The United Generations proposes a new fulfilling vision to create a thriving community of all ages and celebrate the advantages of shared resources. Integrated solutions like harvesting, renewable energy, local production, and smart homes allow sustainable living to be a seamless part of everyday life.
Community, sustainability, and simplicity diagram on painting by Cole Thomas, The Course of Empire The Arcadian or Pastoral State (1836)
In the near future, a significant part of the population is older. Redundant urban land is now fertile. Mobility is electric or human-powered. Co-living, re-use lifestyles, and adaptation of the existing are the norm. And we humans, finally learned that together we are stronger, nature is sacred, technology is our ally, and life is slow. Here, Adalberto proposes to go back to the Arcadian archetype where community, sustainability, and simplicity are the assets for a prosperous living. As a test, the designer has analysed the Golden Lane Estate in London, a post-war example of an urban microcosm designed to advocate the modernist principles of wellbeing and social living.
Visual research by topic (images and articles taken from lead newspapers and avantguarde platforms.
Using findings from his book “How to take care of the old” and from site-specific research, a tripartite strategy envisions how the Golden Lane Estate could transform. By intersecting the Arcadian landscape into the modernist geometries, Adalberto designed a domestic and public scheme where the residents and the community are engaged through activities and events that combine social, economic, and cultural values contributing to the wellness and the reconnection of old and new generations.
The United Generations schemes ecosystem (Mixed-media digital collage, 2020)
At the Estate level, the Adaptable Public Scheme (APS) merges internal and external spaces hosting activities that promote intergenerational moments connected to nature, care of the body, exercise, work, performance, spirituality, farming, and food. At the domestic level, the Adaptable Domestic Scheme (ADS) proposes reversible physical home adaptations of scale and accessibility that enable residents to stay in the Estate through the phases of life. A third scheme imagines the activities and cultural programming of the Estate, set up as a social enterprise, subsidized by government funding, and advertised by the United Radio Station to foster wellbeing and connection in the neighbourhood.
Arcadia: Hills (Aerial Perspective) - Coloured pencil and oil stick on digital print (29.7 x 20 cm)
Read The United Generations research here.