Intergenerational Placemaking

The Next Generation of senior wants a different type of senior living community.  This next generation will expect, at a minimum, the best of what current communities offer: residential and universal design throughout, independence with the ability to age in place, access to quality health care if needed, personalized programs and services,  and excellent services and programs. However, in addition, we also believe they will desire communities that offer:

  • Intergenerational programs and services to provide greater connection to the surrounding neighborhood and the community at large;
  • Design that creates a true feeling of neighborhood and sense of place by incorporating placemaking, new urbanism and mixed-use elements.

In other words, communities that don’t look or feel like traditional “seniors housing”.

See below for recent articles and resources about senior living projects incorporating intergenerational design and programming and placemaking.  Further below we also have a bibliography on recommended books on these topics.


Found 62 Results
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Intergenerational Placemaking (Under Construction 4/12/23)


We are in the process of updating this page and providing links and resources specifically about intergenerational design and programming and examples of placemaking in senior living. To be updated/released May, 2023.

April 13, 2023

2022 EFA: “Design Ideas for the Next Generation of Senior Living” (4/25/22)


Article about the presentation Vassar Byrd and I made at the 2022 EFA conference on why the next generation of seniors is looking for something different and seven guiding principles to best incorporate intergenerational and new urbanism/mixed-use elements.

April 25, 2022

Project: Trinity Woods on the Mount Mary University Campus (4/24/22)


The community opened with 90 market-rate IL, 24 dormitory units for single mothers enrolled as students, a child development facility for up to 100 children, and a two-story Town Center to foster intergenerational connection. All spaces are designed to “encourage sprendipitous and supportive interactions of all occupants”.

Project: New Belmont Village Project Offers Intergenerational Programming (4/24/22)


The 150 unit community is collaborating with a local school district to offer intergenerational programming for residents and elementary through midde-school students. CEO Partricia Will notes the next generation of seniors desire “higher levels of engagement and purpose than previous generations”

Project: Broadview Senior Living on Purchase College Campus (4/24/22)


The community will offer IL, AL and MC plus a Learning Commons, a 10,000 SF “communal space where residents, students, and faculty members will have opportunities to interact and learn intergenerationally”

Project: Brandywine Goes Big on Intergenerational Living (4/24/22)


New Brandywine AL project next to high school “to create organic, unstructured interactions between the two communities. The community will plan programming and other activities that help bring generations together and create opportunities for young and old to interact. For example, Brandywine residents will be encouraged to visit the school and see a play or […]

April 24, 2022

Project: Senior Living Community Partners with Bezos Academy PreSchool (3/17/22)


IG Forefront Living CEO: Bezos Academy Partnership Advances Our Intergenerational Commitment

April 2, 2022

The New Face of College “Seniors” (3/1/22)


The university-based retirement community – EUA

Disney to Develop Communities With Senior Housing Neighborhoods – Senior Housing News (2/22/22)


Disney is building its first Storyliving community — dubbed Cotino — in Rancho Mirage, California. www.storylivingbydisney.com

Is Disney Going Into The Senior Living Business? – Senior Living Foresight (2/20/22)


Disney excels at creating experiences for their customers. An area that, for the most part, senior living struggles. They could either teach us, inspire us to do better, or crush us.  It could also give senior living a facelift —making senior living cool to prospects, family members, and prospective team members. 

Analysis From 113 Countries Shows The Harrowing Extent of Loneliness We Live With (2/11/22)


Even before the global pandemic hit, a sweeping meta-analysis has found chronic or severe loneliness was a common and overlooked experience – especially among seniors.

Project: Senior Living on the ASU campus (2/1/22)


Mirabella at ASU blends senior living services with college life and amenities, where older adults and students can mingle

Normalize Aging Through Intergenerational Programming – Senior Living Foresight (1/17/22)


“I encourage everyone in our industry to become stewards of intergenerational activities in order to bring joy to more people.”

“Don’t Mind the Gap in Intergenerational Housing” – NYT (12/28/21)


Options exist for intergenerational housing and new models are proliferating.

The Villages is a Success Story; But Many Seniors Want Something Different (12/28/21)


Paul Irving, Chairman of the Center for the Future of Aging: “Is a town without the sounds of children and a diversity of races and styles really a paradise? Studies confirm that the intergenerational connections and sense of purpose associated with those types of living and learning arrangements foster health, positive attitudes and well-being”

Project: Mixed-Use Project with Retail, Recreation, Apartments and Senior Living (12/21/21)


$350 Million Mixed-Use Project Moves Ahead with Atria, Welltower On Board – Senior Housing News

Project: Regenerative Communities (12/1/21)


Modern Elder Academy shifts the primary aspiration in aging from leisure to cultivating purpose and connection.  Instead of a golf course, we have a regenerative farm or ranch.  Regenerative communities are to the 21st century what a retirement community was to the 20th.

