Healthier Lives Across Generations: A Blueprint for Intergenerational Living

This American report published by Generations United, Healthier Lives Across Generations: A Blueprint for Intergenerational Living (opens new window), offers strategies for addressing barriers to the expansion and scaling of this promising housing alternative.

Healthier Lives Across Generations: A Blueprint for Intergenerational Living is focused on intentional intergenerational living, or communities open to people of all ages that have a deliberate focus on fostering intergenerational interaction and relationships. The Blueprint is centered on the need for safe and sustainable housing that improves health and well-being among people with low or moderate incomes who have historically been left out of affordable and accessible living options.

The goal of the Blueprint is to promote intergenerational living that

1. provides adequately for safety, health, and the basic necessities of life,
2. promotes programs, policies, and practices that increase cooperation, interaction, interdependence, and understanding between people of different generations, and
3. enables all ages to share their talents and resources, and to support each other in relationships that benefit both individuals and their community.

This Blueprint is about promoting living options that combat ageism and are infused with programs and architectural design features like common areas and outdoor spaces that facilitate positive interactions and experiences across generations.