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Introduction
Japan is the world’s first “super ageing” society; more than 20% of its population are aged over 65 and over 4.6 million people are currently living with dementia (Koohsari et al., 2018). When combined with a shrinking workforce, economic stagnation, high fiscal deficits, reluctance to increase inward migration and resistance to pension reform, Japan is described as facing a “perfect storm” in continuing to fund its elder care services (Jenkins and Germaine, 2019). One social policy solution to Japan’s ageing “crisis” has been the introduction of a range of intergenerational dementia care and support programmes, where different generations, typically children and older people, are brought together to share experiences, resources and learning (Galbraith et al., 2015). Successful programmes can result in positive social experiences and commensurate improvements in well-being, and include storytelling, arts or music or education and mentoring programmes (Giraudeau and Bailly, 2019; Gerritzen et al., 2020). Given the increase in resources needed to support Japan’s ageing population, intergenerational initiatives are seen as vital in maintaining solidarity across the generations, securing the moral, political and financial capital needed to sustain Japan’s elder care services in the future (Fujiwara et al., 2009). These initiatives also attempt to address wider social policy goals, namely, reducing Japan’s growing economic and workforce pressures by encouraging older people to continue being socially, physically and economically active (Debroux, 2016). Unsurprisingly then Japanese initiatives have gained the attention of other countries; one of the best-known being the “Ninchisho supporter caravan”, a national dementia education scheme, which by 2017 had trained 7.7 million people (Hayashi, 2017). This scheme has inspired numerous national “Dementia Friends” programmes, including the UK Alzheimer’s Society Dementia Friends initiative in the UK (Department of Health, 2015).
Historically described by Kaplan et al. (2006) as a “forgotten domain” in intergenerational studies, a growing literature is now exploring how the built environment can facilitate intergenerational relationships. There is evidence to demonstrate that the spatial design of care environments has a significant impact on the functional independence and overall quality of life of people with dementia (Marshall, 2001; Bowes and Dawson, 2019). Design guidance for residential care settings encourages the adoption of physical features that assist people with dementia to negotiate the physical environment, for...