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Urban Housing Solutions (2019) Print
2019 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Public space activation
└ Public space activation
With the goal of reducing social isolation for older residents, Urban Housing Solutions designed and constructed a temporary parklet at Mercury Court, a small affordable housing community close to downtown Nashville. The organization outfitted the outdoor space with patio chairs, picnic tables, planter boxes, solar string lights and shade umbrellas. They also repainted a community room and decorated a wall with graphics celebrating the property's history. To ensure the space enables social interaction, a group of residents worked to coordinate social events, such as movie and game nights and community meals. In addition, Mercury Courts residents have shown interest in using the new planter boxes as garden beds. Urban Housing Solutions is a nonprofit housing developer serving Nashville's unhoused and low-income residents.
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See More Projects Like This One
Boston, MA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: To encourage walking, Boston installed benches in Main Street neighborhood districts across the city. Older adults tested and approved the benches and worked with the City to identify the best locations for them. The initiative's guiding principle was that making walking safe and comfortable for older adults creates a better environment for people of all ages. Project organizers report residents were eager to use the new benches. In fact, as Department of Public Works staff were finishing up an installation, a few people were often waiting to take a seat. The benches contribute to vibrant public spaces near businesses and merchants say they appreciate the increased foot traffic. Project organizers say the installations helped develop a city-wide framework for a sustainable bench program, addressing installation and long-term maintenance.
Woodburn, OR
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: This project created a public community gathering space in the heart of one of Oregon's largest older adult communities.
Cole, OK
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: To supplement American Rescue Plan Act funds being used to renovate a local park, the Town of Cole used grant funds to replace a dilapidated stage in the park, with a new accessible stage. The community looks forward to musicians returning to the stage for celebrations and events.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Nashville, TN
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement
Description: The Nashville Civic Center Design Center hosted the Nashville Neighborhoods Celebration at the intersection of 11th and Arthur Avenues. To showcase possibilities for public space there, organizers set up seating, street games and art installations. The gathering featured dance performances, food vendors and live music. Organizers wanted to ensure intersection upgrades aligned with Nashville's Walkike Master Plan. So they installed temporary streetscaping features, including vertical barriers to protect pedestrians crossing the street, signs to alert drivers to crosswalks, sensor lights and reflectors to increase visibility at night and bike lanes separated from traffic by planter boxes. At the event, residents had the opportunity to share their feedback on the improvements. Based on the pop-up efforts, the City permanently redesigned 11th street in 2019, adding a new bike lane. And since then, additional pop-up bike lane projects have informed permanent changes to downtown.
Nashville, TN
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Bringing resident insight and volunteer power into local government
Description: This project cultivated leadership skills among people 50 or older at a series of lunch and learn events, helping them become more actively engaged in their neighborhoods.
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