Written by:
Sophia de Sousa
This is the first in our series of Multigenerational Places: Think Pieces, a collaboration between The Glass-House and The Intergenerational National Network. This co-curated collection of blogs will bring together voices from across generations, sectors and disciplines to talk about the power of multigenerational places. To kick us off, The Glass-House Chief Executive shares her own provocation on the theme.
The Stickability of Places
Some years ago, I came across the term “stickability” being used to describe a certain quality in places. It was described as the power of a place to keep people living there over time, to be somewhere that people were reluctant to move away from.
At the time, I had an interesting conversation with the person who had used the term about its implications. We noted, of course, that very often people move or stay in a place out of necessity and not choice. We wondered whether the term, by its very nature, was discriminatory.
We also posed the question whether, if given the choice, staying in the same place your whole life, even if travelling further afield on business or holidays, was a good thing or a bad thing? Whilst the desirability of staying in the same place over time no doubt depends on the person, the very premise of stickability is also hugely influenced by the hand a person has been dealt.
Perhaps my fascination with stickability stems from having moved so many times myself, sometimes by choice and others not. I come from a multicultural family with people on both sides of the family tree who have lived in many different countries and have moved around a great deal. It appears to be in our blood. When sitting down to write this, I did a count of homes I’ve lived in, and could think of 28. I then did a quick poll of family members. My father counted 28; my mother thought her tally might be 39. One of my brothers replied, ”9 just in Paris. It’s like counting sheep. It’s what I do when I want to nod off.”
In many ways, I know I have been hugely privileged to have experienced living in so many different places. I know that I have been influenced by all the cities and countries in which I have lived, and that each place has stayed with me, even if I have not stayed with it. At the same time, I have also always felt challenged by the question “Where are you from?” I have sometimes envied those who spent their entire childhood in the same home and/or neighbourhood, and still live in the area and/or can return to the family home as adults with their own children.
When I come back to the question of stickability not just as a bit of a nomad, but as someone whose work is all about the connection between people and places, I think the key question is this:
“If one were not bound by circumstances or budgets, and had the option to move anywhere, what would make you choose to live in the same place for your whole life?”
Perhaps equally important is the question,
“What makes us choose to, or feel we have to move?”
Stickability & Stages of Life
I think that a lot of people move because they are entering a new stage in their lives and don’t feel that the associated opportunities, services or amenities they require are available to them where they are. What we have around us, what is available to us to meet our needs at any given moment, has a huge impact on our quality of life. When we choose to move, it is usually because we think that the things we need are more available elsewhere. Whether it’s employment, good schools for our children, university, health and care services, access to nature, a better cultural offer or other things, it is often entering into a new stage of life that prompts a move.
What if every place catered for all our stages of life?
What if where we grew up had the jobs we needed, local state schools we were happy to send our children to, health and social care services that supported us from cradle to grave?
Stickability & Multigenerational Places
If every age group could comfortably live, work, study and play in that place, what might that also do to help connectivity across age groups? What if there were recreational and cultural amenities and services that not only catered for different stages of life, but also allowed different generations to enjoy them together?
Could catering better for all the stages of life in one place also help us create better connectivity across generations?
What if moving was more about finding the appropriate home for your age and circumstances, rather than the appropriate place? If we didn’t feel that moving away would improve our quality of life, over time, might we develop and maintain better and more diverse social and support networks? Might we return to a situation, which was more common in the past, where multiple generations of the same family lived near each other out of choice, not necessity?
As we embark on another series of WEdesign programme with the theme of Multigenerational Places, stickability is on my mind. I can’t help feeling that both the desirability and practicalities of our cities, towns and neighbourhoods, their stickability, is hugely reliant on them being able to cater to us at every age and to create opportunities for us different generations to enjoy and benefit from connecting with each other.
Multigenerational Places: Think Pieces will appear regularly on our blog through March 2006. Use this link to access all past and upcoming WEdesign Think Pieces.