Young-Old: Urban Utopias of an Aging Society

by Deane Simpson

Young-Old examines contemporary architectural and urban mutations that have emerged as a consequence of one of the key demographic transformations of our 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.

Genres: Architecture

576 pages, Hardcover

First published September 25, 2014

Reviews

[Jiaying · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't really finish the book per se I actually borrowed it from my lecturer as part of a data visualisation module so they're mostly glimpses of it. Data visualisation in the form of photographic archives has been a challenging journey for me yet (wow typing it down here releases abit of the tension and stress I've been feeling just so to best lay out my photographs for the final submission) but Joost Grootens books helps opened up my mind a little bit. I really enjoyed the way he laid out stacks of information relating to retirement homes of various countries, with the rise of the 'middle-old' people.

"I don't like maps particularly, I like maps in book. In a book that contains many maps, you have a comparison between one and the other. As soon as they are put in relation, there is graphic play between different pages. [...] To me, the atlas represents something special. It shows the necessity to present information in as convenient a way as possible and uses a whole range of graphic devices to achieve this: colour, pictograms, typography, cartography, infography and scale. It also offers through (visual) indexing systems more ways of accessing the same information."

It took me lots of trial & error, iterations to find out how to come out with the 'most optimal visual clarity' for my zine relating to misplaced found objects, such that it flows well with the "show not tell" golden rule. Now that I'm typing it here & at least I attempted it, I'm fairly proud of my work.

[Benji · Rating 4 out of 5]

'An amended inventory of managed lifestyle products aimed at literally 'teleporting' elderly cohorts - as with Cranach's painting - out of the everyday grind of getting old to modern-day utopias of rejuvenation and a world forever young.'