Vertical!
My dad used to say ‘any day vertical, is a good day’. And these days people are staying vertical, longer. Living longer due to medical technology. Futurist Ray Kurzweil predicts that we are approaching a point of breaking even - where for every year lived, science can extend lifespans by at least as much.
With the arrival of the baby boomer generation, expectations of senior living are changing. Baby boomers don’t see themselves as old. Not yet anyway. Many imagine a more active retirement - perhaps working part-time, living closer to the bright lights of the city and continuing to contribute their knowledge and experience productively to the community.
Unitec’s School of Architecture ran a design studio in 2012. Even eight years ago, they discovered that middle class baby boomers “don’t want to but into ‘retirement resort’ marketing pitch and capital gains profit motive” And “they don’t want to be silo-ed on the outskirts os town with a bunch of other oldies”
New Zealand suggest that living in city-fringe retirement resorts comprised of seniors only may not be what these boomers are aspiring to. The study shows that although they want to down-size, they prefer energised urban environments close to restaurants, educational facilities, cultural activities and work opportunities.
Internationally, urban-based vertical seniors villages are becoming an appealing offering for baby boomers. An inner-city, multi-level, intergenerational living environment with a basement for electric transport charging, a ground floor for a supermarket, health centre/pharmacy, gymnasium/pool, a crèche, and a rooftop for communal indoor space and outdoor gardens. And close to restaurants, theatres and business.
These vertical villages are still able to accommodate independent, assisted and supported living environments along with a rest home, hospital, dementia unit, along with apartments for students and others integrated into the village. Students may live there at a reduced rate in return for visiting and interacting with their older neighbours. They would also be equipped with various smart technologies that include health-optimising software and connect with the larger technological infrastructure of the city.
When managed well in an architectural and town planning sense, vertical communities would offer quality living experiences while occupying a smaller urban footprint and thereby reverse urban sprawl.
Something like this, Bosco Verticale in Milan, perhaps.
