Everyone and everywhere. Intergenerational practice as evidence of the bodies in the space

Abstract

The present essay proposes a critical analysis of intergenerational practices as evidence of bodily interaction in living spaces, addressing contemporary housing and urban vulnerabilities, resulting from recently finished research on the subject. Acknowledging the new challenges resulting from global demographic changes, urban transformations, or the evolution of practices regarding housing [Scott 2010, p. 458], the relevance of this study lies in addressing the growing ageing population and lack of affordable housing, especially in European countries. Thus, the research question of this article is defined: how do we design a space that, in its general organization and inhabitancy, contributes to a better life through intergenerational dynamics? To understand the conceptual corpus of intergenerationality, a qualitative methodology was defined to collect, interpret, and systematize data from digital archives, libraries, interviews, or conferences. This critical strategy of rethinking and reorganizing questions, concepts, and experiences represented an indispensable opportunity to structure and enhance the research narrative. In this paper, the main objective is to share the principles of the context, process and design of intergenerational spaces observed in the literature review and case studies assessment. Additionally, the secondary objective includes presenting the inventory [3] developed during the underlying research, with a corpus of 155 architectural projects. This resource has a crucial operational value, as it enhances the reliability and support for the current analysis of the principles that promote mutual interaction, dialogue, and cooperation among multiple bodies with distinct needs and demands, in shared environments. Although, due to the size of the original inventory, it was established four reduction criteria to manage the analysis of each case study. Therefore, this essay focuses only on 64 collective housing projects in Europe, constructed between 2000 and 2020, intentionally designed to promote intergenerational dialogues.