Great Food. Big Questions. Deep Conversations.
Next Café:
Thurs, 30 Apr, 6-8pm
Future homes:
what housing do we need for better, healthier lives?
Free, with food from Layla’s Kitchen and a wine reception
SIGN UP HERE
About our
topic
& speaker
Professor Rose Gilroy
Newcastle University
In what promises to be a provocative talk, Rose Gilroy challenges us to reflect on three issues. Firstly, on the significance of context: the north-east has lower property values, poorer access to services and a less healthy population. Secondly, on our obsession with tenure and the consequences of our focus on individualism that has held us back from addressing our poor quality housing (clearly a societal issue) that could save the NHS billions. Finally, on the need for aspirational design in retirement living and a tenure model that offers long term protection without the rapid devaluation that characterises current ownership models
ROSE GILROY BA MA FHEA FCIH FRSA FAcSS
Rose Gilroy is Professor of Ageing, Planning and Policy in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University.
Rose’s work explores how home, and neighbourhood supports quality of life in later life. As an academic situated in Planning, she is interested in the transactional relationship between people and their place that embraces how people individually and collectively may influence their environments. In 2021 Lund Humphries published her book “Planning for an Ageing Society” in their Concise Guides to Planning series. Her next book is an edited research handbook on ageing and housing to be published later this year by Edward Elgar. Rose is committed to change and much of her work is solution focused. In 2016 she founded the Future Homes Alliance Community Interest Company that, was committed to developing flexible, affordable, multi-generational dwellings. Rose is Chair of Newcastle Age Friendly City. Since 2023 she has been a Trustee of the Vivensa Foundation and chairs the SHAPE exchange that is working to develop exemplar models for housing in an ageing society.
What is a Big Questions Café?
It’s a friendly, fun gathering where we first share a meal and get to know others around our table. Then, just after we get pudding, we hear a 15-20 minute presentation addressing one of the big questions facing our lives and community. We’re then invited to discuss a series of questions arising from the presentation around our tables, digging deeper. There’s opportunities to engage with the speaker as well.
We start with a wine reception, and our food will be a vegan meal from local Layla’s Kitchen! It’s free, but we gratefully accept donations. Please RSVP on this site so we can best meet dietary needs!
Where:
Jesmond United Reformed Church, NE2 3AE
Who is sponsoring this and why?
The Café is sponsored by Jesmond United Reformed Church, with the Friends of Jesmond Library. Over the past year, we’ve engaged in community listening exercises and a ‘Futures Literacy’ session. What we heard was the need for improved community cohesion. We always think it’s best to have discussions around a table filled with good food, so we thought these ‘Big Questions Cafés’ might be a way to bring us all together. These cafés are offered up with no other expectation than for people to show up, share in a great meal together, and engage in discussion over big questions that help us identify what we can do together. There’s no charge as we see this as a ministry, but donations are gratefully accepted—just click the donations link when registering are contribute when you arrive.