ShareEach of us, at any given point in time, occupies a unique space that is a mash up of our age, abilities, needs and various life circumstances. All of those aspects, plus our wants and desires, inform what we seek in the place and community we call home and how we move about within that community. Those preferences, however, often are in conflict with what is available to us in terms of geography, inventory and cost.
Even though there are many characteristics that define our needs and wants, there are some broad categories of preferences that apply to each generation because of shared experiences and life stages. We have classified people born in particular timeframes, such as boomers or Gen Xers, and there seem to be certain aspects of home, community and transport that appeal to each generation. Those preferences, however, shift as people age and reach various milestones in life.
Housing size and location matter differently to people at different life stages, and transportation options for people of all ages are important. Amenities matter too; both inside the home and out the front door in the community. Parks accessible for the two-year-old and 80-year-old, alike, need to offer a wide range of activity options, from playgrounds, to jogging paths to a bench under a shade tree.
At this moment, housing supply and affordability are issues for many people across the country and getting the public policies at the local, state and federal level synchronized to produce the mix of housing types needed is a complex puzzle. Similarly, the way we move about is changing. Research by the National Association of REALTORS® has seen a slow but steady increase over the past decade in the desire to live in and seek out walkable communities.
This edition of On Common Ground explores these issues and trends; the traits of our built environment and how people transition through it; strategies by area type — urban, suburban or rural; and what appeals to each generation or is necessary to age in place. Sometimes needs and wants vary from generation to generation, sometimes they converge, and sometimes, we discover that there are valuable synergies that occur when all generations are mixed together in their living environments.
