Spaces to Places

Written by Michael Wagler, Main Street Iowa State Coordinator, Main Street Iowa.

There is a growing understanding in the economic development discipline that creating a place where people want to be is a critical element to creating a strong, sustainable, interconnected community and economic development strategy.

Find out how the MIBOR REALTORS® Association used NAR's Placemaking Grants to transformed a vacant lot into a space everyone could use: a community garden.

This year, NAR’s Placemaking Grant has a level 1 grant for up to $1,500 for pop-up and demonstration projects such as temporary bike lanes, parklets, trails and plazas. Demonstration and pop-up projects enable a community to test the viability of...

One in three Americans don't have a park within a 10-minute walk (or half-mile) of their home.

Tactical Urbanism: the low-cost, short-term, nimble methodology for kick starting and advancing long-term projects related to street safety, public space, and more.

More and more organizations are seeing the value of placemaking and integrating it into their business models. The Urban Land Institute (ULI) has undertaken a placemaking project as part of their Building Healthy Places Initiative. ULI has helped...

Earlier this year, St. Louis REALTORS® and the organization’s charitable arm – the St. Louis REALTORS® Foundation –transformed a vacant piece of land within the St. Louis Greater Ville neighborhood into a community park.

The Three Rivers Association of REALTORS® (IL) used NAR's Placemaking Grant to build a pedestrian path connecting the entire Village of Diamond.

Written by Rachel Banner, Senior Program Manager at the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) As we all know, parks are essential to a vibrant community and research shows that when people have a park within a 10-minute walk of home,...

Written by Zachary Churney, Economic and Community Development Liaison, MIBOR REALTOR® Association The fundamental idea behind placemaking is that we build communities in which people want to live, work and thrive. These spaces become places where...

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Community Outreach Programs

Housing Opportunity Grant
Housing Opportunity Grants support state and local REALTOR® Associations’ affordable housing activities. The goal of the program is to position REALTORS® as leaders in improving their communities by creating affordable housing
opportunities.

Smart Growth Grant
Smart growth is an approach to development that encourages a mix of building types and uses, diverse housing and transportation options, development within existing neighborhoods, and community engagement. The Smart Growth Program offers state and local REALTOR® Associations to way to engage with government officials, community partners and the general public in planning and designing community’s future.

Diversity
Planned diversity initiatives makes good business sense. REALTOR® Associations with well-planned diversity programs create a stronger sense of community, particularly in neighborhoods with high concentrations of foreign-born and minority residents who are moving up the socioeconomic ladder and are buying homes.

NAR Placemaking Resources

Placemaking Guide: A Guide to Transform a Public Space into a Community Place
REALTORS® and state and local association staff can learn the details of Placemaking, the kinds of projects placemaking entails, how to organize them, and where to go for assistance and resources.

Placemaking Webinar Series
Our Placemaking Webinar Series will provide more in depth information on the various types of Placemaking and how REALTORS® were involved in Placemaking activities in their communities.

Placemaking Grant
The Placemaking Grant funds the creation of new public spaces, like pocket parks, trails & gardens, in a community. The grant focuses on “lighter, cheaper, quicker” placemaking projects, which can be built under a year and cost less than $200,000.