In our society, activities, services and many of our places have been shaped to cater for the specific needs of distinct stages of our lives. We find surprisingly few opportunities to connect with people of different ages outside our family circles. Instead, we generally find ourselves studying, working and socialising within our own age group.
How does this play out in the buildings, spaces, homes, neighbourhoods and high streets that we inhabit?
Do we need to think more creatively about the role that these different spaces can play in creating opportunities for connection and collaboration across ages and generations? How might this help improve our health and wellbeing, our social, economic and cultural lives, and our natural environment?
Multigenerational Places, the 2025/26 Glass-House WEdesign programme, brings people together across communities, ages, sectors and disciplines to explore how we can create more spaces to connect with people of other ages, and how this might benefit us as a society.
WEdesign 2025/26: Contributing to a National Conversation
Through a series of free public co-design events, think pieces and a student design competition, this year’s WEdesign series will be a space to co-produce a national Multigenerational Places Manifesto, collecting voices, ideas and recommendations for shaping more multigenerational places across the UK.
Free Multigenerational Places events include:
- 28 October – Multigenerational Places: Glasgow (in-person in Glasgow)
- 19 November – Multigenerational Places: Practice (in-person in London)
- 4 December – Multigenerational Places: Sheffield (in-person in Sheffield)
- 15 January – Designing Multigenerational Places (online)
- 25 February – Multigenerational Places: London (in-person in London)
- 10 March – Multigenerational Places: Newcastle (in-person in Newcastle)
Click on the links above or visit our Events page to find out more about each event and how to register.
Find out more about The Glass-House WEdesign programme (past and present) and how we work with partners and students here.
Multigenerational Places is a collaboration between The Glass-House Community Led Design and: Glasgow School of Art & Missing in Architecture (Glasgow); University of Sheffield, Live Works & Israac Somali Community Association (Sheffield); UCL Bartlett (London), Newcastle University & The Farrell Centre (Newcastle); Arup (Practice); and Intergenerational National Network (Think Pieces).
