When you think of the future, you think of babies, of young families, of people whose hair hasn't gone gray and whose lives are just beginning to unfold before them.
You usually think of these people when you build houses or plan neighborhoods.
But that is a fallacy when you look at the demographic development in Germany.
In 2035, 22 percent more seniors will be older than 67 than today.
20 million people will belong to this age group in 2035.
There are different definitions of when one is considered old.
But at 67, the new retirement age, you definitely belong.
That is why architects and urban planners should actually build for this age group if they want to build for the future.
This results in a complex catalog of requirements for architects: one should build climate-neutrally, but also in such a way that buildings can withstand extreme weather conditions caused by climate change.
At the same time, they should build aesthetically while also having to think about accessibility.
There are many reasons that speak in favor of thinking of buildings and cities as age-inclusive, as it is called in technical jargon, right from the start.
For the simple reason that we will all grow old.
But aging has an image problem, according to Matthias Hollwich.
The architect has often dealt with the topic of aging.
His book on this is called “New Aging”.
It is also about keeping the body healthier and fitter and thus being able to live an active and self-determined life for as long as possible.
But also because
how to prevent the exclusion of the elderly in society, i.e. also in urban space, and how to promote mixing.
He calls this “activating social spaces”.
Hollwich comes across as a bit of a motivational speaker when you talk to him.
The subject is very close to his heart, and actually it should be close to everyone's heart if he had his way.
It is understandable that the topic has been rather neglected in architecture up to now.
The first thing that comes to mind is plastic handles that are slipped over beautiful marble bathtubs to make it easier to get in.
One thinks of medical beds that go beyond the overall furnishing concept of an apartment, and of retrofitted elevators that climb up the facades of once elegant houses.
Unloved help that tells of your own decline and that you would rather have excluded from your life forever.
But that doesn't have to be the case, says Hollwich.
He calls for a much more fundamental change in how one thinks and perceives society.
When asked when one is old, he says: “You are old when you are 39 years old, then you are halfway through life.” If you stopped seeing old age as something negative,
which is to be avoided, then such a statement would also lose its fright.
Suddenly almost everyone would be old.
In addition, one would begin to plan much more consciously for the time when one is no longer so mobile and needs change.
Because what we call youth is the shorter part of our adult life.