Age- and Child-Friendly Cities and the Promise of Intergenerational Space

Descriptions of age-friendly and child-friendly cities exhibit similarities and differences, yet both are essential if we are to develop an understanding of intergenerational space. It is argued that combining age-based priorities and the possibilities for generational empathy provide a way of reintroducing intergenerational relations as key to the debate on the future of the City. By shifting the focus or debate towards a critical understanding of intergenerational relations, a way forward is suggested that draws on the work of Guy Debord and on contemporary debates about environments ‘for all ages’. Seen through a life course lens, the urban environment becomes instrumental in shifting debate, away from the fixed needs of work and consumption and towards a more flexible creation of urban time and space that includes social and emotional aspects of intergenerational belonging and community.