Moving closer together – for a better life
Creating seating areas, laying out a few raised beds and setting up a social space: it often takes just a few small steps to get anonymous neighbours talking to each other. And this also makes people more attentive to one another – they develop into ‘caring communities’. Educational scientist Annette Sprung and care researcher Klaus Wegleitner (Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Aging and Care, among others) have accompanied such communities that have emerged in Graz. The two are devising scenarios for how caring for one another can succeed, especially in old age.
However, Wegleitner is certain that voluntary work and neighbourhood assistance alone are not enough. He points out that state support should remain central and that conditions for solidarity should be legally strengthened and made fairer.
