AARP Eye Center
AARP Livable Communities Map
Idaho Smart Growth (2017) Print
2017 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Public space activation
└ Public space activation
Kuna has a large parking lot in the center of its downtown that goes largely underused for most of the year. To spark the community's imagination, the City and Idaho Smart Growth hosted the Park for a Day event, which turned the lot into a pop-up plaza. The event featured live music, a food vendor and sketches illustrating ways the space could be permanently transformed. Attendees also contributed their own designs for the parking lot. Suggestions included using the space for a series of short-term, recurring events, such as an Oktoberfest, a Christmas village, a renaissance fair or themed dance nights. The City went on to explore several ideas from the pop-up event, including paving the parking lot with solar panels and installing green stormwater infrastructure to sustain landscaping at the site.
Photo Gallery
Image:
Click on a photo to learn more
See More Projects Like This One
Delaware, OH
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: The City of Dallas upgraded Unity Park, adding fitness equipment and ADA-compliant benches. To make the space more appealing, the City also upgraded the park's lighting and landscaping.
Aguila, AZ
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: The Aguila Community Center in rural Aguila is a community hub for residents of all ages, despite its aging infrastructure, leaky roof and signs of wear and tear. To make the facility useable during the monsoon season, leaders at the center fixed the concrete floor with laminate plank flooring and weatherized the roof to make the facility fully functional. Since the improvements, the Aguila Community Center has hosted COVID-19 vaccine clinics, fitness classes, quincenearas and other community celebrations and events during all months of the year.
Union, SC
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: This project provided stipends to residents over age 50 who work in a community garden and FoodShare boxes to residents in need of services.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Ada County, ID
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Expansion and enhancement of transportation options
Description: Ada County lacks transportation options for many of its residents. To help local employers provide transportation for their employees, the Ada County Highway Department expanded its Commuteride program, which provides grants to small organizations and businesses -- many of whom are nonprofits or working directly with underserved populations -- to provide facility or mobility enhancements. The program provided shared bikes, bike racks, employee transit passes, bike repair stations, bike helmets, telework resources and breakroom amenities such as lockers and showers.
Boise, ID
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: Through seven pop-up placemaking events, this project enlivened the downtown area with outdoor games and activities.
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 Idaho State Office
250 S. 5th Street
Suite 800
Boise, ID 83702
United States