May 2020
09

How does real estate design ensure that the sunset years are the best ones of our lives?

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How does real estate design ensure that the sunset years are the best ones of our lives? Update

CHANGING DEMOGRAPHIC PATTERNS - The demographic in our country are changing. Times are a changing, resonating from Bob Dylan. These changing times represent a form of progressive living and it is increasingly witnessed that people in India are actually living a lot longer. The specific demographic that is for the first time ever going to be larger than any other age demographic are Indians over 60 years of age. This specific shift raises the question of how the 60-plus set will find meaning and a higher purpose in their second and successive acts of life.

Social entrepreneur Marc Freedman stated “The real fountain of youth is in the same place it’s always been. It’s really in the mind. And this is exactly why the older children need to stay occupied and most importantly happy. The real fountain of youth is the fountain with youth.” In other words, spending time with kids and young adults is a similar phenomenon where there needs to be a definitive contribution to their learning and sustaining their degree of curiosity.

Unfortunately, the current architecture of societies especially in the metropolitan cities of India is fragmenting further stretching the distance between generations further apart.  

That’s why, in many places across the globe there is an increasing focus on certain brands cropping up that are working to try and help the young and old forge connections. And it’s an irony that while this is happening elsewhere, the architecture of today’s communities keeps generations at a distance from one another apart from one another when it’s not very difficult to fathom that the needs and assets of the generations fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

THE INEVITABILITY OF AGEING & PROGRESSIVE HAPPINESS

Mercury being Mercury suggested Immortality in more ways. That’s one way of looking at it but I’d like to think that Ageing in itself is inevitable. We cannot change that but we can most certainly change how we approach this period. Many state that this period is beautiful and can be made to resurrect that part that has not shone earlier. And to place some emphasis here, one needs to borrow from John Lennon, “We all shine on….like the moon and the stars and the sun…..we all shine on……come on and on and on…..”

So, the point being how do we keep this retired and ageing population mentally and physically active. Let’s put the expertise and the experience of these people in context of where we are today. They have amassed a wealth of knowledge and experience which is invaluable. This can be selfishly without doubt be put to best use by allowing them to share their experience, learning and talent at organizations even not-for-profit and other educational institutions where their invaluable expertise can be shared with interns. This is in my opinion the best way to enable symbiotic relationships between the younger generations and these folks. More importantly, we can learn to progress and borrow from other evolved cultures who’ve made considerable progress in fusing the needs across both generations to provide ‘INTERGENERATIONAL HARMONY’. It seems like there is a burgeoning need to develop these cohesive societies and possibly include seniorcare and childcare facilities. It is imperative that we maximize these opportunities for inter-generational interactions.

LONELINESS, THE BIGGEST KILLING FACTOR 

In current moments like these where the pandemic has made us seriously examine what it is that we need to pre-occupy ourselves with when all of this is over, we ideally should seize this pause to make deeper introspections to how such fusion and created outreach programs can connect one generation to another and most importantly different sets of life experiences exchanged and a sense of community built. Research has shown that these programs are effective at combating loneliness and improving social connectedness. This bring me to arguably the biggest challenge facing older people and that is loneliness.

One of the heightened sensorial developments amongst senior people is ‘FEAR’. The primary contributing factor is ‘LONELINESS’. This ‘LONELINESS’ percolates deeper and is felt as ‘ABANDONMENT’. The fear of ‘getting older’ and ‘growing old ‘ALONE’ is harshest in the Indian Cultural Context. While this was not true for India, given our all-inclusive culture, times are a changing and family and familiarity is now giving way, fragmenting to the unknown amidst a growing fear psychosis. To borrow from one of the best comedians on ‘LONELINESS’ – Robin Williams, “I used to think that the worse thing in life was to end up ‘ALONE’. It’s not. The worse thing in life is to end up with people that make you feel ‘ALONE’. 

THE THEIRY OF PROMOTING INTERGENERATIONAL CONNECTEDNESS

A fundamental question that is asked directly or more often than not which runs in the recesses of older people is, “WHO is going to look after ME?” This is the million-dollar question and essential dilemma that many senior citizens and people getting older find themselves in. When a particular brand steps in and responds “WE are going to look after YOU.” This brand automatically occupies a non-debatable position in the individuals mind and heart. This is also where ‘INTERGENERATIONAL CONNECTEDNESS’ comes in and this is where the ‘Senior’brand in question steps in and rolls out the necessary kind of engagement in a pre-planned manner that allows for the mitigation of this feeling of ‘LONELINESS’ and progress towards better living and a happier community.

BUILDING POWERFUL BRANDS IN THIS SEGMENT 

Brands looking to seriously create a reputation for themselves in the senior retirement community need to look for the radically disruptive but obviously relevant and meaningful to the customer. There is a vast majority of people in the (32+ until <50) who are looking at creating the right living environment during their retirement years. There is a very clear inflection point in the age spectrum where the demographic is most receptive to buying into the concept of retirement living.

One cannot feel that as people seek to realize that this would be an important stage of their life where healthcare and other recreational facilities are equally important to staying fit in mind, body and spirit, there would be a growing demand for senior living and senior retirement homes. 

Projections are such that this form of investment will eventually become a very lucrative market in the future. Most stakeholders seldom understand the sort of sustained investment that is required to make a definitive impact in making a brand in this space so as to speak omnipresent, a market leader and a champion of this cause. 

What society doesn’t seem to understand and neither are they being able to get a grip on this situation is that these ‘INTERGENERATIONS’ have more in common than they possibly understand. 

Ironically, the current situation has provided quite a lucid understanding that people in between 18 and 24 want life to slow down and people over-60s want to have a little more to do.  And therefore, it is not whether they have anything in common, but how to connect them really.

There cannot be a time for greater ‘INTER CONNECTEDNESS’ than now for shared storytelling. Come on now…..share a thought….a line or two….

Updated: 5/9/2020 1:33:02 PM
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