2019 AARP Livable Communities Placemaking Workshop: Breakout Sessions

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The breakout sessions are listed alphabetically. The presentation summaries were provided by the presenters. 

1. COALITIONS FOR EFFECTIVE ADVOCACY: ENGAGING LOCAL PARTNERS

Bridging Bureaucracies to Boost Bicycling 

How can we effectively advocate for the transportation infrastructure we need so that people of every age and ability can safely bicycle in our communities? Bike Delaware shared a fun story

about an AARP-sponsored conference that brought together  international experts on cycling from the Netherlands and put the right government officials on bicycles. A tiny, but surprisingly

effective, grant program for bicycle infrastructure illustrated the importance of creative advocacy in the genesis of transportation capital projects: Download the presentation

Collaborate and Advocate: Tips From Local Government 

Summit County in Colorado and the Alpine Area Agency on Aging work well together at supplying residents of the County and its nine towns with senior services, information, and resources. The

presentation explained how the effectiveness of advocacy increased when two aging services providers worked together to make it easier for older residents to age comfortably and safely: 

Download the presentation

2. COLORADO MAIN STREETS: EQUITY THROUGH COLLABORATIONS

The Montrose Model

Montrose

It all starts with an idea ... but that is often where it ends. Montrose, Colorado, is a community that has led the way in creating equity by taking action. Many successful projects have

come to life in Montrose including a state-of-the-art community recreation center, a senior housing project, a community health clinic, and a north/south trail that connects all these

amenities: Download the presentation

For the Love of Winter: How Leadville is Reactivating a Public Park for All Users in All Seasons

Manager, Leadville Main Street

At 10,200 feet, Leadville is no stranger to winter. In 2019, Leadville was selected by 880 Cities as one of three vanguard communities to pilot a "wintermission" plan which aims to target

social isolation and combat traditional difficulties of winter living by implementing new techniques, better built environments, and more activities to bring all ages together. Learn how

Wintermission Leadville is working with the Leadville Main Street Program to reactivate an underutilized park to create a truly inclusive, healthy, and connected space for all seasons: 

Download the presentation

Choice Aging: La Junta

La Junta, Colorado, represents a small rural city on the Santa Fe Trail that loves all of its citizens. Through economic and community planning — as driven by Main Street concepts — the city

is instituting safe, fun, innovative, and economically-viable places for all of our people, while challenging the concept of what seniors want and who they are! Download the presentation

3. DISASTER RESILIENCE: CAPITALIZING ON COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Connecting People to Places in the Virgin Islands

The Virgin Islands Trail Alliance (VITAL) was organized in 2016 to create multi-use pathways connecting people to the places they want to go across St. Croix and the Territory. After two

major hurricanes in 2017, the needs of residents and opportunities to make change, have multiplied. The presentation stresses the important role of partners, including AARP Virgin Islands,

to implement changes: Download the presentation

Lyons Flood Recovery

In 2013, a devastating flood impacted nearly every aspect of the Lyons, Colorado, community. This presentation highlighted the resources and strategies that helped the town re-build: 

Presentation not available

Street Lab DSM

Street Lab is a Des Moines, Iowa-based program providing a materials library, expertise, and guidance for temporary demonstration projects run by cities and community organizations. From

economic activation, to health and safety initiatives, this program is supporting neighborhood efforts for better places: Download the presentation

Pop-Up Demonstrations: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Pop-up demonstrations, or tactical urbanism, offer powerful means to engage the public to envision place. Over the past few years, North Dakota communities, large and small, have pursued

pop-up demonstrations on the local and state transportation systems to initiate conversations about how place could be reimagined. There are, however, both positive and negative aspects of

pop-up demonstrations of which a community should be aware, which can make the difference in the success of your efforts: Download the presentation

Buffalo Better Block: Lessons Learned

Resources are just the beginning when it comes to engaging a community in a pop-up placemaking demonstration. Formal and informal space ownership, outreach, and community leadership buy-in

are all important factors to consider during the planning phases: Download the presentation

