AARP Eye Center
AARP Livable Communities Map
City of Renton (2017) Print
2017 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Engaging residents in vibrant public places
└ Engaging residents in vibrant public places
To mark National PARK(ing) day, the City of Renton hosted a celebration downtown. Hoping to stimulate activity in the city's core and generate discussions about the use of public space, project organizers set up five parklets - small parks created in the footprint of street parking spaces. These became mini event spaces for the day, hosting live music, games of chess, interactive art projects, drum lessons, outdoor dining and people watching. Nonprofits and downtown businesses stepped up to host the parklets and event organizers passed out maps showing the locations of each parklet. To give visitors a reason to stroll the streets, the event featured vendor booths and food trucks. Organizers say the pop-up highlighted the need for downtown spaces for older adults to congregate. In 2020, lessons learned from PARK(ing) Day informed efforts to offer safe outdoor gathering spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic. And in the years since Renton has continued to celebrate National PARK(ing) Day.
Photo Gallery
Image:
Click on a photo to learn more
See More Projects Like This One
Portland, ME
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Engaging residents in vibrant public places
Description: The grant will fund a badminton league, disc golf practice sessions and chess and board-game events to help bring people together with fun activities.
Pocatello, ID
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Engaging residents in vibrant public places
Description: United Seniors Project will hold a pop-up event to welcome community members to the future site of a new community gathering space, designed for intergenerational programming related to physical, mental, emotional and social health. Attendees will be able to see plans for the building, ask questions and give their feedback.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Seattle, WA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Digital navigation skills
Description: This project will provide digital literacy classes to Latino immigrant workers. This will give lower-income residents access to computers and improve their technology skills, allowing them to access job opportunities.
Seattle, WA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Engaging residents alongside thought leaders in problem solving
Description: Seattle's city government invited technology specialists, designers and older adults to take part in a weekend hackathon. Participants brainstormed ways to use public data and technology to understand the built environment and improve the lives of Seattle's older adult residents. The City offered cash prizes to teams with winning ideas. Team Pandora for Streets took home the top prize for their map that used unusual crowdsourced data to evaluate the urban environment, such as street-level smells and noises. Other winning projects used crowdsourced bus stop data to evaluate accessibility and visualized needed repairs to Seattle's sidewalk network. Part of the Age-Friendly Seattle initiative, the civic hackathon reflects Seattle's commitment to becoming a livable community for people of all ages and abilities, Candice Faber, the city's civic technology advocate, said.
LEARN MORE AND STAY INFORMED
Find articles and resources about making communities more livable for people of all ages
Download or order free publications from AARP Livable Communities
Sign up for the free, weekly, award-winning AARP Livable Communities eNewsletter
Don't see your community listed?
LEARN HOW IT CAN JOIN THE NETWORKConnect with your AARP State Office
AARP has offices in all 50 states as well as in the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
AARP Washington State Office
18000 International Boulevard
Suite 1020
SeaTac (Seattle), WA 98188
United States