not appear to decrease the demand for public facilities. Are there opportunities worth exploring to leverage private funding to help support public facilities?
• Portable seasonal toilets as a lower cost strategy to address the demand for restrooms in neighborhood parks. Prefabricated shelters can be used to screen the toilets to mitigate the aesthetic impact.
• How to incorporate universally accessible playground design principles into all playgrounds, not just separate or “focus” facilities. Funding for surfacing can be a significant barrier.
• The design challenges of incorporating stormwater facilities into parks.

The key idea that I took away from the forum is that there will always be something new and shiny that seems to be having a moment. It is worth exploring whether there is a place for it in your park and recreation system. And hey, you never know when the next pickleball is going to explode onto the scene. But don’t let the flash distract you from the foundation your system is built on. The basics may not be trendy, but they remain popular for a reason. As landscape architects, we will continue to create spaces that allow everyone to have meaningful experience in parks and recreation, both trendy and not.

You can find the full survey summary below. Stay tuned for more Friday Forums in 2025. Is there a topic you would like to see discussed at a future forum? The Parks & Recreation PPN leadership team wants to hear from you! To share your ideas, just drop us a line.

Survey Summary

An online survey was sent out to all ASLA Park & Recreation Professional Practice Network members. It aimed to gather information from practicing landscape architects about park and recreation activities/programming trends. The first question in the survey asked for the region of the US where the respondent performed most of their park and recreation work. Then, the survey listed 36 park/recreation programs and infrastructure. For each, respondents were asked to identify whether each had no demand, rising demand (becoming more popular), steady demand (maintaining popularity), or declining demand (becoming less popular). Respondents were specifically instructed not to include their personal preferences or engagement with those activities, only the demand in the parks where they have worked. The last question asked respondents to list any other programs or infrastructure that were not listed and to provide information on their demand status.

A total of 33 people took the survey, though only 22 responses were complete enough to use as valid data sources. From that group, most respondents worked in the South Atlantic (DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, NC, SC, GA, FL) and Mountain (MT, ID, WY, CO, UT, NV, AZ, NM) regions.

The results were then analyzed in two ways. First, the number of responses in each demand category were quantified for all programs and infrastructure. Below, the top five programs or infrastructures are listed based on the highest demand category. Note: no program or infrastructure had “declining demand” as the highest response; what is listed are the programs that had the highest scores of “declining demand.”

No demand:

1. Bike polo (cycle polo)
2. Padel (padel tennis)
3. Artificial intelligence (e.g., AR/VR use, gaming, real-time information, curated recreation suggestions)
4. Cricket
5. Equestrian trails

Rising demand:

1. Pickleball
2. Splash pads
3. Dog parks
4. Restrooms in small parks (~0-5 acres, neighborhood parks)
5. Soft-surface trails (e.g., gravel, mulch, unpaved)

Steady demand

1. Outdoor basketball
2. 2-5 year-old playgrounds
3. 5-12 year-old playgrounds
4. 0-2 year-old playgrounds
5. Outdoor tennis

Declining demand (note: none were the primary response)

1. Informal baseball, softball, or kickball field (backstop only)
2. Fixed grills and BBQs
3. Equestrian trails
4. Bocce (formal gravel court)
5. Outdoor tennis

However, those numbers don’t clearly show trends because each demand category is isolated. To address this discrepancy, the total number of demand responses was multiplied by a weight factor to better identify true trends. For this study, “no demand” scores were multiplied by 0, “rising demand” scores by 3, “steady demand” scores by 2, and “declining demand” scores by -1. When those weighted scores from each demand category were summed, each program/infrastructure had a total score that reflected whether its demand was trending upward.

Below is a list of all programs or infrastructures ordered by their weighted scores:

1. Pickleball
2. Dog parks
3. Soft-surface trails (e.g., gravel, mulch, unpaved)
4. Paved multi-use trails
5. Restrooms in large parks (20+ acres, regional/large urban parks)
6. Restrooms in medium parks (~5-20 acres, community parks)
7. Restrooms in small parks (~0-5 acres, neighborhood parks)
8. Seasonal festivals (e.g., Christmas markets, outdoor performance series, fall festivals)
9. Indoor recreation centers
10. Splash pads
11. Swimming in a pool
12. 2-5 year-old playgrounds
13. 5-12 year-old playgrounds
14. Outdoor basketball
15. “Eldertainment” (outdoor activities intended to boost cognitive function and improve health in seniors)
16. Skateparks
17. 0-2 year-old playgrounds
18. Picnic areas
19. Outdoor fitness (stationary fitness equipment, often in a loop or cycle)
20. Outdoor tennis
21. Disc golf
22. Formal baseball/softball field (backstop, outfield fence)
23. Futsal (footsal)
24. Mountain bike parks
25. BMX bike parks
26. Swimming in natural body of water (e.g., pond, lake, river)
27. Cricket
28. Artificial intelligence (e.g., AR/VR use, gaming, real-time information, curated recreation suggestions)
29. Cyclocross trails/facilities
30. Fixed grills and BBQs
31. Informal baseball, softball, or kickball field (backstop only)
32. Padel (padel tennis)
33. Bocce (informal grass “court”)
34. Bocce (formal gravel court)
35. Bike polo (cycle polo)
36. Equestrian trails

Finally, several respondents noted other programs or infrastructure not included in the survey’s list. Programs seeing increased demand included sand volleyball (two mentions), natural areas (two mentions), drones, RC cars, English-as-a-second-language programming, indoor ice rinks, open lawns (flexible space), connective trails, street hockey, multi-use hard-surface courts, and Gaga ball. Programs staying steady included public access to coastlines, soccer fields, fishing, and handball. Declining programs included ornamental/botanical gardens and historical parks.

What we see in these results suggests that, outside of pickleball and dog parks, single-use recreational infrastructure (tennis and basketball courts, baseball/softball fields) is either staying steady or declining. What is rising in demand are infrastructural improvements that accommodate many users and activities: trails (both hard and soft), restrooms, and spaces for seasonal events. While pickleball continues to be very popular, other activities that can be played on existing courts (futsal, padel, bike polo) do not appear to be rising at the same level. With that said, one respondent mentioned multi-use hard-surface courts as a rising demand, so perhaps these activities may rise in the next few years as more people see and experience court customizations that can meet their recreational needs.

Bronwen Mastro, ASLA, LEED BD+C, is a landscape architect at Bend Park and Recreation District where she also leads their equity and inclusion work. With 20 years of experience, she has worked in both the public and private realms of the profession. Her work is rooted in building connections between people, the outdoors and their community.

Hans Klein-Hewett, ASLA, PLA, is a licensed landscape architect, an Assistant Professor in Iowa State University’s Department of Landscape Architecture, and a faculty member in Iowa State’s Graduate Program of Sustainable Agriculture. He teaches design studios and lectures about landscape materials, construction documentation, and professional practice. Hans’ research focuses on rural parks as determinants of rural sustainability. He does this by examining rural parks through lenses of natural resource management, recreation, economic development, tourism, and health and well-being. He also studies students’ perceptions of high-impact design pedagogy to improve student outcomes and experiences in landscape architectural education.

Bronwen is co-chair of ASLA’s Parks & Recreation Professional Practice Network (PPN) and Hans serves on the PPN’s leadership team.