The Good Life Index supports municipal strategic planning and knowledge management

With funding from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, MDI will implement a research project in which the aim is to map the good life of municipalities and village communities and, on the basis of the survey, develop the Good Life Index to support municipal strategic planning and knowledge management.

The project aims to diversify the discussion about the good life and the indicators and narratives that describe it. Alongside growth and employment, research takes into account the various dimensions of social sustainability, such as the experience and inclusion of individual relevance, community cohesion and social integrity, the accessibility and relevance of services and the quality of the physical environment.

The study focuses on the transition to a sustainable society and empowerment: how will change be implemented while promoting the well-being of residents and the conditions in which communities and businesses operate? Among other things, the dialogue includes an evaluation framework which also seeks to add new dimensions to impact assessment (including human impact, sustainable development and Agenda 2030 from a children’s perspective), enabling policy proposals to be evaluated from a project-perspective, thus supporting welfare and vitality of cooperation between the different sectors of government and non-governmental actors.

The project examines the stated goal sets of municipal strategies and the measurement of development and the good life in all Finnish municipalities based on them. In addition, the analysis will be deepened using various qualitative methods approaches to address specific issues in a select number of municipalities. The project involves e.g. Kajaani, Kemiönsaari, Keuruu and Kuopio. The project is implemented in cooperation with Sami Tantarimäki and the Brahea Center at the University of Turku. Project implementation will take place from spring 2020 to autumn 2021.

The project is funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry on the proposal of a project group set up by the Rural Policy Council, with financing from the Rural Development Fund’s national rural research and development projects.

More information

Kaisa Lähteenmäki-Smith, leading specialist, MDI
kaisa.lahteenmaki-smith@mdi.fi
050 513 4810

Elina Auri, leading specialist, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
elina.auri@mmm.fi
029 516 2041

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