Intergenerational Living, Inclusive Communities: Strategies for Planning and Design

Hosted by the Design for Aging Knowledge Community on September 19, 2022. 


Description
This session will explore the benefits that planning and design can have when approached with an awareness of intergenerational needs to provide a greater variety of living options for families and a higher quality of life for all. We will explore how the patterns of urban development and planning and senior living typologies provided a limited set of options for residents leading to isolation. The presentation will highlight interdisciplinary approaches to achieve mutual goals of economic, social, and cultural inclusion, population health and well-being, and sustaining community resiliency. The session will outline the benefits of all-age friendly cities and the roles that both architecture and urban planning play in designing for a wide range of age demographics.

Learning objectives

1. Understand intergenerational living challenges, opportunities, and benefits
2. Review the trends of traditional senior living models and the corresponding history of American cities and towns
3. Outline the benefits of providing diverse living options catered to a wider demographic of individual and family preferences
4. Explore how new intergenerational housing models and urban planning concepts can achieve mutual goals for an inclusive higher quality of life

Speakers

Ilijana Soldan, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C, EcoDistricts AP
Associate, Hord Coplan Macht

Ilijana Soldan is a Project Architect with a diverse project background including education, commercial office, retail, recreation, campus planning, mixed-use residential, and senior living. She is a research-based designer and credits her varied experience as the core driver of her passion to find synergies between a project’s program, site, stakeholder goals, and end-user experience. Sustainability, equity, and emerging technologies are at the forefront of her overlapping interests with architecture.

Matthew Fitzsimmons, AIA, AICP, LEED AP
Associate Principal, Hord Coplan Macht

Matthew Fitzsimmons has focused his career on his passion for urban design and sustainable community planning. As a planner and architect with nearly 25 years of experience, his project management and design skills have enabled him to think about the important role of good urbanism in designing sustainable places. He has managed urban design projects ranging from new town plans, comprehensive plans, urban infill developments and transit-oriented developments (TOD) for senior living, mixed-use and affordable residential projects, exhibiting his understanding of the integral relationship between transportation, land use and design to create vibrant and sustainable communities.