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Philly's 5th Pocket Founder Talks About the DIY Epidemic

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The Berrics, the web home for all things skateboards and skateparks, posted a two-part episode of DIY or Die about 5th Pocket, a skatepark design and construction company that started out very off the grid and now works on projects in conjunction with the Department of Parks and Recreation. 5th Pocket founder Jesse Clayton is almost evangelical about what public spaces can do for kids, a neighborhood and the economy, but only if those spaces are built and designed in a way that makes sense for a particular community.

And, he says, that's not necessarily about money. His company typically does things much less expensively than so-called professional builders—he's part of a "DIY epidemic," he says—but kids actually use his spaces. "If you build a park that costs a ton of money and no one likes it, and no kids are using it, then it has no value."

The videos have a lot of footage of neighborhoods in Philly and the public spaces 5th Pocket reinvigorates—sometimes legally, sometimes not.
· DIY or DIE Fifth Pocket - Part I
· DIY OR DIE Fifth Pocket - Part 2