Beyond Golf

Retirement is...

The Sun City "Lifestyle"

According to Marc Freedman, the traditional view of retirement (Option A) is largely the invention of one man, Del Webb, the Arizona developer/ promoter whose Sun City launched the retirement community industry. Nearly fifty years later, much new residential development still plays one or another variation on the Sun City theme.

	Promotional Copy For A Typical Del Webb Community
	SUN CITY HUNTLEY (IL)
	Welcome to the Midwest's premier active adult community, Sun City Huntley. This award-winning community for active adults ages 55 and better offers spectacular amenities, a rewarding social atmosphere and a convenient location close to your family, your friends and all the things you love.1 At Sun City Huntley you will feel like you are on vacation 365 days a year! From the moment you drive into the luxurious entrance featuring cascading waterfalls and mature landscaping, you will feel as if you are entering your own private resort! As you drive down Del Webb Boulevard you will notice gently rolling prairies, meandering paths, water fountains and beautiful ranch homes tucked into the natural beauty of the landscape. Imagine coming home to this each and everyday!1 Become a resident in a Del Webb Active Adult community, for people 55 or better, and you will take ownership of a new lifestyle. From our state-of-the-art fitness centers and exquisite golf courses to a variety of classes and clubs ranging from ceramics to computers to personal investing, Del Webb offers a lifestyle that allows you to set your own course. Whether you seek a resort style environment or a more intimate community, the lifestyle you're looking for is waiting for you.2 Sources: 1Sun City Huntley page & 2Lifestyle page

Compared to the modest bungalows of 1960's vintage, the new developments are decidedly upscale, with a move to the Arizona desert is no longer a prerequisite: “active adults” are lured to Sun City Huntley, for example, by its “convenient location” — on the Illinois prairie near Chicago — “close to your family, your friends and all the things you love” (see inset).

Apparently, however, increasingly fewer people find the prospect of being “on vacation 365 days a year” all that appealing. When asked to choose between the competing versions of retirement above, Freedman reports, Americans between the ages of 50-75, by a margin of nearly 3-to-1,  preferred Option B. The numbers were even more dramatic among the boomer and pre-boomer cohorts.

A new vision of aging is emerging in our time, and it is dramatically altering how we choose the places we plan to grow old in. This ferment within the culture is sparking the experiments and innovative thinking you will see displayed throughout this guide.

“Community” vs “Lifestyle Enclave”

Sun City offers LIFESTYLE. In spades! Become a resident and, voila!  you instantly “take ownership of a new lifestyle... Whether you seek a resort style environment or a more intimate community, the lifestyle you're looking for is waiting for you.” Uncertain what lifestyle is “perfect for you”? With a click you can get help from Del Webb's “Lifestyle Adviser.”

Sun City tempts us with the thin broth of lifestyle, when what our hearts long for is the deep nourishment of community. The authors of Habits of the Hearts help us understand the important difference between the two: “Whereas a community attempts to be an inclusive whole, celebrating the interdependence of public and private life and of the different callings of all, lifestyle is fundamentally segmental and celebrates the narcissism of similarity. It usually explicitly involves a contrast with others who ‘do not share one's lifestyle.’”

Instead of speaking of “lifestyle communities,” the authors propose the term “lifestyle enclaves.” These they see as segmenting and segregating us in in two senses. They engage only a segment of ourselves, “for they concern only private [and not public] life, especially leisure and consumption. And they are segmental socially in that they include only those with a common lifestyle. The different, those with other lifestyles, are not necessarily despised. They may be willingly tolerated. But they are irrelevant or even invisible in terms of one's own lifestyle enclave.” [pp. 71-75]

By the way, when we clicked on the Del Webb “Lifestyle Adviser,” we got the following message:

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We are currently experiencing some technical difficulties with our on-line Lifestyle Advisor survey. Please call 1-800-268-3687 to request a hard-copy of the survey via U.S. mail.

Thank you for your patience.