Future Local Lab
Local Government ExplainedThe wellbeing economy: Case studies and resources for local government
Sid Hayward, LGIU
Curated case studies of ways governments can adopt and promote local wellbeing economies. Examples this week come from Spain, Canada, New Zealand and the U.S.
Curated case studies of ways governments can adopt and promote local wellbeing economies. Examples this week come from Spain, Canada, New Zealand and the U.S.
Have your own example to share, get in touch!
Policy innovation and inspiration examples from the local government sector
SPAIN: Using technology for wellbeing economy policy design
Developed in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the City of Barcelona’s digital participation and democratic platform Decidim provides residents with a voice to decide on the future of their surroundings. The platform allows Barcelona’s citizens a chance to consult in an open participatory process, submit and track policy proposals, and take part in debates. When reviewing changes made on the platform, the city council considers not only the popularity of a proposal, but the number of neighbourhoods involved in the consultation process. By 2016, the platform had seen over 220,000 interactions, and the city had implemented wide ranging policy reforms aiming at re-municipalisation and localisation of resources and assets. The tool itself is open-source, ensuring it can be reused and improved upon by other governments should they wish.
Decidim / Wellbeing Economy Alliance
CANADA: City incorporates social wellbeing into design guidelines
With multi-unit housing developments increasingly common across British Columbia, Canada, the City of Port Moody sought to ensure any of this new housing supports residents’ health, happiness, and inclusion. The city partnered with Happy Cities to develop Social Wellbeing Design Guidelines for new multi-unit housing developments. These guidelines incentivise housing developers to include social features and shared spaces, to boost amenity and connection. The guidelines are free to download online, and were adopted by the council in June 2024.
Happy Cities
USA: Californian city uses ‘science of wellbeing’ to better understand residents’ quality of life
Santa Monica, California is renowned for its seemingly aspirational lifestyle, an affluent and cultural area with beaches, sun, mountains and top-rated schools. Yet the City of Santa Monica sought to understand whether its citizens really have a high quality of life, both objectively and subjectively. The city launched the Wellbeing Project, which saw the council develop personalised ways to measure local wellbeing factors before going out in person to collect data from 2,200 local residents. The project created a Wellbeing Index, measuring residents’ quality of life across place, health, opportunity, community, learning and life outlook. It found that while general wellbeing was high, Santa Monicans did not feel enough day-to-day connection in their neighbourhoods. To build on the project, the citylaunched the Office of Civic Wellbeing to embed wellbeing measurement and action in its agencies and departments, leading efforts on community partnerships and racial equality.
Wellbeing Economy Alliance
NEW ZEALAND: Award winning employment scheme designed to improve socio-economic wellbeing outcomes
Many of New Zealand’s poorest people live in South Auckland, a region with a large proportion of Māori and Pasifika. As part of its 30-year city plan and place-based regeneration programme, Auckland Council has committed to improve Māori wellbeing, strengthen employment outcomes and help communities in greatest need. One example of this is the council’s Kia Puāwai programme, which sees unemployed local graduates in the city’s south work towards employment in the council’s contact centre workforce. The council consolidated six of its contact centres for the scheme to help its underprivileged graduates find a career and permanent employment. The idea behind the scheme is that widespread youth employment would have a ripple effect on families and communities, improving their finances and long-term outlook overall. The scheme has been successful, with 90% of graduate entrants finding permanent employment and reporting “a new sense of purpose” and has won industry awards for its local leadership.
Taituarā / Our Auckland
Resources on the wellbeing economy
Report: Wellbeing economy ideas for cities: Lessons for implementation
In this report, the concept of the wellbeing economy is broken down for those working at the city level. It outlines why this concept is increasingly necessary, and outlines six ways of working (vision, measurement, collaboration, citizen participation, prevention, and creative experimentation) related to successfully applying it at city level.
Report: Creating an impactful and sustainable: Wellbeing Economy for better public health
The key concepts and associated approaches supporting a wellbeing economy are set out in this report, alongside how we can measure its benefits and impact. In addition, this report highlights how a wellbeing economy ties into health policy and how health actors can lead the concept.
Report: The wellbeing economy in brief: understanding the growing agenda and its implications
This publication contains a collection of mini briefing papers that look at the idea of a wellbeing economy, how it relates to other ideas for economic change, and what some of the core elements of a wellbeing economy are.
Report: How to measure progress towards a wellbeing economy: distinguishing genuine advances from ‘window dressing’
Wellbeing economies seek to achieve social justice within the boundaries of our planet, acting as an alternative approach to economic design. This paper sets out a series of criteria to judge how successfully a local area is making progress towards a wellbeing economy.
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