Houston, yes I agree with the idea of making skateparks more public friendly. The main reason why I think they should be that way is that skateparks that are tucked away out of sight from the rest of society are inviting trouble. In the 80s I have seen children sniffing glue from crisp packets in such a place. Not just that, if they are seen to be places which are generally friendly and say parents can feel comfortable watching their children then the public is more likely to be accepting of skateparks and not object so much to them getting built. There is no doubt that skating has a delinquent image amongst the general public.
So part of this is your suggestion to make them more architecturally aesthetic, so there are less complaints about them being eyesores. Another part is to put them in very accessible places that are frequented by the community in general. Melbourne City skatepark just the other side of the river from the central business district and next to some public gardens has achieved the prominent location part of this. Although it has nothing special to offer aesthetically except to people like me who drool at all the open flat concrete and tall flat banks.
Within skating distance of where I live there is a recently built skatepark. The council went to some trouble to contract an aesthetic design. The concrete has been coloured in different earthy subdued colours which blends into the surrounding coloured concrete paths and grass landscaping. Part of the motivation for the emphasis on aesthetics was to appease the local haters (of which there were many and very vocal at the council meetings and also on local newspaper and council message boards). This park also achieved a spot right next to the melbourne "bay" or inland sea which is frequented by walkers, joggers, rollerbladers, cruising bicycles etc. About 2 years ago I attended a council meeting to give my 2 cents on skatepark design with the intention of making it my only appearance (I don't like speaking in town halls in front of people), however I was astounded at the vehemence of the objections from the general public. I was sufficiently pissed off that I went the remaining distance and attended every meeting for the next year and a half or so (except once when i was overseas). I also wrote to the local government. This brings me to one of your points...
While the future of the park was still tenuous an initial non-detailed design was proposed which was to put skateable obstacles in the paths leading to the main skate area, some of which could serve the dual purpose of providing seating when they weren't being skated. However, this was thrown out due to concerns that it would lead to collisions between skaters and the general public. This in my opinion was the only contribution that the non-skating general public offered. Like Bullet I think it probably would be a problem to mix skating and pedestrian areas and obstacles tend to get covered in dust coated wax and aren't inviting seats anyway.
One criticism that I have seen on a skateboard message board is that the seating which did get built on the perimeter of park is made of wooden slats and therefore not skateable and a wasted opportunity. However, I think it was a good thing to provide seating which is just that, right next to and facing the skateable infrastructure, because it makes for a more friendly atmosphere with some public watching and not getting wax on their clothes. The skaters sit on it too.
It's a fantastic tranny park, although I only skate occasionally coz I prefer the flat ground of the city park.
My local park:
http://www.skateboard.com.au/v2/index.c ... ew&id=3663Melbourne city skatepark:
http://www.skatepark.ymca.org.au/discov ... -park.html