Integration instead of segregation by age

Over the last 40 years I've heard of isolated occasions when Age Integration was successfully practiced. I thought I should post a recent example I found here to get people thinking outside the box! I have read of a similar example in my province, British Columbia, so this is not a one-of!



What's particularly great about this approach, is that it helps college students subsidize their housing needs in a positive, healthy way.

My 40 year old example was of an elementary school and a seniors day care being in the same building. A lot of the children rarely saw their biological grandparents, so they adopted new ones!  There was never a shortage of volunteers for children to read aloud to.

Christopher Alexander covers this concept in his book, A Pattern Language. https://permies.com/t/110164/Pattern-Language-Christopher-Alexander

He recommends ways to keep well elderly active and visible in the community. I suspect he'd be appalled at the "over 50" gated communities which seem to exist in my area. I guess it's a bit like growing a monoculture? Polycultures are more interesting and fun!

I heard about a recent project in France, where they combined a daycare with a nursing home. They reported great results, the kids were calmer around the old people, and the old people got more energy from being around kids. And then it was closed down due to covid... Hope they restarted it.

I think age segregation is deeply unnatural to humans. Conversation and sharing in multi-aged groups is the most basic way to pass knowledge between generations. There seems to be a tendency in today's society to view both children and the elderly as mainly a bit of a bother, and stick them in specialized containment facilities so they don't "get in the way". I doubt this is good for anyone in the long run.