Inflation and the ‘Experience Economy’ – WSJ (12/5/21)


We live in an “experience economy” and consumers are willing to pay more for goods and services distinguished by their experience (theme or story) than the average, commoditized alternative

Transforming Age & Sustainable Housing for Ageless Generations Ready Intergenerational Model (11/29/21)


“For a long time, I’ve been trying to break down the barrier, the idea that senior housing is an island and isolated unto itself,”

Intergenerational Mentorship Program Aims to Promote Social Connection, Reduce Loneliness (11/23/21)


A virtual mentorship program connecting independent living residents and teens helped counteract loneliness

The Villages is a Retirement ‘Paradise’ — So Why is that a Problem? – MarketWatch (10/2/21)


More older adults realize that intergenerational connections are not just valuable for them but for their communities and country.  At our Center for the Future of Aging at the Milken Institute, we have promoted the benefits of diverse cities and the case for intergenerational living, which are very different from the Villages.

Project: Aldersgate – Planning for the Retrofit of Retirement Communities | CNU (posted 9/1/21)


Aldersgate, a single-purpose suburban-developed CCRC, is  developing its excess land with non-senior living uses to create a walkable, mixed use form

Project: Assisted Living & Memory Care with integrated Montessori school (posted 9/1/21)


Insight Senior Living Opens Intergenerational Amaran Senior Living Community in Albuquerque

Why Multifamily, Senior Housing Hybrids Could Shape the Future of Intergenerational Living (posted 9/1/21)


“The lines between multifamily apartmetns and senior lviing are continuing to blur”.  Discusses both The Canyons and the Garden Spot communities.

Project: Blending Senior Housing and Multifamily in a Hybrid Model (posted 9/1/21)


The Canyons in Portland, OR is not age-restricted but its universal design and range of services appeal to both older and younger people, targeting about 70% older adults and 30% younger residents

Project: Garden Spot “Looks Beyond Age-Restricted Housing” (posted 9/1/21)


“The organization is exploring ways to create community for people from all walks of life and all generations”

A New Model for Continuing Care | CNU (posted 9/1/21)


Seniors don’t want senior living projects where the most prominent feature is a parking lot behind a gated entry, but instead walkable connections to shops and services.  “We are creating a product in placemaking”

Re-Imagining Senior Living, Part Two – The New Frontier – Senior Living Foresight (posted 9/1/21)


We segregate people by age – there is something wrong about this.  Six ideas to promote intergenerational connection

The Future of Senior Housing Depends on Just One Thing – Kleger Associates (posted 9/1/21)


Don’t Call Them Seniors.  Carve a Niche.  Keep your positioning simple (which can be complex).  The question is not, “Who will take care of me when I’m sick?” The question is, “How will you help me stay well for the long term?”  (This is a question that senior housing can answer and multi-family developers cannot.)

Symbolism in Architecture (posted 9/1/21)


Examples in senior livng and non-senior living

Family Village Living: Opportunity Beyond Age Segregation – Senior Living Foresight (posted 9/1/21)


Is legalized age-segregation is essential, or even desirable, for senior living communities?

Opportunity Beyond Age Segregation – Senior Living Foresight (posted 9/1/21)


Our concepts of old age have shifted dramatically in the last 50 years. We all know and herald the longevity revolution. But equally dramatic, is the vitality revolution that keeps more and more aging people as productive members of society throughout their lives. Is the era of age-segregated senior housing coming to an end?

Project: Senior Living Community on Notre Dame of Maryland Campus (posted 9/1/21)


Brightview Senior Living To Add Community On College Campus | EFA Magazine

Seniors Housing Developers Embrace Intergenerational Living Trends – REBusinessOnline (posted 9/1/21)


“intergenerational housing models are emerging as an attractive alternative for a group that wants a different type of retirement experience. Mixing different age groups has benefits for everyone involved.”

Project: Otterbein SeniorLife’s Effort to Develop a 1,200 Acre Intergenerational Community (posted 9/1/21)


“Turner recently shared his perspective on the intersection between intergenerational senior housing and New Urbanism — and the budding partnerships between senior living and all-ages developers”

An epidemic of loneliness | The Week (posted 9/1/21)


Nearly half of all Americans today say they are lonely. Why is that so, and what are the consequences?