Tactical Urbanism in Park Projects

This presentation explored how volunteers and communities can use low cost/no cost temporary interventions as a demonstration tactic to enhance livability of parks and public spaces. Three

project examples from New Jersey highlighted key elements including: community support and buy in, keeping a focus on long term change and looking at non-traditional park spaces as important

community features: Download the presentation

Building a Park for All Ages

Developing the Grandparents Park in Wichita, Kansas, required bringing partners and the community together to develop and implement a shared goal. AARP Kansas and the City of Witchita

described who was involved in planning and advocating for the park, how the team was able to move the plan forward, and shared some of the lessons learned — from pitfalls to peaks: Download

the presentation

SeniorScapes Park at Monocacy Village Park

SeniorScapes, Inc. is developing an accessible, senior-centric and dementia-friendly area inside an existing public park in Frederick, Maryland. The idea is to provide older people with an

outdoor space designed to promote physical, cognitive and psychosocial health, as well as provide caregivers and families a safe, fun and multigenerational destination. Features include

fitness equipment, brain games, sensory integrative activities, balance and community mobility and exposure to nature: Download the presentation

6. HAPPY PLACES, HAPPY PEOPLE: TRANSFORMING DOWNTOWNS

Using Paint to Create a 24/7/365 District

As we look to build 24/7/365 economies, simple projects can give people a reason to visit a district at any hour of the day or night, whether or not businesses are open. Infill development

results when people want to stay in an interesting place: Download the presentation

The Pueblo Riverwalk: A Story of Community Revitalization and Beauty

For years, various members of the Pueblo community talked about beautifying central Pueblo in the area where the historic Arkansas River flowed. That area consisted of cooling ponds, parking

lots, a ditch, weeds and debris. What once was originally home to Native Americans, trappers, adventurers, and, eventually a thriving business district, deteriorated after the devastating

flood of 1921 and the subsequent relocation of the river outside of the city. Pueblo citizens led the way to reclaim the original river channel and revive, as well as beautify, the historic

tract: Download the presentation

There’s a Hole in Our City: Creating a Vision for a Vacant Lot in the Heart of Asheville

For 15 years, Asheville, North Carolina, disagreed over what to do with a city-owned acre of vacant land in the center of the downtown. The city asked the Asheville Design Center to work

with the community to define a vision for the site, incorporating input from over 300 senior residents that live on either side of the vacant lot. ADC shares the tools and techniques it used

to reach a consensus for the future of the site, ending more than a decade of squabbling: Download the presentation

7. MOVING FORWARD: USING TRANSPORTATION TO CONNECT PEOPLE TO PLACES

DRCOG’s Boomer Bond Assessment Tool

The Boomer Bond, a program of the Denver Regional Council of Governments, helps prepare the region and local communities for the dramatic increase in the region’s older adult population. The

Boomer Bond assessment tool helps the region’s local governments identify challenges and gaps, and equips them with strategies and tools to support healthy, independent aging, so older

residents can safely and successfully remain in their homes and communities: Download the presentation

Philly Free Streets: Piloting Placemaking in Car-Free Streets

State Director for Advocacy and Outreach, AARP Pennsylvania

Philly Free Streets is a people-powered initiative of the City of Philadelphia that temporarily closes streets to cars, inviting people to walk, bike, roll, and play. With AARP

Pennsylvania’s support, Philly Free Streets has developed into a program that invites neighbors to pilot creative placemaking, igniting imaginations and possibility: Download the

presentation

Maplewood Re-Leaf

The redesign of a bus stop can turn an ordinary space into an interactive and fun place for people of all ages that integrates with the community. A complex collaboration of partners,

residents, elected officials and others led to great results for the community: Download the presentation

Planning and Cultural Connections: The Makings of Vibrant Communities

Planning Division

New Jersey's Somerset County Planning Division and Cultural and Heritage Commission shared how the organization has worked to develop vibrant communities through physical accessibility and

the utilization of the arts and to help move local and county initiatives and projects forward: Download the presentation

