Inter-generational Community

Today we had our first site visit of the quarter and it was amazing. We visited Casa de Manana and sat at separate tables with 2-3 of the residents at each table and spoke to them about what we thought what an age friendly community looked like. I mainly spoke to Janet and Dot, who were both great women but their personalities and perspectives towards young people differed greatly. Janet loved the idea of intergenerational mingling, and when I told her that I was going to Spain over the summer, she told me about the kind of community they have there. They have a plaza that’s open to the public where people of all ages, young and old, come together to socialize, play games, and just have fun throughout the entire day, even until night time. She thought it was a great space and wanted something like that in our community here. Dot, on the other hand, though she did like young people, felt that being in a space like that would be awkward for her. She said that us young people like being with people our age, while she liked being with people her age as well. I understood where she was coming from and I was able to see why these social barriers of age prevent us from interacting with people of different ages as much. However, that’s why I feel like we need to incorporate structures that force/encourage people to interact with each other, so that in the future the interactions can occur more naturally.