25 great ideas of the New Urbanism | CNU (posted 9/1/21)


The New Urbanism is a design movement toward complete, compact, connected communities—but it is also a generator of ideas that transform the landscape.

White Paper: Team-Based Master Planning – The Most Efficient Way to Bring an Expansion or Start-up Community to Reality (8/14/21)


White Paper released as part of a webinar on Team-Based Master Planning to which I contributed and co-presented.

August 19, 2020

Project: Mixed-Use Project Anchored by Senior Living in Metro D.C. (8/13/21)


Trammel Crow Mixed-Use developing a mixed-use project with retail, medical office & senior living in Metro D.C.

April 2, 2022

Evaluating Your Contractor’s COVID-19 Response Plan: A 75-Point Checklist (5/14/20)


If you have construction underway, or are contemplating construction in the near future, your contractor must have a comprehensive and detailed COVID-19 response plan in place. I created this checklist based on a review of suggested COVID-19 plans from AGC, CISC, CCA, OSHA and a few exemplar construction company plans. Love & Company blog post.

May 14, 2020

White Paper: Creating an Intergenerational Experience in Senior Living: Seven Guiding Design & Operations Principles (2/20/20)


White paper I wrote based on a review of more than 50 senior living communities that incorporate intergenerational elements, recent literature and publications on the topic, and interviews with community CEOs and senior living architects. Footnoted and hyperlinked, it is meant to serve as a primer for those wanting to learn more about this fast-evolving […]

February 14, 2020

Boomers Want to Stay Home – Wall Street Journal (11/12/19)


Key quote “People don’t want to go to a place where there’s only a bunch of other old people”

Enticing Senior Living Housing Options – Milwaukee BizTimes (11/5/19)


Article by Eric Harrmann with AG Architecture about new seniors housing alternatives; I provided some thoughts on intergenerational and mixed-use concepts.

Senior Living Conversations: Contemplating the Future of Health Care – AG Architecture (6/2019)


AG Architecture panel interview in which I participated. Discussed the need to ‘blur the lines’ between independent living and care components.

October 25, 2019

Why Senior Housing Needs to Change to Appeal to Boomers – Next Avenue (12/2018)


“Boomers are in a position to force a dismantling of the old models of senior living…as an industry we have built product that does not align with what the consumer wants.”

February 11, 2019

Redefining the Golden Years – EFA Magazine (12/2018)


“Older adults are increasingly seeking daily routines that enable them to connect with people of all ages and are forging living and working arrangements that are intergenerational.”

February 10, 2019

‘Don’t Become a Nominee for the Un-Built Project Category’ – BS&A blog (11/2018)


An article about master planning from Scott Girad at Brad Smith Associates, Inc, landscaping architects. Brad and his team understand the importance of connection, theming and placemaking in senior design. (See also Bibliography link below.)

February 9, 2019

Aging with grace: The next big challenge for urbanists – Congress for New Urbanism (10/2018)


“While a CCRC may be the ideal senior living option to ‘age in place’, [most are] not physically connected to a walkable town center or neighborhood center and create their own type of isolation.”

February 8, 2019

Does Active Adult Community Marketing Pit Need for Independence Vs. Community? – Senior Housing News (10/2018)


“Segregating the older population from their families, friends, and communities isn’t necessarily the best—or healthiest—idea.”

February 7, 2019

A Seniors Housing Master Planning Mantra – Love & Co blog (10/2018)


A short post I wrote for the Love & Company blog regarding the recommended master planning approach.

February 6, 2019

Fostering Connections Between Young & Old – New York Times (6/2018)


“It’s the way people were meant to grow up and grow old in connection with each other; this is the wave of the future among senior housing providers”. Summary of the Generations United survey of 180 intergenerational programs.

February 5, 2019

Pocket Neighborhoods – Madison.com (2014)


The case for pocket neighborhoods: creating a more intimate residential neighborhood feel.

February 4, 2019

New Homes for Seniors – Urban Land Magazine


Article I wrote for Urban Land magazine a few years back regarding senior living in New Urbanism communities. This was based on a very positive experience developing a senior living community in an Andres Duany-designed neo-traditional neighborhood in the midwest.

February 4, 2000

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Bibliography

All/Design - New Urbanism & Mixed Use/Intergenerational Trends/Master Planning/Placemaking & Theming/Senior Living Trends/Senior Living- General/Witz Co Writings