If we build new towns for the young, we’ll fail our future

When the government unveiled its shortlist for the next wave of new towns – Enfield, Greenwich, Tandridge among them – the imagery was familiar: families cycling through green corridors, children playing in sun-lit parks, and young households finally finding the homes they’ve been priced out of elsewhere.

But this hopeful vision obscures a harder truth. Thomas Heatherwick’s critique of how we build – not just the density but the demographic we design for – exposes the blind spot the announcement neatly avoided. New towns can’t be shaped around yield, infrastructure and the imagined “young family” alone. They must be built as places of belonging, dignity and purpose for everyone who will actually live there.

Too often the conversation around housing defaults to one of volume – how much we can build – rather than the longevity of who it serves. Which leads to the real question: who are we designing our cities for? Looking at some marketing brochures, you’d be forgiven for thinking that we’re still planning as if the future is dominated by young parents pushing prams. It’s a comforting narrative, but a rapidly outdated one.

In 2024, England and Wales recorded their lowest fertility rate this – just 1.41 children per woman – and young households are increasingly choosing to delay having children, have fewer, or not have them at all, with pupil numbers falling. Those who might once have stayed are instead heading abroad to places like Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where incentives for first-time buyers can fetch up to £100,000. The assumption that new towns will naturally brim with young families is starting to look like idealism than strategy.

Rethinking housing for an ageing Britain

At the same time, the UK’s older population is expanding at speed – with 11 million people in England and Wales aged 65 or older. Older private renters now represent the fastest-growing occupier group. Take SpareRoom for example – 7.1% were over 55 in 2024, compared to 2.7% a decade ago.

Unfortunately, all this means is that more older people are staying in homes that no longer meet their physical needs or financial realities and housing options that genuinely suit later life remain scarce, with only 12% of over-75 households having step-free access. The risk isn’t that new towns might accidentally become retirement-led communities. The risk is that we rdon’t design adequately for that inevitability.

This demographic shift is not a burden. It’s an opportunity.

We already know what better could look like

The built environment is already beginning to adapt. Recent award-winning projects offer a blueprint for how to design places that support ageing well, foster connection and enrich everyday life. This year’s RIBA Stirling Prize winner, Appleby Blue, reimagines the almshouse as a model of dignity, social connection and contemporary urban living for over 65s. This builds on the John Morden Centre – a day-centre for the elderly snapping up the award in 2023, demonstrating the power of warm, human-centred spaces for later life.

These are not fringe experiments; they point towards a future the wider built environment must embrace.

Designing new towns for demographic reality

If over 65s are projected to make up to a quarter of the population by 2050, the design brief must shift. We need to move beyond the default of three-bedroom semis and playground-led masterplans towards places that strengthen social infrastructure and support longer lifespans. That starts with practical design shifts: step-free, well-lit homes with clear sightlines, generous circulation space, non-slip surfaces and built-in accessibility features like ramps, handrails and level thresholds. Simple, intuitive controls and good indoor air quality should be standard, making everyday living safer, easier and more comfortable as people age.

Layered on top of this are adaptable homes, shared gardens, and intergenerational spaces designed to bring people into contact rather than keep age groups apart. It means treating dementia-friendly design as a baseline, not a specialist add-on. And it means recognising that intergenerational living isn’t a lifestyle trend – it’s a social and economic necessity.

Nature and biophilic principles should be treated as essential infrastructure, not wellness decoration. When integrated deliberately, they act as common ground: places where children, adults and older residents naturally overlap, strengthening the everyday interactions that make a neighbourhood feel like a community.

Above all, these towns need strong transport, digital and health networks so they become genuinely integrated neighbourhoods rather than isolated outposts.

The question the built environment must confront

It’s often argued that the young steal all the limelight and older people get forgotten. That’s what’s at risk of happening in how we design our places and spaces. But by grounding plans in today’s realities and prioritising connection, care and resilience, we can create new towns that become some of the most socially progressive and future-ready neighbourhoods in the UK.

The sooner we shift our thinking to 2050, the stronger, fairer and more future-proof these places will become.