Lee Elstein

This is not a nursing home

The project deals with the question of aging in society, the cultural concept of the "old", the social norms in which the elderly live and how this reality is not a destiny but an opportunity for change. An opportunity which drives from the design of their living spaces today. The project presents a new perception of our future - how we would like to get old, live, hang out, meet and be part of the community and the city. The demographic data on the increase in life expectancy over the last two hundred years - and the one that is still to come in the coming decades - is staggering. Over the past hundred years, the average life expectancy in Western countries has risen by about thirty years, and it continues to rise rapidly.The expectation is that by 2050 the number of people over the age of 65 will exceed the number of children up to the age of five. What is the meaning of those years added to us? Are these years of diminishing our ability to contribute to ourselves and society and increasing our dependence on external, economic, medical and social support?What will the spaces of the house, the hallway, the street, and our neighborhood look like? Today's 70-year-old is not the 70-year-old of previous generations. He is not only long-lived, but also healthier, more educated and can make a greater contribution to himself and his environment than his peers in previous generations. Through inclusive planning, thinking about diverse employment and leisure spaces intertwined in the private housing spaces, it will be possible to create an urban system that will address the socio-cultural-health needs of the elderly. Moreover, the planning will contribute to creating and strengthening the connection between generations, to the possibility of staying in the community and participating in city life in an integral and natural way.