The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (2015) and the World Health Organisation (2025) highlight the importance of intergenerational dialogue in advancing the 2030 Agenda. Goal 3 calls for ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being across all ages. At the same time, loneliness and social isolation are increasingly recognised as pressing global challenges affecting both students and older adults in the UK (Gov.uk 2022). Intergenerational dialogue offers a valuable approach to strengthening meaningful social connections and fostering inclusive forms of participation across age groups.
This article draws on researcher-practitioner experiences from designing and facilitating a series of intergenerational workshops held at a university and a community café in Southeast England. The workshops introduced themes related to wellbeing and the wider aims of the SDGs, supporting civic engagement, and encouraging shared exploration of equity and human rights in everyday contexts.
Blended systemic and conceptual approaches informed the development of an intergenerational space oriented toward shared leadership and community transformation. Early participant priorities centred on sharing ideas across the generations. In one memorable case, an older member of the group described it as creating ‘joyful connection in the moment’. Moments such as these suggest that adopting a relaxed communication style fosters a flexible, participant-led format in which facilitators introduce themes and participants shape the discussion’s direction, enabling collaborative, meaningful intergenerational discussions.
Combining participatory observation with completed programme evaluations revealed that the group preferred to focus on generalised themes that all members could relate to. The article draws on those findings to show that sustained intergenerational dialogue strengthens collective wellbeing and supports more inclusive forms of social participation and connected communities.