Introduction

Quality ageing and good intergenerational relations are two urgent assignments in today's western culture. In the First half of the 21st century the preservation of intergenerational solidarity will be one of the hardest tasks that European culture has faced so far in the last thousand years. The difficulties of this task are enhanced by problematic facts on three levels, corresponding to the three human dimensions – biophysical, psychosocial and noogenic:

1. 1) the rapid increase in the percentage of old people in the population and good quality care for them is a difficult task in our modern economy and politics;

2. 2) increasingly weakening interpersonal acquaintance, communication and work connection between the young, middle-aged and elderly generations present us with the even more demanding social and cultural task of renewing the connections between the generations;

3. 3) a mass vacuum in experiencing the meaning of old age, and the closely connected tabooisation of old age confront people in all periods of life with the crucial human question about the meaning of life.

The major part of research and practical work on Anton Trstenjak Institute for gerontology and intergenerational relations in Slovenia is devoted precisely to the tasks involved in quality ageing and good intergenerational relations in present-day living conditions in Europe. The presentation concludes with a survey of the main programmes that have been developed, and introduced as widely as possible in local communities and institutions.