Young‑Old: Urban Utopias of an Aging Society

Young‑Old examines contemporary architectural and urban mutations that have emerged as a consequence of one of the key demographic transformations of our time: aging populations. Distinguishing between different phases of old age, the book identifies the group known as the “young old” as a remarkable petri dish for experiments in subjectivity, collectivity, and environment. In investigating this field of latent urban and architectural novelty, Young‑Old asserts both the escapist and emancipatory dimensions of these practices. Richly illustrated with drawings, maps, and photographs, the volume documents phenomena ranging from the continuous, golf‑cart‑accessible urban landscapes of the world’s largest retirement community in Florida and the mono‑national urbanizaciones of “the retirement home of Europe” on Costa del Sol, to the Dutch‑themed residential community at Huis Ten Bosch in southern Japan.