In 2026, Docomomo US shifts its attention from religious sites to the rituals of Recreation and Play, highlighting the places where communities gather for recreation, activity, leisure, and joy. We will explore a wide range of sites, including informal and formal skate parks, roller-skating and hockey rinks, parks, bowling alleys, small amusement parks, swimming pools, and playgrounds. Art and sculpture incorporated into these spaces may also be highlighted.
Additionally, the Recreation and Play theme will examine mid-twentieth-century sites shaped by segregation and exclusion. Places such as swimming pools, beach pavilions, and parks have documented histories of racial and social division – stories that remain essential to understanding how communities interacted with these spaces then and how they continue to do so today.
Sites such as Embarcadero Plaza and the National Register-eligible Vaillancourt Fountain continue to face threats from deferred maintenance to misunderstandings about cultural activities like skateboarding, which are too often viewed as nuisances rather than historic sites of creative expression and exercise.
In response, Docomomo US will spotlight smaller, more intimate landscapes, parks, and recreational environments that only recently have been eligible for the National Register or been overlooked for historic designation where people can escape daily stresses and engage with nature, community, and play.
