What’s in a workshop? Co-creating the Local Layer of the Quality of Life Index

The technical development workshops are the cornerstone of  the Quality of Life Index co-creation, during which local leaders and urban experts meet to design and validate the Local Layer of the Index.  This innovative collaborative process begins with detailed discussions and consultations on how to measure quality of life in the unique context of each city by looking at which indicators could be used to build the Local Layer of the Index using locally relevant, available and optimal data. 

An external facilitator will run these workshops in a series of sessions that are usually held over two consecutive days.  The workshop participants are local experts who bring a wealth of expertise and views from the nine quality of life domains that the Index measures: basic services & mobility, culture & recreation, economy, education, environment governance, health, housing, and social inclusion. 

The facilitator guides participants to help determine where the real priorities and problems are in the city. Participants are encouraged to think more deeply about these issues and question their own assumptions and preconceived ideas through probing questions on why a particular strength or weakness in a city matters to the quality of life and whether focusing on that issue will make the city safer, more inclusive, sustainable and resilient.  Data access, availability and reliability is also considered carefully in these workshops to make sure the data accurately reflects what is being measured and can be sourced readily.

The workshops comprise of four consecutive sessions: 

1. The priorities and concerns for the city in measuring quality of life across each of the nine domains
2. The benefits to the city’s inhabitants of addressing those concerns through investments, changes to city policy, advocacy or other means
3. The optimal way to measure whether the desired changes are occurring – defining the indicator that will measure improvements in the most important aspects of quality of life as determined by the city’s inhabitants
4. The availability and reliability of the data required to calibrate the indicators

Workshops are a tried, tested and efficient method of bringing a diverse mix of people together to problem solve as a team. The design of these workshops allows people to listen deeply to other views and revise and improve their own as a result in co-creating how to measure quality of life at the local level. The outcome is a more informed set of ideas and solutions that are tailored to each city and local context.

 The Initiative has succeeded in creating an easy-to-follow mechanism for an independent facilitator to firmly but neutrally guide participants to question their perceptions and assumptions about what matters in their city and navigate towards identifying what really matters. A workshop format is a highly effective allowing stakeholders to focus the efforts of relatively small groups of people, bringing different insights in to help frame what matters to the city and how to measure what matters in the local context. 

To be successful, it is critical that participants are confident they have information about community sentiment on quality of life: what matters to them, and what the priorities for change are. In some cases, cities have gathered this information beforehand through community surveys. 

As of October 2024, nine validation workshops have taken place in pilot cities including: 

• Madinah, Saudi Arabia
• Nis, Serbia
• Vancouver, Canada
• Udon Thani, Thailand
• Punaauia, French Polynesia
• Logan, Australia
• Queretaro, Mexico
• Quito, Ecuador
• Bhubaneshwar, India
• Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

City officials and workshop participants have found the workshops to be a promising and effective mechanism for designing a new way to measure quality of life in the unique context of their respective cities. 

"Kevin, It was such an enjoyable process which you facilitated expertly. Very well done. The team is buzzing here today, everyone enjoyed themselves and we all learnt something new about our own City, so that was unexpected but welcome. Looking forward to actioning further when we receive the results."

David Hansen
Director, Growth, Economy and Sustainability
City of Logan (Australia)

The workshops have produced the Local Layer indicator set and confirmed data sources, together with the rationale for each as well as a methodology for computing the local index values. After the workshops confirm the indicators, data is collected and validated for the agreed Local Layer indicators. Once this is complete, the final Index values for both the Local and Global Layers can be computed and analyzed.

Lessons from the entire pilot city process, from workshop planning to delivery and data compilation will be incorporated into a set of guideline documents for implementing the Index in various cities.

Some initial outcomes of workshops in our pilot cities reveal the unique aspects and priorities of each city. For example: 

• In Logan: There is a significant concern about the rate of population growth and how that is challenging the capacity of the city to provide high value amenities for new residents, such as extensive parks, good public transport and cultural facilities. 
• In Queretaro: There is a strong emphasis on improving public transport, but also ensuring the resilience and sustainability of the UNESCO-listed historic city centre. 
• In Punnauia: Quality of life relies on maintaining the connection to the sea and the mountains. In turn, this relies on improving transport options across and through the city. 
• In Madinah: There is a strong emphasis on celebrating its culture and heritage, and the important role it plays as a religious travel destination. 
• In Nis: There is an interest in making the city attractive to its inhabitants as well as attracting others to relocate there. This includes improving its parks and forested areas, as well as its cultural offerings. 
• In Vancouver: There is a strong focus on housing and commercial (small businesses) real estate affordability and social inclusion. 

See our timeline revealing details from each of our workshops: