Freeway Park

Think about where you spend your time. First, there’s home; your First Place. Here, you relax, take care of responsibilities, and spend time with family or close friends. Then there’s work or school; your Second Place, where the focus is on tasks, deadlines, and productivity.

But what about your Third Place?

Sociologist Ray Oldenburg describes Third Places as the heart of a community’s social vitality. They are the public spaces where people gather informally. Coffee shops, libraries, parks, and the waterfront, for example. These are the places where community is built. They promote equity by leveling social hierarchies, fostering civic engagement, and offering psychological and emotional support.

Unfortunately, accessible and inclusive Third Places have been on the decline, especially those that are free and welcoming to youth. If you were ever a teenager hanging out at a mall or loitering at a park, you might remember being stared at, asked to leave, or suspected of wrongdoing simply for existing in a public space without buying anything. Today’s youth face the same, if not greater, barriers to belonging in public life.

This is where parkour shines.

Parkour creates a rare and powerful opportunity: a free, movement-based Third Place that can exist anywhere. Community is one of the core values of parkour. At Freeway Park, we’re lucky to have one of the best parkour spots in the world, and it’s free! This space has long been a meeting point for the Seattle parkour community, offering connection, growth, and belonging.

However, restrictions on using Freeway Park for parkour have compromised that opportunity. By limiting access, Seattle Parks & Recreation has effectively taken away one of our most critical Third Places; not just from the existing parkour community, but from every young person, adult, or newcomer who might discover themselves through movement here.

We believe Freeway Park should be a place where the community can thrive, not one where bureaucratic risk assessors force adventurous spirits to the margins.

Freeway Park, opened on July 4, 1976, is a groundbreaking example of urban design and landscape architecture. It was designed by Lawrence Halprin and the Office of Lawrence Halprin, with Angela Danadjieva as a lead designer. The park was the first in the United States to be built over a freeway, creating a vital green space by reconnecting the downtown core with adjacent neighborhoods.

Lawrence Halprin was known for his human-centered and participatory approach to design. He believed that “the most important thing about designing is to generate creativity in others and to be inclusive; to include the needs and experiences of people interacting with the environment and to let them be part of its creation.” Inspired by his wife Anna Halprin, an avant-garde dancer and choreographer, he developed a philosophy known as motation: the idea that spaces should invite movement and interaction, not just passive observation.

Freeway Park’s cascading concrete forms, fountains, and layered plazas were intended to encourage exploration, movement, and spontaneous use. The design was rooted in the belief that people and place shape one another, and that public spaces thrive when the community activates them.

Parkour Visions strongly believes in preserving and activating Halprin’s legacy. His vision of dynamic, movement-friendly public space aligns closely with our mission to empower people to move freely and creatively through their environments. While Seattle Parks and Recreation has occasionally echoed this philosophy in promotional materials, we feel the spirit of the original design is not being fully honored, particularly when access to creative, movement-based use like parkour is restricted or discouraged.

We see Freeway Park not just as a legendary landmark of design, but as a living space meant to be moved through, climbed on, explored, and reimagined by each new generation. That is Halprin’s legacy, and we take pride in fighting for it.

In 2019, Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) hosted an open house to gather public input on proposed improvements to Freeway Park. A recurring theme throughout the event was a strong desire to preserve Lawrence Halprin’s original vision, one that prioritized exploration, discovery, and dynamic interaction with the park’s unique landscape.

This vision closely mirrors Parkour Visions’ (PKV) values, and it's worth noting that SPR’s own promotional materials and presentations have echoed this emphasis, featuring images of people actively playing and jumping in Seneca Plaza. Such imagery suggests a shared understanding of the park as a space for movement-based exploration.

That same year, SPR conducted a public survey asking, “What changes to Seneca Plaza would you support?” The most popular response, selected by approximately 55% of participants, was Option D: “Modifying the Cascade Fountain itself to make it safe and inviting to play in.” This result underscores the public’s interest in creating accessible, safe spaces for active play; an interest that directly aligns with PKV’s mission and programming.

Additionally, the survey revealed that about 43.5% of respondents supported hosting more events and programming in Seneca Plaza. This feedback strongly supports PKV’s ongoing efforts to hold parkour classes, jams, and community gatherings like our Leave No Trace events at Freeway Park.