Intergenerational Housing, Places and Spaces

Intergenerational Housing, Places and Spaces

Join this network which meets 3-4 times per year to share the latest information and resources from the field, facilitate peer learning, and grow the community of intergenerational housing, places and spaces.

There is increased interest in designing and building housing developments and communities with intergenerational elements being at its core whether its co housing, multigenerational housing, colocated/shared sites etc. Housing has been increasingly segregated between generations with many different types of specialist housing for older people and new housing being designed and marketed towards specific groups of people.

We spend a lot of our time in and around the immediate environments of where we live. These spaces have great opportunities for enabling purposeful and mutually beneficial intergenerational relationships to form which enhance our understanding and respect for people of different generations.

Everyone has unique experiences, skills and knowledge, the sharing of these can help us build more cohesive communities. Our plan is to invite a range of experts to offer an overview of ideas and share real examples of intergenerational housing and shared sites and how the future of looking at housing can change to fit everyone’s needs.

Future Meetings for 2024

Intergenerational Contact Zones, what are they?

Tuesday 28th May 2024, 1:30pm – 3:30pm (online)

Intergenerational Contact Zones serve as spatial focal points for different generations to meet, interact, build relationships, and engage in joint activities.

Join GWT to watch a stimulating discussion with sociologist Dr Mariano Sanchez (University of Granada, Spain) to think about Space, Place, Relationships and Time (the session is a recent recording delivered to our students undertaking the International Certificate in Intergenerational Practice Course). The session was so interesting we asked permission to share and reflect with a wider audience.

The session explores Intergenerational Contact Zones, what they are and how we can create intergenerationally enriched settings. Dr Sanchez touches upon his collaborations with Dr Matt Kaplan (Penn State University, USA) . Come along and listen, then take part in a conversation session exploring your own ideas and looking at how we can create intergenerational contact zones. Register here to confirm your place.

If you would like to share your intergenerational housing, spaces and places research or developments please contact Bella.

Past meetings

Wednesday 25th October – Two Generations

We were excited to welcome Two Generations Homeshare to our most recent Intergenerational Housing Places and Spaces session to hear more about Homeshare and their planned work in Scotland.

A New Way For Older Living – Discover How Homeshare Helps Intergenerational Living Happen

For many adult children in Scotland, it’s a familiar feeling to be worrying about your parents as they age. This is particularly the case where they may not be quite as independent as they once were, perhaps a little unsteady on their feet, or their memory is starting to decline. They may have lost confidence and perhaps even more so during Covid lockdowns and wish they had someone in the house overnight or to support them back into the community, while they are not at the point where they need to look at expensive residential, full time or in-house care options.

We look forward to seeing you all there and the session will take place with a short presentation followed by a Q & A session.

Monday 19th September

Following through with the thematic session on places and spaces we will explore inclusive spaces and the difference that they can make to break down loneliness and social isolation. Intergenerational contact can be approached and promoted in our communities by rethinking existing spaces in our community. Whether that is co-location, co-programming or co-sharing they all work to facilitate meeting s across generational borders and bring people together to create intentional intergenerational activity and build relationships. This means that we could plan our communities by rethinking social and community and creating a more holistic approach serving diverse groups in a single location.

Guest Speaker – Steve Malone, Principal Architect with Architecture & Design Scotland will join us and talk about their work on Caring Places and the Alva Pathfinder Project in Clackmannanshire. We will have break out groups to explore this further.