Creating Places People Love

Vermont

The Vermont Arts Council and AARP Vermont showcased the power of placemaking in small communities in Vermont through workshops, hands-on testing, recipe books and mini-grants, weaving the

arts and economic development together: Download the presentation

From Faded to Fabulous

The age-friendly committee in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, partnered with AARP Maine and Team Better Block to transform an area of the city that had seen better days. Knowing the power of food,

the process started when the team opened two four-hour pop-up shops — one serving sweets and one serving barbecue. More than 240 residents of the neighborhood attended: Download the

presentation

9. PLANNING LIVABLE DEVELOPMENT: STARTING SMALL TO END BIG

Placemaking: A Tool for Community-Driven Development

As a planning tool, placemaking calls on community expertise and results in outcomes supported by the people living there. Creating temporary places can be empowering and help drive

desirable change. Idaho Smart Growth shared how the utilization of placemaking has helped communities transform abstract concepts into community-driven plans: Download the presentation

Belmar Redevelopment

Lakewood, Colorado, faced a rapidly deteriorating regional mall in the city's core, with declining sales tax revenue, loss of tenants, and increase in crime. The city's answer was a

public-private partnership that turned increasing decay into a new urbanist downtown that is now an international model for suburban redevelopment: Download the presentation

Retrofitting Density for Transit

Creative ways to bring density to already built neighborhoods include housing options like auxiliary dwelling units, small apartment complexes, housing subdivisions, housing expansions and

denser lots. These small scale infill projects allow for more resilient, vibrant neighborhoods that keep people in their homes longer and allow for transit service to subdivisions: Download

the presentation

10. PRACTITIONERS LOVE PEOPLE, TOO: DESIGNING PLACES WITH PEOPLE IN MIND

Planning Parks for Health

Parks provide a ton of physical, mental, and environmental health benefits. They create opportunities for physical activity, bring communities together, help combat stress, improve air and

water quality, cool developedreas, and even reduce the risk of flooding.  It can be easy to access the range of health benefits provided by parks, and make a plan for healthier parks in your

own community: Download the presentation

Walkable Communities

Recent years have seen a growing demand for walkable communities that support an active lifestyle, where owning a car is a choice, not a necessity. Such communities are designed to be safe

and accessible for people of all ages and abilities. The design of the buildings, streets and public spaces influences walkability and helps to create vibrant, healthy and inclusive

communities: Download the presentation

Inclusive Engagement in Public Spaces

Placemaking is about employing a community’s strengths to create a presence in public spaces that reflects that community’s identity, health, and well-being. Creating inclusive places means

being intentional about engaging diverse audiences and reaching voices that are often underrepresented. Through the stories of some 8 80 Cities public space projects, these underrepresented

voices are reached and elevated: Download the presentation

11. PUBLIC ART: CULTIVATING COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Failing Up: Bringing a Mural to Life Through Collaboration

The positive end results of a project often hide the challenges that were encountered in bringing a project to life. Groundwork Bridgeport will talk about what inspired the project, initial

challenges faced, and how collaboration with other organizations helped make a mural project in Bridgeport Connecticut succeed: Download the presentation

Using Art to Connect and Engage the Community with Outcomes

Public art leaves an indelible artistic mark on neighborhoods, cultivates culture and creativity throughout the community, enhances neighborhood vibrancy, and brings diverse croups together

to share a common experience. AARP Texas shared examples of public art and placemaking installations in Fort Worth that honored the cultural traditions of the neighborhoods where they were

installed. The goal of the projects was to connect and engage the community with outcomes that have transformational power: Download the presentation

Creative District Wilmington

Wilmington's Creative District is part of a national wave of creative placemaking initiatives that seek to transform urban areas. The Creative District is focused on creative production and

consumption. It's a place where creative entrepreneurs — artists, musicians, designers, tech innovators, makers and manufacturers — and neighborhood residents thrive, and where

locally-designed goods and original works are made and consumed: Download the presentation

12. SMALL TOWNS, BIG DREAMS, HUGE IMPACT

Learn how Colorado communities put AARP Community Challenge grant funds to work.

