For the 24 Percent

Against a photo of two codgers clinging for dear life to a contraption that looks to be an iron lung but is actually a piece of playground equipment, an online publication called Wellness Warrior reports that the latest phenomenon sweeping Europe and Asia is the “multigenerational playground.” There are also said to be more than 50 of these outdoor sites for senior citizens in the United States already, in cities such as Cleveland, Tampa, and (of course) Orlando, with more on the horizon.

Along with slides and seesaws, some of them sport elliptical machines, stationary bikes, and other gym-centric apparatus designed to promote balance and strength. According to Wellness Warrior,  Barcelona alone has underwritten about 300 of these parks, seeing them as an investment in the health and social well-being of a rapidly graying population, and maybe keeping people out of hospitals longer than otherwise.

The codgers in the photo, she in an ankle-length black coat and the kind of kerchief commonly called a babushka in Russia, he in all black except for a 1930s-era floppy cap, may be models, or perhaps that’s what elderly Spaniards always wear to the playground. Models or no, they sure do look happy. Here in East Hampton, a forward-looking town with, at last count, 24 percent of the population retirees, one of these senior sandboxes could make for a lot of happy people.