Intergenerational Geographies

Abstract: Research on age in geography has become highly compartmentalized into separate literatures on younger and older generations that rarely intersect. As such, the geographies of intergenerational relationships – and particularly, extrafamilial intergenerational relationships – remain substantially under-researched. 

This essay reviews how geographers have approached issues of intergenerational relationships while also drawing on recent work from other fields (including sociology, anthropology and queer theory) that can extend current thinking on the geographies of intergenerationality and age relations. How does space facilitate and limit intergenerational contact and relationships? How do the geographies of intergenerational relationships vary between social groups and contexts? And if generational separation and segregation are problems (as a substantial body of work suggests), how can this be ameliorated? Throughout the essay, I examine how social scientists have attempted to address these questions while also identifying the significant gaps that remain in our understanding. (Vanderbeck, 2007)

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- Vanderbeck, R. M. (2007). Intergenerational Geographies: Age Relations, Segregation and Re-engagements; link

- photograph by Andy Sweet via

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Universal Design: Homes For All Ages

Brought to you by the Arlington County Commission On Aging, this video discusses the meaning and importance of having universal design in a home plus its impact on everyone, regardless of age and ability.

Old Age Does Not Mean Living in a Design Ghetto

"With populations around the world aging rapidly, we need to re-think how we design for older people. We can keep older people safe, but trapped in gilded cages. Or we can design to keep them active and fully integrated in society. Professor of Design Jeremy Myerson makes a powerful case for the latter."

Living Big in a Tiny House: Charming + Mobility Friendly

"This tiny house has many elderly / disability friendly features which helps to make this tiny home a very liveable space. These features include design aspects such as ramps, reinforced walls for secure hand rails, and an accessibility toilet and shower. Care was taken to ensure there are zero trip hazards in the home and the dimensions of the home were even designed around the ability to use a wheelchair in the tiny house if need be."
"For those who have disabilities or mobility issues, one of the best things about a tiny house on wheels is that you can design it to your specific needs. In this case, Merle has a home where she is warm and comfortable, but most importantly, a house which has given her back her independence and dramatically increased her quality of life."
"This tiny house was constructed by Ferne’s company, Tiny Footprint in Australia."

A strategy for tackling loneliness

"Society is changing rapidly. The ways we live, work and relate to each other are shifting as we move towards a more digital society, as employment practices change and people participate in society in different ways. People are living longer, but not necessarily experiencing increased quality of life to match those increased years. Many jobs are becoming more solitary. We can work, shop, travel and interact with businesses and public services online rather than through talking to each other.
Alongside these changes, we understand now more than ever before about the negative impacts of loneliness. Loneliness is not new but we do increasingly recognise it as one of our most pressing public health issues."

::: HM Government (2018). A connected society. A strategy for tackling loneliness - laying the foundations for change. DOWNLOAD

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photograph by Jonathan Webb via Aero England, copyright by owner(s)

Public Housing, Beauty and Inclusive Design

"The Raymond Hilliard Homes (also called Center) was a Chicago Housing Authority complex located on the near south side of Chicago, containing two 16-story round towers for elderly housing and two 18-story curved towers for low-income family housing. Supporting 756 dwelling units, the complex included lawns, playgrounds, and an open air theater. It has since been renovated by the private sector and converted to mixed-income housing, still with a significant lower income population. It is also now listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1997, recognized for exceptional design. (...)
Meant as a new solution to public housing woes, Raymond Hilliard was built to be a structure which residents would be proud to live in. Goldberg felt that much public-housing was designed in such a way to make the poor feel that they were punished for being poor and did little other than warehouse them. As stated by Goldberg in a 1965 promotional piece, "their architecture must meet them and recognize them, not simply store them." Residents were chosen from records of model citizenry in other housing projects, and for many years this was the only public housing complex which needed no constant police supervision. The unusual tower shapes maximized the space allowed by Public Housing Authority standards while creating a sense of community and openness."
Raymond Hilliard Homes


::: DOWNLOAD: Integration by Design: Bertrand Goldberg, Stanley Tigerman, and Public Housing Architecture in Postwar Chicago, Marisa Angell Brown, Brown University

