Why do some of us seem to live longer, healthier lives than others? Maybe it’s eating well and staying active – or it might be avoiding those lifestyle choices we’re told could shave years off our life expectancy. It seems, though, that where we live might be just as important as how we live.
“Blue zones are those places in the world that are home to some of the world’s oldest people,” says Stephen Choi, a development manager with Commercial Retail Group and a co-founder of Architecture for Change.
“Even though they’re different parts of the world with different climates, different contexts, different ethnicities, all these people share the same ingredients: really good food, and wine in some cases, exercise, and a connection to the natural world. But, in addition to that, people generally have a sense of purpose and a really strong connection to community.”
It’s this idea – that human connection and community can have wide-ranging benefits – that underpins the new Forestville development in Adelaide’s inner south-west. The developer, Forestville Consortium (which includes Commercial Retail Group, Peet Limited and Buildtec), isn’t claiming Forestville will turn into a hive of blue zone centenarians. But the development is designed to amplify the benefits of connection and offer a rethink of the way our communities are structured, drawing on the origins of Commercial Retail Group founders the Chapley family, who migrated to Australia from Ikaria in Greece – a renowned blue zone.
Photo supplied.
To achieve its vision, Forestville Consortium is laying the groundwork for a village-style community that includes more than 300 medium-density homes (apartments and townhouses) structured around public open green spaces, a town square, a bustling market hall and an urban farm. Choi, who is also one of the designers of the development, says this focus on community connections is all about tapping into the richness of what makes our lives easier and better to live.
“On one end of the spectrum, community is simply about living in the safest, securest way where you are connected to people because it’s actually part of our survival instinct.
“At the other end of the spectrum, you want people to flourish together, you want them to socialise and, in our case, it’s [through] shopping, eating, working, and learning, as well as living.”
For residents of the new development, the design intentionally encourages the use of shared spaces. Choi identifies three main common spaces, with the first being green areas outside the residences, earmarked for moments such as kids playing and neighbourly barbecues.
The second is the Agora – a market hall-style shopping plaza that Choi calls “a new town square” based around trade and exchange. “Imagine a bustling, vibrant market hall, very different from your standard shopping centre that has a phone shop and a vape store,” he says.
“We’ve stripped back a lot of what would normally be behind closed doors. If you go to a market – a real market, not a middle-class market – someone’s carrying a pig over their shoulder or there’s a giant fish that’s just been caught, and they’re bringing it in.”
Photo supplied.
The third of Forestville’s public spaces is the most ambitious: a 2,500 sq metre rooftop farm that will be run in partnership with Youth Inc, an alternative learning school for 17-to-24-year-olds who don’t necessarily fit into mainstream education. “That is a key part of the urban farm, because the school is the custodian,” Choi says.
The education program offers community-conscious learning. But beyond this, it also plays a role in changing thinking about how we organise our cities. “We’re talking about a future which is heavily affected by the changing climate, so it’s looking at how we can bring agriculture into urban settings and how it might be replicable in lots of other places,” Choi says.
While the crops will be tended by the school, the space is also designed to be another respite for Forestville residents and visitors. “The public can come up and interact and engage through just sitting there and having rest, through coming and planting something, workshops, events – there’s a lot of different ways that we’re structuring it,” Choi says.
Whether the future residents of Forestville are spending an afternoon shopping in the market hall, eating the hyper-local produce, or just hanging out with friends in a shared green space, Choi hopes they will enjoy a lifestyle rich in all the benefits of true community living.
“I’d love to think that, other than having a place of refuge and a place where they feel safe, it’s actually a place where they connect with people and make lifelong connections that are meaningful,” he says. “It should be somewhere where you feel like something special is happening every day – and that you’re sharing those memories with people that matter to you.”
Find out more about homes in this forward-thinking community available now.
