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In this piece, educators and researchers Mei Lan Fang and Judith Sixsmith look at multigenerational living through their research on ageing in urban environments and explore the different cultural norms and circumstances that might influence how different generations co-habitate.
Multigenerational Living: Different People, Different Places
Mainstream planning systems often rest on narrow definitions of households and ageing, failing to account for the lived realities of immigrant, racialised and LGBTQ+ communities. In these communities, multigenerational, chosen and communal living arrangements are more than alternative housing models, they are cultural practices, survival strategies and, at times, sources of meaning and resilience.
This reflection draws on cross-cultural insights from the PlaceAge and IncludeAge studies – focused on older people’s ageing-in-place experiences from India, Brazil and the UK but is primarily rooted in the experiences of older adults in Metro Vancouver, Canada, where a worsening housing crisis is reshaping how and where people age. In this context, multigenerational living is both a reflection of longstanding cultural practices and a response to structural barriers in the housing system. It is a lens through which we can explore not only the challenges of ageing-in-place, but also the possibilities for building more inclusive, intergenerational communities.
In Metro Vancouver, multigenerational living is a common, though often overlooked, feature of older adults’ housing. While 11 percent of the general Canadian population live in multigenerational households, that number rises to 13 percent among seniors, with even higher rates among older Punjabi (66%), Sikh (63%), Somali (50%), Indian (48%) and Chinese (18%) residents. These statistics reflect intersecting realities of caregiving traditions, financial necessity, cultural expectations and the harsh housing market.
But multigenerational living is not always a choice. Many older adults, especially those who migrated later in life or were excluded from the housing market, find themselves living in multigenerational households out of necessity. These arrangements may offer comfort and community, but they can also reflect deep housing insecurity and a lack of options.
Looking across different cross-national contexts reveals further complexity. In our research in India, for example, multigenerational living is often guided by cultural expectations that children will care for their ageing parents. Grandchildren grow up with the influence and insight of their elders. In Brazil, multigenerational households are evident in low-income communities, serving as essential support networks that make daily life possible. In the UK, many older adults with learning disabilities live with their families throughout their lives, again shaped more by necessity than by choice.
One story that still to this day resonates from a research project we conducted is Mr. Zhao’s. Like many immigrant grandparents, he moved from China to Canada in the late 1990s to help raise his grandchildren. But after the children grew up, his role in the family changed, and diminished. When the social housing complex he lived in was demolished, he and his wife separated. The forced relocation acted as a catalyst for their divorce, bringing to the surface years of growing apart. Mr. Zhao reflected on this with surprising calm:
“When people grow old, we have our own odd personalities. It is hard to have commonalities. We were tired of arguing… There is limited time to stay in the world. We separated since moving out.”
After their separation, Mr. Zhao moved into what is known as a “family hotel”, a privately owned house where rooms are informally and often illegally rented out. His rent was cheap, his space divided by a hanging bedsheet, his privacy and hygiene minimal. And yet, he preferred to stay. The high cost of newly built senior housing, his limited pension, language barriers and lack of knowledge about tenant rights left him with few viable alternatives. But there was another reason: the community.
“All of us come from mainland China. We consider each other as family members… We are a big family.”
Mr. Zhao’s story challenges easy assumptions about successful multigenerational ageing and housing. On the surface, he had found affordable accommodation and kin-like companionship. But underneath lay a web of structural inequalities: poverty, linguistic exclusion, immigration status and age-related vulnerability. His story reminds us that multigenerational living, while sometimes celebrated as culturally rich or socially supportive, can also obscure the difficult realities people face in navigating housing systems not built for them.
So what can we learn from these stories?
First, multigenerational living is not one thing. It can be honourable or burdensome, a matter of tradition or a response to crisis. It can foster interdependence and care or expose fault lines in family dynamics. In every context, it is shaped by broader forces, from migration policy and housing markets to cultural norms and structural inequities.
Second, we must distinguish between multigenerational and intergenerational. The former refers to co-residence across age groups, the latter speaks to meaningful, reciprocal relationships between generations. Not all multigenerational spaces are intergenerational places, but they can be.
As we face the global pressures of climate change, urbanisation and ageing populations, we urgently need to rethink how we design places that work across generations. In some societies, multigenerational living is a cultural norm, in others, it is stigmatised as a marker of economic failure. As planners, researchers and community members, we must ask: what kinds of places foster intergenerational connection, care and belonging, by design, not by default?
All images courtesy of Mei Lan Fang.
About the Authors
Judith Sixsmith is Professor of Health-Related Research at the University of Dundee. Her work explores ageing, health, and wellbeing through participatory and qualitative methodologies. She specialises in community-based research, urban ageing, and inclusive environments, with a focus on how place, policy, and practice shape older people’s lives and health.
Mei Lan Fang is an Assistant Professor in Urban Aging at Simon Fraser University, jointly appointed in Urban Studies and Gerontology. She specialises in participatory and transdisciplinary research on ageing, wellbeing, and urban environments. Her work addresses climate resilience, AgeTech, and community engagement, advancing inclusive approaches to healthy ageing in cities.