Written by:
Sophia de Sousa
Our third event in the 2025/26 WEdesign series, Multigenerational Places, was on 4 December at the Israac Centre in Sheffield. This was a collaboration with the Israac Somali Community Association, the University of Sheffield’s School of Architecture and Landscape and Live Works. The event was co-designed and co-facilitated with longtime collaborator, Year 3 Undergraduate Programme Leader and Live Works Co-Director Leo Care, and a group of his students.
The evening event continued our series exploration of the role that our buildings, spaces, homes, neighbourhoods and high streets can play in connecting people across generations, as well as how we can better cater for all the generations present in our society through great design, placemaking and collective action. We were thrilled to have a particularly strong presence of young people in the room, as well as two generations of several families attending the event together. The age range in the room demonstrated that creating more multigenerational spaces is of interest to all ages.
This was a space for us to roll up our sleeves and work together to come up with some 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.
High Streets
The High Streets group explored what it means to be connected, and challenged the idea that we all want to be connected to digital infrastructure all the time. They talked about our tendency to walk down the high street with headphones on, with a specific task in mind, and explored what would make the high street a place where we might better connect with each other and have some fun. They challenged the notion of a high street simply as a place to go shopping and instead championed a sense of place where people can enjoy a day out.
The core idea in their model was to make a “no phones zone”, with phone lockers where people could check in and recharge their devices. This combined with a broader mix of activities should help us linger, interact and connect with others from our own and other generations. Their vision included amenities such as a stage, where local people could do either programmed or impromptu performances and share stories, spaces to play games, outdoor eateries, libraries, and female gyms.
“We all seem to want to connect, not look at our phones, chat to each other but we don’t currently! No phones is a great idea – maybe it’ll force us to try out what we all seem to want!”
Buildings
Our Buildings group talked about thresholds and curiosity, looking at public buildings and how to make them more inviting to people. They talked about active frontages and the layers of a building that draw people in. Central to this was the notion of third spaces, which would be free, accessible and welcoming to a wide range of people and not linked to one specific activity.
Their model depicts curiosity and transparency in a cluster of buildings around a shared third space that offers cover, as well as a mix of uses and functions. The model shows visual connections into and through the buildings, to this central space that allows people to make the space their own, play and mess around. It is a safe environment, as it is overlooked by a variety of buildings with mixed uses around it.
“Address issues using our spaces by being more visible and giving an environment that is neutral so all can feel at home. ”
Neighbourhoods
The Neighbourhoods group had a discussion which recognised that most intergenerational places are centred around specific activities, and as such can be quite exclusionary. They wanted to explore the connections that could be created between different interest groups as well as generations. The members of this group noted that they shared an interest in contributing to their community through volunteering or giving back in some way, as would many members of any community, whether by offering time, spaces, people power or other contributions.
Their model explored how they could better connect and join up this collective interest and energy to improve our neighbourhoods and to learn more about what is going on in any locality. It represented both the digital and physical connections we might use to join some of these things up.
“People want to participate in community but are often not connected enough to do so. Reaching out through permeable space and incidental interaction can bring neighbourhoods together.”
Homes
The Homes group focused on how different generations might better live together in a single home, and how the design of homes might support this. They also considered how several homes could interact with each other, imagining the facilities each individual might have and those that they might share in order to foster and support connections. With a very multicultural group around the table, they also explored how different cultures might view and play out multigenerational living, and how more adaptable design could accommodate different cultural norms.
Their model depicted the importance of both personal and shared spaces, considering how this mix might support the needs and wellbeing of the individual, but also bring the benefits of different generations living together, enjoying and helping each other. They talked about creating flexible and adaptable spaces, which could transform into large open plan spaces, but with the flexibility to create smaller, more private spaces by using adaptable room dividers.
“As families face housing and relationship challenges, boomerang kids return to live with parents creating multigenerational design challenges in small spaces.”
Spaces
The Spaces group started their conversation talking about how to make spaces safe for the community and better suited to helping people connect with each other. They suggested that events which enliven spaces can play an important role in making this happen and considered whether some kind of neighbourhood group could take on the role of leading such events. They also explored different ways of communicating such events, whether through word of mouth, digital and socials, notice boards or flyers as being important for reaching and including multiple generations.
Their model represents a street party, exploring how members of a community might come together to take over a public space and create activities for different generations to enjoy. They noted that children playing outside had declined in recent years and suggested that by creating safe spaces for children to play, all of the generations could benefit from more playful, open and accessible environments.
“What makes a third space is accessibility and understanding accessibility in a more diverse context – safety / time / age – cultures…”
Key Themes
A rich conversation followed the groups sharing their ideas, and some interesting themes emerged:
- People want more free spaces to connect with each other, and to feel a sense of ownership and agency to use and animate those spaces in a variety of ways.
- Whilst there are many multigenerational spaces, these tend to be focused around specific activities or groups. There seem to be fewer multigenerational spaces that bring together people of different ages in a more informal, incidental way.
- There is much to be gained from creating places for exchange across generations as well as communities and cultures. We all have a lot to offer each other, whether it be sharing experiences and learning or giving each other various kinds of emotional and practical support.
- We have more in common across generations than not, and our places should cater for our shared needs and ambitions as well as our individual ones.
Some of the takeaways that people shared at the end of the event further emphasised some of these:
A huge thanks goes to Leo, to his students and to all those who joined the event and the conversation. We’re also enormously grateful to the Israac Somali Community Association and to their vibrant community who welcomed us into their centre. This is not only a truly multigenerational community space, but also one that regularly brings together people of different cultures and walks of life. It was a real treat for all of us to do the session at the Israac Centre.
And as a final note, I’d like to remind everyone to connect with and support their local community centres and organisations. These are such important spaces. Israac really demonstrates the power of members of the community coming together with a shared purpose and what community action can achieve through a community owned and managed building. I encourage you to visit their website and learn more about them. Those who are able, please also consider contributing to their much-needed new roof by following this link.