Written by:
Sophia de Sousa
Our fifth event in the 2025/26 WEdesign series, Multigenerational Places: London, on 25 February, was a collaboration with The Bartlett School of Planning. Once again, we worked with Professor Lucy Natarajan and Lecturer Martha Mingay, along with a group of their students at various stages in their studies, to co-design and co-facilitate the event. We were kindly hosted by The Alan Baxter Gallery.
As with previous Multigenerational Places events, this brought together a diverse range of people from communities, practice, policy, research and education to consider how we can shape more multigenerational environments. With an incredibly multicultural mix of participants representing every decade from their 20s through their 70s, we also had people with a range of ages and experiences taking part. All stepped into the space keen to connect, collaborate and get creative.
The room was tasked with working together to co-design ideas for how we can create more multigenerational spaces through placemaking. Each table was tasked with looking at the question through the lens of either buildings, spaces, homes, high streets or neighbourhoods, and then with developing a proposition or recommendation to pitch to the room. They were also tasked with creating a 3D model to illustrate their ideas.
Here’s a taste of what they came up with:
High Streets
The High Streets group noted that the traditional high streets tend to have quite fixed spaces, and that so many high streets seem to have the same shops, services and brands on them. They posed the question of how to make the high street a more dynamic place that has more creative, welcoming spaces for everyone.
They wondered how communities could help inject dynamic change into the high street, reclaiming it as a freer, more flexible space. The group came up with an idea for a “Whimsical Fund”, potentially supported through council tax, which could create opportunities for different groups of local people to continuously shape and animate their local high street through a wide range of activities. As an ongoing initiative rather than a one-off funding opportunity, this would help the high street constantly flex, adapt and be more representative of the community at any moment in time.
“There should be incentive to make spaces more whimsical, joyful and interactive. Community ownership (of assets and creativity) should be woven into policy. ”
Buildings
Our Buildings group began their conversation by trying to identify buildings and spaces where different ages meet, and realised that they could not name that many. With one member of the group highlighting the need for people to find common ground to interact with each other, the group recommended that communities actually need a network of community spaces that can bring people together in different ways. They also spoke of the need for these to be adaptable spaces that could change with people’s needs and over time.
They made a couple of very specific recommendations to support this. The first was that the National Planning Policy Framework should dictate that 10% of buildings / space within new developments be dedicated to community use. The second was that underused buildings should be made more visible to those looking for community spaces. They could have recognisable plaques on their exterior which identify them as open to more community use. There could also be local lists where people could sign up to express an interest in using and animating underused community buildings and spaces.
“Design needs to allow for change and growth. Flexible spaces can ensure inclusivity across generations.”
Neighbourhoods
The Neighbourhoods group proposed the idea of a neighbourhood carnival. Unlike traditional carnivals that take place over a week every year, theirs would be a series of monthly events for all ages. This would include monthly local competitions, each with a different theme such as poetry, singing and other creative activities that people of all ages could join. The competition winners would be awarded with one of many special hats to wear, which would identify local people as creative competition winners.
carnival of creative activities.
They noted the importance of play and playfulness, and wanted to encourage people of different ages to find ways to play together through art and culture at a neighbourhood level. They recommended that we should all commit at least one day a month to intergenerational play, and suggested that as we move towards the four-day working week, we should reclaim that fifth day for play, interaction and creative activities.
“Neighbourhoods are about ritual, activity and ceremony.”
Homes
The Homes group delighted in their mix of cultures represented and the varied and shared associations they had with the sense of home, belonging and how different generations live and interact. However, they moved very quickly on to the reality check of the housing crisis. They noted the isolation that so many people feel despite living in densely populated urban areas, lack of affordability and the difficulty in expanding homes as families change and grow. They set themselves the challenge of describing what they would see as their ideal co-housing environments, supported by both flexible housing models and flexible policy.
Their model represented central meeting spaces surrounded by fluid, organic spaces that different people could occupy and continuously transform. They were keen to minimise boundaries so that people feel they can come and go and move around the area freely, as well as move away for a period of time with the possibility of returning. They spoke of creating inclusive environments, integrating systems that would help people support each other across generations and that would help ensure that the sense of home went beyond the physical spaces.
“Homes can be both visible and invisible.”
Spaces
The Spaces group proposed the idea of a “box of tricks” that could be placed within different types of public spaces, and could be moved from one space to another. The box of tricks might contain a selection of objects to activate a space, and should both appeal to people of different ages and help them interact with each other. The local community should have a key role in shaping as well as interacting with their local box of tricks.
Their model aimed to represent an ecosystem of spaces within a neighbourhood rather than focusing on individual single use spaces. In the same way that the box of tricks should not be fixed within or limited to one particular space, so should the different spaces within a neighbourhood be able to attract and cater to people differently. They were keen that these spaces should not divide people of different ages through activities, but instead create opportunities for different generations to connect, shape and play within the ecosystem of spaces together.
“Space to explore, experiment, make, share, celebrate, belong.”
Key Themes
Across all of the groups, there were some recurring themes that emerged and that we explored further through discussion:
- It was interesting that there was very little mention of the specific needs of different age groups. Instead, there was a strong focus on the needs we share in our urban environments. Indeed, some spoke of age-specific environments contributing to rather than tackling isolation.
- Many of the groups spoke of blurring or removing boundaries and the need for more visible, open, accessible spaces. The overarching desire was to create more organic spaces and opportunities for connection and interaction. There was also a strong call for greater flexibility, accessibility and even a bit of chaos within our shared environments.
- There was a clear focus on the need for greater investment in community infrastructure and shared community spaces within our neighbourhoods. As well as the capital investment required, there is also a need to invest in curating and programming shared spaces. Whilst there were quite specific policy recommendations linked to public funding, there was also a call to action for individuals, groups and organisations to work together to create opportunities and to make things happen.
- Fun, play, creativity, culture, celebration and indeed whimsy, were common themes in the discussion. There was a sense that we need to collectively commit to creating more time in our lives for connecting with others through creative and playful activities, with a shared conviction that it would benefit all of us. As one participant remarked on the creative experience of the evening,
“It was fun, refreshing and a good reminder to break from the grind and connect with some other people/perspectives.”
Some of the takeaways that people shared at the end of the event further emphasised some of these ideas:
It really was a joyful event that oozed optimism. Everyone stepped into the room with a great spirit of generosity, and together they co-designed both inspiring and highly actionable ideas. We are grateful to everyone who attended for bringing their expertise and creativity together. A big thank you also goes to our UCL partners Lucy and Martha, and to their wonderful students, who did a fantastic job as co-producers and co-facilitators at the event.
Photography was a group effort for this one, with Sophia, Lucy and students Xinyue Yue, Max Chen and Isabella Francis all pitching in.