Longevity is one of the key challenges facing contemporary societies. We are living longer, and as demographic patterns change, so do our needs and the ways in which we work, rest, move around, build relationships, and use the spaces around us. A longer life, however, does not automatically mean a better life. It raises the question of how to design a world in which we want to and are able to live well throughout our entire lives.
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This is not a distant prospect. At the beginning of 2025, people aged 65 and over accounted for 22% of the European Union’s population – approximately 99 million people. Between 2005 and 2025, the share of this age group increased in every EU country, with Poland recording the largest increase, from 13% to 21% (Eurostat, Demography of Europe 2026). At the end of 2025, people of post-working age accounted for 24.2% of Poland’s population – approximately 9 million people. In 2000, this figure stood at 14.8% (Statistics Poland, Population, 30 January 2026). Demographic change is also clearly visible in Poznań. In 2025, people aged 60 and over accounted for 26.5% of the city’s population – approximately 141,600 people. The scale of this change becomes particularly evident over a longer period: according to Statistics Poland, the number of residents of Poznań aged 60+ increased by 36% between 2000 and 2024 (Badam Poznań – Seniors, 2025 and Badam Poznań – Older Women and Men in Poznań in 2024).
However, an ageing society is not solely an issue concerning older people. It also affects children, young people, and families. In other words, it concerns the entire environment in which we live and all stages of life. It has an impact on housing, architecture and urban planning, transport and mobility, public space, access to services, healthcare, social relationships, technology, the organisation of work, and our relationship with nature. It also affects our ability to remain in places that are familiar to us over the course of our lives.
Poznań Design Talks. Futures of Longevity is a meeting dedicated to precisely this perspective. As part of the Poznań Design Festival, we invite experts and practitioners from a range of fields – including architecture, urban planning, design, science, medicine, and social practice – to explore together how we can design for long, healthy, and diverse lives.
We do not want to treat longevity as a distant challenge of the future. It is an issue that is already shaping the way we design cities, buildings, homes, public spaces, mobility systems, and everyday services. We need solutions that are flexible, accessible, inclusive, and resilient to change, while also supporting independence, activity, wellbeing, and human connection. The conference is a space for exchanging knowledge and experience, but also an attempt to translate this knowledge into concrete design questions. We are interested not only in how we will live in the future, but above all in what we can design today to make that future more welcoming and supportive for people of all ages.
An integral part of the conference will be the REPORT: A List of Design Recommendations for Longevity-Driven Change. It will bring together key reflections and recommendations addressing different areas of design. The report is intended as a starting point for further discussion on how to create an environment capable of responding to the changing needs of society.
Andżelika Jabłońska
Director, Poznań Design Festival
