Longevity Cities at SXSW: Building Inclusive Cities for All Generations

Against the backdrop of film premieres, music festivals, and Texas BBQ, aging and longevity took center stage at this year’s SXSW. I had the privilege of moderating a panel titled Longevity Cities featuring leading experts: Upali Nanda, PhD, Marc Freedman, and Dan Buettner, Jr. We explored several topics at the intersection of aging, environment, and purpose, focusing on opportunities in architecture, city planning, community-building, healthy lifestyles, and intergenerational connections.

At the heart of this discussion lies Freedman's insight that true longevity flows from the relationships we build across generations. Intergenerational bonds enrich cities, creating a foundation for healthier, happier, and more connected communities. Building on this, Buettner highlighted the crucial role of our environment in shaping health, advocating for cities designed to promote healthier choices naturally. Nanda broadened this vision, envisioning cities not just as places to live but also as spaces where people can truly thrive.

As cities grow, placing longevity at the core of planning strategies is essential for a sustainable and vibrant future. The conversation raised three primary themes.

Reimagining City Planning for Longevity

Cities shape the quality and duration of human life, making city planning a crucial lever for enhancing longevity across generations. By prioritizing healthy design, cities can naturally encourage residents to make healthier choices.

• Environmental design expert Nanda champions flexible zoning as a direct approach to improve planning policies, integrating housing, businesses, and green spaces to enhance community connections and minimize long commutes.
• Drawing from research on Blue Zones—regions with high longevity rates—Buettner emphasizes shifting focus from personal responsibility to creating environments that naturally encourage healthier choices.

If you want to change someone's life, shift the focus from the individual to their surroundings and make the healthy choice the easy choice. - Dan Buettner Jr., Executive Vice President & Chief Development Officer at Blue Zones, LLC

Fostering Intergenerational Connections

Urban environments must foster meaningful interactions among age groups to prevent isolation for older adults and create opportunities for younger generations to learn from their elders. Freedman's metaphor of the "real fountain of youth" being the "fountain with youth" speaks to the importance of intergenerational bonds.

The real fountain of youth is the fountain with youth. - Marc Freedman, Founder & Co-CEO, CoGenerate

• Freedman highlights proximity, purpose, and practice as keys to bring generations together. Proximity is important, but creating a shared purpose is essential for building meaningful relationships across generations.
• Freedman’s longevity vision is to invest in future generations, noting, “Society grows great when older people plant trees under whose shade they shall never sit.”
• Nanda’s vision reimagines cities based on purpose and impact rather than just size. This can be accomplished by integrating better mobility and social infrastructure, green spaces, and health hubs into cities, which benefits the environment, human health, and social interaction.

Innovative Approaches for Longevity Cities

Longevity cities must cater to the needs of diverse residents of all ages, ensuring accessibility, inclusivity, and opportunities for purposeful living. To reach this vision:

• Nanda champions designing enriched environments that offer physical, social, and cognitive stimuli. Designing infrastructure that prioritizes these elements fosters meaningful connections and supports sustainable living.
• Buettner promotes conscious capitalism, as a pathway to improving the human condition, incorporating values such as health, wellness, and sustainability into business models. Businesses that prioritize employee satisfaction, practice inclusivity, and engage communities can create tremendous societal and financial value.
• Freedman envisions intergenerational hubs within higher educational settings, facilitating knowledge exchange and mutual growth. Revamping higher education to incorporate age diversity involves designing university programs that attract older adults and promote lifelong learning.

Our image of a city versus a place to live and thrive should align. The community's design challenge lies in baking in physical, mental, and brain health into the places we live. - Upali Nanda, PhD, Executive Vice President & Global Director of Innovation at HKS, Inc.

Taking Action for Longevity Cities

To advance longevity in today's world, the conversation must extend beyond merely adding years to life. It should focus on creating a life rich in quality and purpose, supported by environments and systems that enable individuals of all ages to thrive. Strengthening intergenerational relationships and investing in well-planned urban design can enhance community well-being and deliver notable health and economic benefits.