Editorial

Journey’s End
AENEAS: August 2008 – May 2011

All good things must come to an end, and May 2011 has brought AENEAS – and this newsletter – to a close as well. The good news, of course, is that this pioneering effort has proved a resounding success. Some clear evidence of this success is the fact that the final AENEAS conference in Brussels on April 8 resulted in a packed house. Ageing is now high on the political agenda and 2012 has been designated the ‘European Year of Active Ageing’.

AENEAS was one of the first projects to focus on the twin issues of mobility and ageing. As Europe’s population grows older on a per capita average, and as more and more people live in urban environments, these concerns are growing more closely linked with each passing day – and growing in importance on Europe’s political agenda. In nearly three years’ time, AENEAS team members have worked in a number of pilot cities (Donostia-San Sebastián, Krakow, Munich, Odense and Salzburg) not only to make urban transport systems safer and more accessible to older citizens, but to encourage older citizens to lead more active lives and to take advantage of available multimodal public transportation options.

Another hugely positive outcome is the AENEAS website, which provides a wealth of information and functions as an important hub for contacts and future cooperation. The AENEAS website will continue to be online with lots of information, most of which can be downloaded. Even as the project draws to a close, the website will be updated to a limited extent, so please return from time to time to keep abreast of new topic-related activities.

And while this is also the final AENEAS newsletter, interested readers will be able to track developments related to older people’s mobility at ‘Eltis Mobility Update’, a monthly email news service from Eltis: the Urban Mobility Portal. AENEAS can send a sample copy of this free service to anyone who has not yet signed up, with an option to un-subscribe at any time.

And here we reach the end of our journey together. It’s been a great ride.

Bon voyage!

The Editor: Nathan Johnson