Dr. Matt Kaplan will give a presentation at 10:15 a.m. Friday, April 12, in the Milner Library Speaker’s Corner. This event is free and open to the public.
Kaplan is a professor of intergenerational programs and aging at Penn State University. He conducts research, develops curricular resources, and provides leadership in the development and evaluation of intergenerational programs. Kaplan is an affiliate member of the Penn State Center for Healthy Aging and core faculty member of the Comparative and International Education Dual-Title Graduate Degree Program at Penn State.
Kaplan has a Ph.D. in environmental psychology from the CUNY Graduate Center. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing and a Senior Fulbright Scholar studying intergenerational initiatives in Japan. He has published several books highlighting intergenerational strategies for community planning and development, including the co-authored Intergenerational Pathways to a Sustainable Society and Intergenerational Contact Zones: Place-based Strategies for Promoting Social Inclusion and Belonging.
The focus of this presentation is on the role of the physical environment (natural, built, and virtual) on intergenerational program planning, processes, and outcomes. This will be done through introducing the Intergenerational Contact Zones (ICZ) conceptual framework and its potential for stimulating new ways of thinking, planning, and practice regarding the design, sustainability, and evolution of intergenerationally enriched environments.
ICZs are spatial focal points for different generations to meet, interact, build relationships (e.g., trust and friendships), and, if desired, work together to address issues of local concern. Examples will be provided for how this conceptual framework can be used to broaden the range of intergenerational activity possibilities in diverse community settings, including parks and playgrounds, retirement communities, schools, multiservice community centers, even bus stops.
This event is sponsored by the Advancing Research and Creative Scholarship (ARCS) program; Department of Agriculture; and the Department of Geography, Geology, and the Environment.
To register for the event and to indicate accommodations needed, email contactciie@ilstu.edu.
