Knowledge

Knowledge is a central component of the Quality of Life Initiative. How knowledge is captured, organized, shared and applied is crucial to ensuring that the innovative tool at the center of the initiative is scaled up and scaled out across municipalities around the world. Local leaders need the guidance, methodologies and capacity building tools to ensure that they are relevant and applicable to them and their constituents.

The Quality of Life Initiative is developing a knowledge ecosystem which pulls together different threads of institutional engagement, advocacy, knowledge production, and of course the technical development of the monitoring tool itself. Understanding how these pieces interact with one another is key to understanding how the Quality of Life Initiative is working to concretely influence local and global policy agendas, through a human-centric approach to development.

The selection below is a growing collection of knowledge from the Quality of Life Initiative, which will continue to evolve and expand.

Highlighted Publications

Technical Report

Quality of Life in Cities: Insights from the Quality of Life Initiative Pilot Phase

8 December 2025

Quality of Life in Cities: Insights from the Quality of Life Initiative Pilot Phase offers a data-driven, people-centered assessment of urban well-being across nine cities on five continents. By integrating objective indicators with residents’ lived experiences, the report identifies the conditions most closely associated with life satisfaction and highlights priority areas for policy action. The findings aim to support local and national governments in advancing inclusive, evidence-based urban development.

Global Report

Strategic Engagement of the Quality of Life Initiative at the 12th Session of the World Urban Forum

8 November 2024

At the 12th Session of the World Urban Forum in Cairo, the Quality of Life Initiative showcased how cities can rethink urban development through a human-centric lens. Our new knowledge document summarizes the strategic engagements at WUF12 and how this will inform our next steps, scaling up to 100 cities in 40 countries in 2025. In the synthesis, we share what we demonstrated at WUF, including leveraging cities as storytellers, forging strategic partnerships, and putting people and health at the heart of what we do.

Paper

Synthesis Paper 4: Identifying universal measures of quality of life: A Technical Process, a Human Story

1 November 2024

This fourth synthesis paper of the Quality of Life Initiative highlights its journey from concept to the creation of a global index to measure quality of life in cities. The Initiative views quality of life as a dynamic assessment of how well cities offer opportunities for individuals and communities to thrive. This paper explores the collaborative, people-centered approach used to develop a universal set of indicators, balancing technical rigor with human dimensions, to capture factors like housing adequacy, job satisfaction, and well-being.

Toolkits, Manuals and Guides

Quality of Life Initiative Implementation Guidelines – Advance Release Version 1.0

1 November 2024

The Quality of Life Initiative’s Implementation Guidelines provide a comprehensive framework for cities to follow to assess and improve the quality of life for all inhabitants. The Guidelines offer policymakers, urban planners and community leaders practical steps and a comprehensive roadmap for cities to adopt the Quality of Life Index. The step-by-step process is designed to support local governments, urban planners and community leaders in assessing and enhancing urban well-being through a series of practical actions.

Paper

Valuing What Matters in Urban Areas - A position paper of the Quality of Life Initiative

13 May 2024

The position paper was developed by the academic community of practice of the Quality of Life Initiative and provides context, key takeaways and recommendations for cities and local leaders to use to inform policies that improve quality of life at the local level. The community of practice takes the position that a truly holistic vision of quality of life - and its understanding, measurement, and application - can provide a common thread through which ambitious, inclusive, resilient, sustainable development can progress at the scale and speed demanded by the urgency of the interlinked challenges faced today.

Brochure

Quality of Life Initiative - Brochure

13 February 2024

At its core, the Initiative features the development of an innovative, globally relevant, locally applicable index to evaluate and accelerate progress on local and global policy agendas around improving the quality of life in cities.

Paper

A Brief History of Quality of Life: From Aristotle to the Present, Evolution of a Concept at the Core of Human Development

13 February 2024

The present document is the first in a series which takes a closer look at how the Quality of Life Initiative is co-creating a more inclusive, human-centred vision of quality of life in cities. This series zooms in on different aspects of the Initiative, while presenting a coherent picture of how the different pieces come together.

Paper

A Fresh Perspective on Measuring Quality of Life: Initial Process to Conceptualise a Universal Tool to Measure Quality of Life in Cities

13 February 2024

The present document is the second in a series which takes a closer look at how the Quality of Life Initiative is co-creating a more inclusive, human-centred vision of quality of life in cities. This series zooms in on different aspects of the initiative, while presenting a coherent picture of how the different pieces come together.

Quality of Life Initiative Menu

Knowledge

Highlighted Publications