Age-Friendly Historic Polous Park

Paonia’s efforts to engage town elders and better serve residents of all ages include improvements to historic Polous Park, an underutilized pocket park near the center of town. Additional

lighting and a conversation circle will provide a new social space for residents, including those with mobility differences: Download the presentation

RKY MTN WALLS Mural Festival

Drawing from the beauty of the Colorado mountains,  unique wildlife and the state’s colorful art scene, RKY MTN WALLS was the first ever street art festival in Grand County, with the goal of

bringing the thriving local and national art scene to the mountains. Through the creation of permanent large-scale public murals, the orojct provided a platform for Colorado's diverse art

scene to contribute to the county’s cultural legacy for years to come: Download the presentation

Mesa County Public Library: Discovery Gardens

The Discovery Garden at Mesa County Libraries was created to provide food and opportunities for the community to discover, learn, create and connect. The permaculture-inspired garden is

surrounded by a senior center, a church, the central library, Meals on Wheels, individual homes and an apartment complex, and it serves many needs in the center of town. Garden volunteers of

all ages work with the local schools and the community to create educational programming and opportunities to plant and harvest foods and flowers: Download the presentation

WALKABILITY: FIRST STEPS TO PERMANENT CHANGE

A Walking Summit Can Open the Eyes of City Leaders

A well-planned walking summit has the ability to open the eyes of city officials to the benefits of a walkable city with vibrant spaces. Walkability can transform a city, but the benefits

aren’t always apparent or a priority. AARP Alabama brought home that message by inviting mayors, developers, planners, community partners and advocates to a walking summit that included

demonstration walk audits and a sample street improvement project: Download the presentation

Age-Friendly Metro Atlanta: Walk Up to a Pop-Up

State Director for Community Outreach, AARP Georgia

GA Walks Summit is an annual statewide gathering of transit and public health professionals, elected officials and community advocates committed to making our streets and communities great

places to walk. WalkUP to a Pop-up, a mobile demonstration, showed that a temporary project activated in an alley in downtown historic Norcross could become a permanent asset. Learn about

other examples of successful pop-ups around Metro Atlanta that are multigenerational, collaborative and making an impact: Download the presentation

Multicultural Placemaking: WalkDenver’s Little Saigon Initiative

The Little Saigon District on South Federal Boulevard is not only one of the most culturally diverse parts of Denver, it is also located along one of the most deadly streets in Denver, which

has a traffic fatality rate twenty times the average for urban streets in Colorado.  Through the Friends of Little Saigon Initiative, WalkDenver is working with Asian and Latinx residents,

businesses, and property owners along the corridor to not only increase safety, but also celebrate the local culture and support a thriving international main street through creative

placemaking: Download the presentation

14. WE WANT MORE OPTIONS! CREATING HOUSING FOR EVERYONE

Housing Through an Equity Lens

Larimer County’s housing stock doesn’t reflect the changing demographics of the region. To create more housing choices for people of all ages, the Partnership for Age-Friendly Communities is

working with local governments and residents to create more "missing middle housing" and a broader range of affordability and accessibility options: Download the presentation

Florida’s Low-Income Populations Find the Right HousingLaura Cantwell, Associate State Director for Advocacy and Outreach, AARP Florida

The aging population in the United States, and Florida specifically, has called for an increased focus on accessibility and livability. Many older adults struggle to find affordable housing

options, with over 1.1 million low-income households in Florida spending more than 50 percent of their income on housing. AARP Florida is working with communities across the state as an

advocate on the importance of appropriate housing options for people of all ages: Download the presentation

Government Affairs

AARP is working in towns, cities, and states nationwide to help make communities livable for people of all ages, including advocating for better housing options and a more diverse housing

stock: Download the presentation

Page published November 2019

Download and/or order The Pop-Up Placemaking Tool Kit, a free publication by AARP and Team Better Block.

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