Invecchiamento attivo attraverso il dialogo tra generazioni: strategie comunitarie e processi di partecipazione

  • Rosita Deluigi

Abstract

Becoming elderly could be a reason for exclusion from social networks because of a change in status, role and identity related to age. Faced with the emergence of new needs, welfare fails to support inclusive processes and requires an intervention of community activation, so it becomes possible to create welcoming and dialogic social contexts. Pedagogy can rely on animation as a mobiliser of social contexts, awakening the bottom-up approach, in order to promote places and times of intergenerational dialogue, and to build more cohesive societies where the bonds of trust and proximity enable citizens to engage in the construction of a common good, that is oriented to supporting people and communities. The presentation of a practice carried out on the national level helps us to understand how intergenerational dialogue can be a vehicle of interaction for an open and hospitable community. Triggering, facilitating and supporting the relational dynamics that are aimed at the knowledge, experimentation and sharing of experiences where learning is mutual, may deepen the sense of personal and community projectuality, implementing reflective paths to highlight the characteristics of a successful daily practice. Elderly and young people in dialogue, therefore, can create meaningful connections and relational movements that can re-create the sense of community and understanding, experimenting new ways of living in an inclusive territory.