As part of the ‘Urban Renewal for Older People’ session at this year’s Healthy Cities Design conference, Mo Ul-Haq (Associate, Healthcare) and Olivia Jackson (Regeneration Lead) presented on how a multi-generational approach to town centres could give them a much-needed new lease of life.
We have a vision for the future of Later Living that empowers the older generation to ‘right-size’ at a younger age, by creating a model which supports independence through co-location with a town centre.
A sense of community ownership is one of the most powerful tools in the arsenal of urban renewal, yet we continue to overlook an ever-increasing part of our population within our strategies.
Later Living – but not as we know it – could provide the opportunity to transform town centres, create a strong backbone of community, support further urban renewal – and change the game on age-equity in the process. Inclusivity and accessibility regulations ensure that we design with the requirements of an aging population in mind, but often the sense that older users are not the desired customer base prevents us from truly examining the advantages that attracting rather than accommodating these users could bring to our town and city centres.
We have a vision for the future of Later Living that empowers the older generation to ‘right-size’ at a younger age, by creating a model which supports independence through co-location with a town centre. Supported by strategic relationships with local businesses, shops and providers alongside lower provisions of ‘in-house’ amenity, residents would be encouraged to utilise existing town centre amenities. In addition, facilities required to differentiate the Later Living offering such as on-site healthcare could also serve younger residents – creating a symbiotic relationship, which encourages integration and changes the perception of the value of our older generations.
The key is ‘location, perception, collaboration’ – and it is a joint effort. Town centre accessibility calls for an entirely different model to convince residents and planners that Later Living can support activation, rather than creating more introverted development. Only with this approach will the perception of Later Living begin to shift, creating a more enticing offer to younger residents and eroding the stigma that surrounds relocating to these offerings. This combined shift can have a huge impact on both urban renewal and health equity in our town and city centres if we are willing to truly collaborate – creating a multi-generational approach which draws on the powers of our ageing population, rather than focussing on their weaknesses.
Find out more about our vision for the future of Later Living by downloading our brochure below.