Excerpt (p. 218):
This essay examines a critical moment in public housing design in which two architects—Bertrand Goldberg and Stanley Tigerman, both white, Jewish, and Chicago residents—deliberated over what would constitute appropriate designs for African American residents on the South Side of Chicago in the 1960s. The Raymond Hilliard Homes (Figure 1) and Woodlawn Gardens (Figure 2), built six miles from each other—one at the northern edge of the Black Belt, the other at its southeastern boundary near Hyde Park—reveal Goldberg and Tigerman grappling with race, poverty, and spatial segregation in thoughtful and empathetic ways and coming to two very different conclusions about how an architecture of black empowerment might look.
Goldberg, drawing on the work of contemporary sociological thinkers such as Herbert J. Gans, Edward T. Hall, and Nathan Glazer, believed that different social groups have intrinsically different cultures, and that architecture must suit the users’ particular cultural mores and needs.

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photograph via chicago modern

The Mosquito Anti-Loitering Device

"In an effort to move young people on, the Mosquito emits an unrelenting high-frequency sound which affects those under the age of 25, who have the capacity to hear high-pitched sounds in a way that older people, (...) do not.
This move is in response to recent criminal activity committed (...) However, the use of such devices targets all young people, regardless of their behaviour. (...)
The company markets the device by referring to “problems with kids and teens” who are “damaging property, hanging around in rowdy groups, littering, smoking and drinking, playing music…” The language used by Compound Security, such as describing the device as having the “teeth to bite back at these kids” arguably attempts to demonise young people, and suggests that only a hostile approach to them “hanging about” – surely a benign act – can prevent such behaviour."
The Conversation

"Every day we receive calls from people wanting to buy a Mosquito Anti-loitering Device. People like you who are fed up with groups of kids damaging their property, hanging around in rowdy groups,littering, smoking and drinking, playing music and generally preventing you from enjoying your home or business.
You have tried talking to them. You have tried talking to their parents if you know them. Perhaps you have even wasted your time getting the police involved. Now you need to take matters in to your own hands in a way that does not involve any confrontation.
You as an individual have a legal right to peaceful enjoyment of your property or business and The Mosquito Anti-Loitering Device is the most effective and benign way of getting rid of the problem.
The Mosquito device is the only product on the market that has the teeth to bite back at these kids. The Mosquito alarm works not by being loud and painful, but by being UNBELIEVABLY annoying to the point where the kids CANNOT stay in the area being covered by the mosquito sound.
The Mosquito device is 100% legal to own and use and requires no planning permissions etc. It is simple to install (just bolt to a wall or post) and simply plugs in to a standard 13A wall socket. If you want to know more about the Mosquito before purchasing, see our Mosquito information page.
If you want to reclaim your right to a peaceful existence, buy your Mosquito Anti-Loitering Device now!"
Compound Security Systems

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photograph via The Fiscal Times

The Challenges of Urban Ageing: Making Cities Age-Friendly in Europe

Abstract: Urban ageing is an emerging domain that deals with the population of older people living in cities. The ageing of society is a positive yet challenging phenomenon, as population ageing and urbanisation are the culmination of successful human development. One could argue whether the city environment is an ideal place for people to grow old and live at an old age compared to rural areas. This viewpoint article explores and describes the challenges that are encountered when making cities age-friendly in Europe. Such challenges include the creation of inclusive neighbourhoods and the implementation of technology for ageing-in-place. Examples from projects in two age-friendly cities in The Netherlands (The Hague) and Poland (Cracow) are shown to illustrate the potential of making cities more tuned to the needs of older people and identify important challenges for the next couple of years. Overall, the global ageing of urban populations calls for more age-friendly approaches to be implemented in our cities. It is a challenge to prepare for these developments in such a way that both current and future generations of older people can benefit from age-friendly strategies.

van Hoof, J., Kazak, J. K., Perek-Bialas, J. M. & Peek, S. T. M. (2018). The Challenges of Urban Ageing: Making Cities Age-Friendly in Europe. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15, 1-17.

::: Read the article: LINK

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photograph (New York City in the 1970s) via Vintage Everyday

Ian

"To Ian, for sparkling with his smile, strenghtening us with his love, and conquering our heart."

