Fewer, older, more diverse – what appears as a curve in statistics will shape how people live, work and receive care in the future. The symposium of the Karlsruher Forum für Kultur, Recht und Technik e. V. takes demographic change as its starting point to discuss its social, technological and legal consequences – and to explore how society can be shaped under changing conditions.
Demographic change affects far more than the age structure of the population. Its consequences extend from education, family life, housing and healthcare to the world of work, technological development, urban planning, civic engagement and cultural life. The issue is not simply one of individual generations, but of how people at different stages of life and in different circumstances will live together in the future.
How can cities and neighborhoods be planned in ways that enable communal and intergenerational living? Whether new technologies broaden participation or deepen inequalities depends on the conditions under which they are deployed – with consequences for the future of work, healthcare and aging. And on what legal basis do we actually negotiate questions of justice between generations?
Demographic change is therefore also a question of social cohesion. Where interests, experiences and visions of the future diverge, the challenge is to negotiate differences without prematurely treating them as oppositions. Intergenerational action can provide a concrete field of learning in this respect: the future does not emerge within individual generations, but between them.
The symposium brings together perspectives from culture, law, science and technology. The detailed program is available here online.
An event organized by the Karlsruher Forum für Kultur, Recht und Technik e. V.
