(Dow Fellows Program 2013)

A core goal of city government is to improve and maintain the well-being of its citizens. Maintaining well-being over time requires attention to the interrelated social, environmental, and economic factors that together comprise sustainability. This report advances well-being measurement as an effective municipal tool for understanding social sustainability, complementing environmental and economic indicators, and evaluating sustainability efforts of all types. After reviewing concepts and creating an inventory of existing measurement tools, we outline a framework to help cities implement well-being assessment, and apply the framework to a case study. The use of well-being assessments on the municipal scale has a high potential to become a translational and transformative tool in a city’s policy-making process. By directly measuring the well-being of its citizens, a city may gain new insights into regions that need more attention, programs that are not effective, or how safe citizens feel. For the success of well-being indicators, a number of challenges have to be addressed early on in the design process, including securing material, public, and political support. A simple and collaborative design, one where the assessment is easily conducted with support from multiple stakeholders, is a sensible strategy for cities looking to start tracking well-being.