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Senior-Friendly Urban Design

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on June 5, 2025| 2 Comments »

Photo: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian.
Elaine Unegbu, the chair of the Age Friendly Manchester [UK] older people’s board, and Paul McGarry, the head of the Greater Manchester aging hub. 

Where I live now, in a retirement community with various levels of care, the management favors pilot projects from academia and startup companies to test technology that can keep people independent longer. I haven’t volunteered for any of them, but I think it’s a good idea, especially as Erik still holds patents for something along those lines.

I recently read about some simple but ingenious innovations in Manchester, England, that I thought might interest readers like Making Home Home. I mean — how obvious but how overlooked is putting numbers on outdoor benches to aid in emergencies?

Chris Osuh  reports at the Guardian, “Futuristic planning for spaces where people can age well and live in an area designed for them to grow old in is accelerating in the UK with a radical project backed by £1.5bn [$1.7bn].

“The plan to transform a hospital into the first neighborhood in the country designed for people to thrive as they age will be a national testbed for holistic health and social care approaches. It will include hi-tech homes that adapt to occupants’ life stage and care needs, transport, a village green and a social calendar to combat isolation.

“The master plan for the North Manchester general hospital (NMGH) redevelopment in the Crumpsall district is the result of collaboration by public health officials, local politicians, experts and architects.

“Michelle Humphreys, the director of strategic projects for Manchester University NHS foundation trust (MFT), described it as a neighborhood that ‘adapts around people as they go through life,’ powered by advances in medical wearables and remote monitoring. …

“NMGH’s ‘healthy neighborhood‘ scheme is multigenerational. It will include family housing and will be built in line with age-friendly concepts, spearheaded by the World Health Organization (WHO) in response to two major trends – the aging population and urbanization.

“By 2050 60% of the global population will live in urban environments and 27% of people will be over the age of 65, the OECD predicts, yet experts say cities are often defined by spatial agism where environments are not set up for older people.

“The age-friendly movement aims to ensure older people can still play a part in civic life. The Elders Council of Newcastle, Northern Ireland’s older people’s commissioner and Wales’ commitment to becoming an age-friendly nation reflect how UK regions and devolved governments have been preparing for demographic change.

“The humble bench – improved with armrests, numbered to aid in a medical emergency, or placed strategically for wellbeing and intergenerational conversation – can be transformative, with dozens installed in Manchester, taking inspiration from New York’s CityBench initiative. However, the UK has further to go.

Akita, in northern Japan’s Tohoku region, where 30% of the population is over 65, has more than 60 heated roads to prevent slips on ice.

“In Singapore, where one in four are predicted to be over 65 by 2030, the Admiralty ‘vertical village’ has a central medical tier, so older residents, who live in slip-proof homes with alarms alerting neighbors in an emergency, can have surgery without leaving. In Germany in 2007, BMW made 70 changes to its Dingolfing factory to adapt to an older workforce. …

“Prof Stefan White, from Manchester Metropolitan University and Manchester School of Architecture, said the NMGH project would exemplify how to free up hospital space and allow people to ‘age in place’ with the type of support ordinarily provided in a care home made available to the whole neighborhood on a flexible basis.

“Elaine Unegbu, the chair of the Age Friendly Manchester older people’s board, has successfully lobbied the Greater Manchester mayor’s team for transport adaptations, benches and afternoon matinees. She said the healthy neighborhood would give residents peace of mind at a time when gentrification ‘whitewashed’ older urbanites, with many forced from their homes by health crises to the detriment of communities.

“Manchester, where previous age friendly projects include the Derek Jarman Pocket Park inspired by LGBTQ+ over-50s, has been pioneering the movement in the UK since 2008. Last month the city hosted international experts at the Age-Friendly Futures Summit.

“Paul McGarry, the head of the Greater Manchester aging hub, said: ‘The task is to get a national conversation on aging.’ “

More at the Guardian, here.

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The Kindness of a Bench

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on September 22, 2022| 1 Comment »

My friend Di, who is a trustee of our library, caught me going into the building Monday and said she had put a new bench in the Large Print section and asked me to let her know what I thought of it. Little did she know what a kindness I think benches are!

Sydney Page at the Washington Post reports on a kind man who was moved to make a bench for a weary bus rider he’d seen — and was then moved to make another bench and another.

“James Warren rides the public bus a lot in his hometown of Denver. Ever since he went car-free in 2017, he uses buses to get around if he can’t get to his destination on foot or bike. Many of the bus stops, he began to notice, lack seating for riders as they wait.

Then in January, Warren spotted a woman waiting for a bus along a busy road. There was no seating at the stop — and no sidewalk — so she sat in the dirt.

“ ‘For people to have to sit in the dirt while they’re waiting for a bus is just undignified,’ said Warren, 28, who works as a consultant for the Colorado Workforce Development Council. He wanted to do something about it. He decided to build a bench.

“ ‘I just took some scrap wood and went to town,’ Warren said, adding that he hoped this woman — and others seeking a seat — would not need to rest in the dirt again.

“He then realized that one bench was far from enough. There are more than 9,000 Regional Transportation District (RTD) bus stops in the Denver metro area, many of them without seating or shelter.

“Warren decided to contribute what he could. Perhaps, he thought, his homemade bench initiative might get the attention of transit or city officials who would see the need for better bus stops. …

“Since building his first bench in January, he has crafted seven more and placed them at bus stops around Denver — each made from scrap wood he finds in construction dumpsters. As far as design goes, ‘I mostly just wing it,’ Warren said.

“The benches take about three hours to build, and Warren inscribes ‘Be Kind’ on each one — either using a stencil or a wood-burning tool. …

“For Warren, what is most rewarding about his project is knowing his benches are being put to use.

” ‘I get a little giddy when I see someone using a bench,’ he said. ‘They are so thankful. … I met some ladies the other day who were talking about how they used the benches every single day,’ Warren added. ‘It fills me up. It’s air in my tires.’

“Although some of the benches have been vandalized or stolen, Warren said it doesn’t dampen his desire to make them. … ‘It’s not going to stop me,’ he said. ‘I’ll keep doing it. For every bench they steal, I’ll put out two more.’

“Warren said many people have hopped on his bench-making bandwagon, which has motivated him to build more. …

“Aleks Haugom, 32, heard what Warren was doing and was eager to join the effort. They spent an afternoon together building a bench.

“ ‘He showed me how he does it. It’s a pretty simple design, but it seems to work well,’ Haugom said. … ‘This guy has motivation [and not] just a normal amount, huge amounts of motivation. I have never seen anyone quite as motivated as James is to do these things. Hopefully it rubs off on me.’

“Others saw Warren’s work in the local news and decided to take out their tools, too. People also started donating supplies.

“ ‘That puts me over the moon,’ Warren said. ‘That’s the idea. Let’s just all help our neighbors.’ ”

More at the Post, here.

Photo: Suzanne and John’s Mom.
A public bench is a kindness.

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