Morrilton, AR

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022

Project Category: Public space activation

Description: This project created an outdoor therapy space, designed to be accessible to people of all ages and abilities. Volunteers poured a concrete slab to serve as a play surface. They also added benches and picnic tables onsite.

Houston, TX

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021

Project Category: Improved wayfinding

Description: Organizers with the Greater Northside Management District wanted to help pedestrians reach local businesses and other neighborhood amenities. They also hoped to increase public safety, support public art and create a sense of neighborhood identity. To do this, the District installed signs in five neighborhoods. The large-scale signs can display multiple pieces of information at once, including directions and distances to businesses, public safety statistics, the location of neighborhood amenities and how to catch a bus or check out a bike from the local bike share. Additionally, they can showcase artworks, with local schools encouraged to submit student work for exhibit. The signposts also have a placemaking element -- each displays the name of the neighborhood in large, metal letters. By creating a sense of place and helping visitors navigate, project organizers say the wayfinding effort will support economic development on Houston's Northside.

Denver, CO

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018

Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement

Description: Denver's Federal Boulevard is one of the city's deadliest routes, with a traffic fatality rate 20 times higher than the average for urban streets in Colorado. To demonstrate simple improvements to make walking and biking safer, WalkDenver held a daylong tactical urbanism event near Regis University. Using pastel-painted tires, traffic cones, flowerpots and hay bales, project organizers set up temporary bike lanes, curb extensions and traffic islands along Federal Boulevard. To determine the efficacy of the street calming interventions, they collected data on vehicle speeds and surveyed pedestrians during the pop-up. Ahead of the event, project organizers hosted a walk with local leaders, allowing them to experience the challenge of walking along Federal Boulevard. The nearby neighborhoods are home to college students who regularly walk and bike, as well as a high concentration of older adults and residents with disabilities.