Problem
No one stage in the life cycle is self-sufficient.
Solution
Encourage growth toward a mix of household types in every neighborhood, and every cluster, so that one-person households, couples, families with children, and group households are side by side.
Related Patterns
… the mix of households in an area does almost more than anything else to generate, or destroy, the character of an Identifiable Neighborhood (14), of a House Cluster (37), of a Work Community (41), or, most generally of all, of a Life Cycle (26). The question is, what kind of mix should a well-balanced neighborhood contain?
Make especially sure there are provisions for old people in every neighborhood - Old People Everywhere (40), and that even with this mix, young children will have enough playmates - Connected Play (68); and build the details of the different kinds of households, according to the appropriate more detailed patterns to reinforce the mix - The Family (75), House for a Small Family (76), House for a Couple (77), House for One Person (78)…
Alexander, Christopher. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 188.