Blue Zone Architecture
Do you and your friends always update each other on their latest Netflix show? Yeah, mine too. Once upon a time, pre inter web, these discussions were around the latest movie hitting the cinemas. How times have changed. I do lament the loss of the local cinema. The first blow to their trade was the video store and whilst they also disappeared it was online streaming services that dealt the final blow to a lot of the local cinemas out there. We’re so lucky to have the Gala cinema still in operation. And whilst it’s a fair bit of a trek down to Warrawong for us Northern folk, it’s worth it even just to breathe in the ambience and take the journey up to the foyer. In fact I love it so much I’ve decided with a friend of mine to start an annual film festival celebrating the greatest movies of all time. We’re starting with Pulp Fiction being its 30th anniversary this year. More on this in another article.
What you might ask has this all got to do with Blue Zones? Well, my latest Netflix recommendation is a series on the Blue Zones - “Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones” by Dan Buettner. It charts all of the places in the world that have the highest proportion of centenarians and looks into their lifestyles to see how we might adopt similar practises elsewhere. There are some obvious ones like the right food and exercise as well as community involvement. Each blue zone has unique circumstances that Buettner claims contribute to the higher proportion of longer living humans.
After watching this series, I reflected on how we here in the Illawarra are in a good place to become a Blue zone. There are a bunch of local characteristics that, in my opinion, give us a good start. For example - we have access to nature both from the bushland of the escarpment and the beaches. There is a natural geography that means we are often walking up stairs or steep inclines as well as one of the best coastal bike tracks to encourage us out on two wheels. There are also a number of Architectural factors that can also contribute to a place becoming a blue zone and so I thought I would cover a few of these.
1. Move Naturally
There’s a cluster of villages on the hills of Sardinia that have one of the earliest discovered blue zones. The striking thing one encounters on entering the villages is how their urban design encourages (or almost requires) one to walk the streets. Being on slopes and having been built prior to the motor vehicle, the streets are more suited to a pedestrian scale. This means integrating exercise into one’s lifestyle. When it’s more convenient to walk to the shops, church or your mate’s place, it means you get that daily dose of moving that we’ve been told is so critical to being healthy. Even beyond the streets, you’ll find that most homes are more than single storey and therefore having steps in the house further increases that everyday exercise. Anyone see the comparison to our neck of the woods? More footpaths and bike paths please Council!!
2. Connect
One of the main insights Buettner discovered is connection with community. That’s from an interpersonal level like your direct partner and family as well as your tribe beyond. Most of us have heard of the loneliness epidemic in most modern societies. This has occurred for a number of different reasons. We are so lucky to have tight knit well connected communities in the Illawarra. Where villages of Sardinia might have a town square where everyone can migrate to in the evening and play games, converse and interact, we are blessed by the beach pools and pavilions that dot our coastline. It’s near impossible to not run into someone you know down at the Austi beach pavilion and I daresay the same would go for all the other well frequented pools in the Illawarra. In a way they are our “town square”. We can bring the same urban communal space into our homes by designing carefully curated living indoor and outdoor spaces that allow for those all important family & friend get togethers.
3. Outlook
Another pillar of Buettner’s Blue zone insights is outlook which encompasses things like life purpose, religion and being part of something bigger than oneself. I think this one manifests in different ways in our local area. Of course there are the churches and their communities, but there also the community gardens, the bush walks, the volunteer groups, the mens sheds. By contributing to something beyond your personal zone of influence and experiencing something bigger than yourself ie. God or nature or wherever your belief system takes you, these will contribute to your overall chances of hitting that century mark. I’ve seen this manifesting architecturally in a number of buildings that dot our area. From the simple maker’s studio to Japanese inspired meditation pavilions. One of my favourite spots is the Bells Point Chair perched on the cliff between Little Austi and Main Austi beaches. Inside our homes this can be a perfectly placed window that draws one’s gaze outside to nature.
C’mon Illawarran’s my challenge to you all is to become the next Blue Zone. Buettner’s is very pointed that it takes a lifetime of the right habits to live to 100. First step - leave the car at home!