We can design buildings and places but it’s only the hardware. We want accidental spill-over between our circle of life to inhabit and infect the circles of others, to feel part of something larger than ourselves. We want to smile and look around and see others smiling. We want gardens and, did I mention the arts? Music, dance, visual art, performance. We want outside the box use of space to create a sense of place, of purpose and belonging. We want all ages, curiosity and diversity and open acceptance to who we are. What do people want? Comfort, greenery, water, walkability, ARTS, culture, a respect for history and neighborhood, education, fun, food, parks, views, a sense of connection and community, a sensory connection to the human spirit. That’s the prize, right? People bring people. It is about PLACE and it is about PEOPLE. During my travels, I see that an intentional linkage of public and private space, a place that offers people somewhere to go, and more importantly a reason to stay, to be there, succeeds. We needed to play a larger role in communities, in neighborhoods, amongst the people who lived in these places. It made me think that the buildings we help create and the programs we provide are a good step in the right direction, but not enough.
This struck me as what is lacking in senior housing, and in many ways, in our communities, our cities, our towns. The Stanton Journey : I traveled to New Zealand, Italy, The Netherlands and Ireland with Fellowship funds (due to speaking engagements during the fellowship, I also was in Singapore, Canada and many US states), and also took two week-long writing and research retreats. My path changed early on when I started meeting with people in New Zealand and I became more interested in finding ways to create community across all ages as a way to address my inquiry challenge. I realized that community happens in a place like New Zealand (and all of the other countries I visited), not just for seniors but for everyone, because of an adherence to culture, mythology, belief, and a feeling that you are part of something larger than yourself.
I set meetings in each place with government officials, universities, thought leaders, NGOs, developers, architects, aging industry leaders, media, artists, cultural leaders and others. The Proposal : I wanted to focus on models from other countries, and to have time to write about my findings in retreat from work. The Hunch : I would find the solution outside the US and it would be a model that already exists in senior housing and the provision of aging services. The Challenge : the thorny issue I sought to address was to find the next big idea in senior housing – to fuse housing, environmental design and programs to achieve higher engagement, behavior change, sense of community and sense of purpose for elders.
The senior population is both expanding and evolving, and this requires a new examination of the design of the environments in which people age. He will look for the next big idea to fuse housing, environmental design and program design to benefit healthy aging. Tim served on the board of the National Center for Creative Aging, and catalyzed the creation of the Burbank Senior Arts Colony, a first-of-its kind program in the nation. Tim Carpenter is the Founder and CEO of EngAge, a nonprofit that transforms affordable senior apartment communities into vibrant centers of learning, wellness and creativity.
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