Creating Community Gardens for People of All Ages

Creating Community Gardens for People of All Ages — a 32-page publication by AARP Livable Communities with 8 80 Cities — can help elected officials, government staff, nonprofit organizations and neighbors in all sorts of places build and sustain community gardens as inclusive, intergenerational outdoor spaces.

Check out the worksheet collection.

AARP.org/CommunityGardens

Start Gardening!

• Order the 32-page printed publication

• Download the PDF

• Get the worksheets (English)

• Obtenga las hojas de trabajo (español)

A community garden can improve the health of residents, foster economic development, combat social isolation, relieve food insecurity, improve public safety, encourage inclusion and enhance community connectedness.

By encouraging physical activity, civic engagement and socializing, community gardens support healthy aging and help foster resiliency for people and places.

Community gardens can also help revitalize neighborhoods and incentivize the development of more walkable and transit-oriented places.

This publication explains the value of community gardens, provides guidance about starting and sustaining such gardens, and shares examples and suggestions for related public policies and programs.

Many of the examples and photographs in the guide are of gardens that were created or enhanced by grant funding from the AARP Community Challenge. 

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More About Community Gardens

• West Philadelphia Garden Grows Sense of Community

• Gardening Boxes are Great for Grown-Ups

• Growing Food So Neighbors Can Eat

• How to Create, Maintain and Manage an Intergenerational Community Garden

• The Key Ingredient for Creating a New Public Space? Community Engagement

• Video: Planting a Garden in Anadarko, Oklahoma

• Video: Growing Food in Providence, Rhode Island

• Video: Community Gardens a Tool for Growing Community Change Webinar Recording"

• Photo Album: Community Gardens

Find more publications and resources from AARP Livable Communities

^{Page published January 2023}