How can we better integrate older adults into multigenerational communities?

On crescent relationships

This week, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I call crescent relationships.¹ Crescent relationships are the connections that bridge the gap between generations with the most and the least experience.

At a Central Park cleanup on Earth Day 2 years ago, I befriended Mary² , a retired wholesale business owner who divides her time between Pennsylvania and NYC. We initially bonded over a shared love of the arts, but in the years since we’ve shared relationship advice and perspectives on everything from crypto to food systems. In our friendship, Mary brings the wide lens of experience and I bring the zoom lens of curiosity. It’s exactly this dynamic that can make crescent relationships so fulfilling.

Bridging intergenerational relationships

The impact of intergenerational connection on health and happiness is profound, yet often overlooked. More than mere knowledge transfer, intergenerational relationships offer a mutual opportunity for growth. Erik Erikson first coined the term "generativity" to describe the later-in-life developmental phase that emphasizes guiding the next generation³ .

In the workplace, age-diverse teams outperform their age-segregated counterparts, particularly in creative and innovative tasks. And on the personal side, older adults engaging with younger generations experience increased feelings of usefulness, self-esteem, and overall mental and physical health. Younger individuals benefit from the mentorship of their elders with improved academic performance, independence, and emotional well-being⁴ .

Crescent relationships at their best are a reciprocal exchange of value and respect - as opposed to a one-way street of caregiving or mentorship. Crescent relationships are the best way to ensure that older adults remain engaged with their community and that we younger generations get to reap the benefits of learning from those who’ve come before us.

Approaches to weaving multigenerational connection

Companies are focusing on multiple levels of intergenerational engagement for older adults, whether in deepening familial connection or in sparking more casual neighborly connection:

• UpsideHom: Specializes in home modification and fostering intergenerational connections for health plans by offering housing assessments and adjustments to meet various needs.

  • Founders (2020): Jake Rothstein, Peter Badgley

• Caribu: This platform enhances intergenerational connections by integrating children's books and activities into family video calls, building an engaging experience for kids and their families.

  • Founder (2016): Maxeme Tuchman (acq. by Mattel)

• Storii: Allows users to record life stories without writing, catering to consumers who wish to document their biographies or those of their loved ones in an accessible format.

  • Founder (2016): Cameron Graham

Each service addresses different aspects of intergenerational care, from physical living spaces to digital interaction and personal history documentation.

Voices of the Upper West Side

This week’s tech coaching sessions with older adults in the Upper West Side (NYC) underscore the power of crescent relationships, to say nothing of my own crescent relationships with my clients² :

• Deb and I connected over our shared love of the Rubin Museum of Asian Art, where she’s found meaning guiding young people in her encore career as a docent at the museum for the past decade

• Mentioned last week, Robert finds his temple to be a central source of joy simply because it’s his weekly opportunity to connect with and learn from younger members

• Linda suggested that we hold spring tech coaching sessions in her shared community garden, a special place where she connects with her local youth gardening club

Deep and shallow crescents

Crescent relationships need not be deep to be meaningful. Notably, my tech coaching clients all live in large multifamily housing units in the Upper West Side, where they interact with a multigenerational cast of characters daily just by setting foot outside their apartment door. My clients have all commented on their joy derived in daily elevator conversations with the neighbors’ kids or chitchat with their local bodega owner.

As I navigate the future of technology for older adults, I’m galvanized by the nourishing power of intergenerational relationships. I’m hopeful, seeing companies build toward a multigenerational future in which older adults are embedded in the tapestry of daily life. That’s a future I want to be a part of.

¹ I take inspiration from French writer Jean-Pierre Faye’s “horseshoe relationship” theory describing relationships between the far-right and far-left (European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR))

² Name and identifying details have been changed to protect privacy.

³  Carstensen, L., Freedman, M., & Larson, C. (2016, June). Hidden in plain sight: How intergenerational relationships can transform our future. Stanford Center on Longevity.

⁴  Johfre, S. S. (2021). Report on intergenerational relationships. Stanford Center on Longevity’s New Map of Life Program.