“Ian” is a short, animated film inspired by the real-life Ian, a boy with a disability determined to get to the playground despite his playmates bullying him. This film sets out to show that children with disabilities can and should be included.
“Ian” started as a mother’s mission to educate her son’s bullies on the playground—one to one. When she realized that the need for inclusion was bigger than one playground, she wrote a book and founded Fundación ian to change thousands of minds and attitudes about people with disabilities. She approached MundoLoco, a top digital animation studio in Latin America, about creating “Ian,” an animated film to deliver the message of inclusion to audiences all over the world.
The real Ian is a fourth grader who, like most fourth graders, wants to play with his friends. But because some kids are not used to someone like Ian—someone who has cerebral palsy, uses a wheelchair, and a computer that works with his eye movements to communicate—they bully him and don’t include him when they play.
“The film is an opportunity for all society…to break down barriers, walls, and free us from prejudices,” Graschinsky said. The film was crafted to “guide [all children] to acquire concrete tools to be people of solidarity.”
excerpts via respect ability

Living Longer and Becoming More Diverse: The Many Faces of Co-Housing

"'Co-housing' as a formal and distinct concept is broadly recognised as having originated in Denmark. (...) This semi-urban communal living arrangement - on the fringes of a rapidly intensifying urban context with limited housing supply - was novel in that it self-consciously responded to growing calls for gender equality, and focused explicitly on providing childcare through the pooling of (multiple) household resources." (p. 21)

"Sharing in general can be understood as consisting of two types: the first around tangible, practical resource sharing, such as pooling material items or services (tools, cars, storage space, energy production etc.) or providing support (e.g. caring for children, the elderly or people with special needs); the second is around the less tangible: sense of togetherness or closeness, desire for involvement in each other's lives." (p. 44)

"While some forms of co-living are emerging to cater to culturally distinct segments of society, there is a challenge of how we handle ageing together with others we don't necessarily choose, or who 'don't look like us.'" (p. 45)

::: Download "Ahn, J., Tusinski, O. & Treger, C. (2018). Living Closer. The many faces of co-housing. A Studio Weave publication in collaboration with the Royal Institute of British Architects" : LINK

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image via Campfire Bugle

"Oh, isn't it wonderful?"

Dear Teacher, ...

Remember when making friends was child's play?

"I like coffee."
"Really? What's your favourite?"
"Hot chocolate."

More: BeMoreUs.org.uk

Ey Alter

"EY ALTER, da bist du ja! Alt oder jung, oder was ist hier die Frage? Du wirst älter, jeden Tag. Und nicht nur du, alle anderen auch. Deutschland gehört bereits zu den ältesten Nationen der Welt. Und jetzt? Kollektiv senil oder lebenslang mobil? „Demokalypse“ oder „Demochance“? Wie siehst du dich selbst, in deinem Alter? Zeit, sich mit der Frage nach dem Alter neu zu befassen. Persönlich, gesellschaftlich, in Unternehmen und Schulen. Denn das Alter hat viele Gesichter – erlebe es selbst!"

"EY ALTER …
… betrachtet den demografischen Wandel als Chance.
… ersetzt Altersstereotype durch Talente und Potenziale.
… entwickelt ein positives Bild zur Zukunft der Arbeit.
… setzt Impulse für neue Formen der Zusammenarbeit von Jung und Erfahren."

"EY ALTER ist eine Ausstellung, die auf Initiative und nach Ideen von Mercedes-Benz entstand.
Sie ist Teil der Demografie-Initiative „YES – Young and Experienced together Successful“, die einen Kulturwandel im Unternehmen anstößt und die Zusammenarbeit von jungen und erfahrenen Mitarbeitern in der Pkw-Produktion fördert. Realisiert wurde die Ausstellung unter wissenschaftlicher Begleitung der Jacobs University in Bremen."

Gasometer Berlin
EUREF CAMPUS 17
Torgauerstr. 12
10829 Berlin Schöneberg
Die Ausstellung ist rollstuhlgeeignet.

Mehr: Ey Alter



Bild via

Ageism, a very strange thing

According to this selection of "millennials" you are old when you are 40 and when you hit this ancient age you will walk like a 120-year-old with arthritis. This is a very nice clip which, however, does not answer the question if these people live in age segregated bubbles - no parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, older neighbours, friends, colleagues ...?

Ability is Ageless

"Cooperation is the secret."

Old? What is old?

My name is Essie Faria, I am a young 81 and I love to dance, and I just love to be active.

This Lady...