London Wellbeing and Sustainability Measure (development work)

The Mayor of London committed to developing a London Wellbeing and Sustainability Measure in his 2021 manifesto. This was to help measure London’s success as a place to live and work for all its residents. It would counteract the fact that, for years, London’s success has been mostly measured only in terms of its material wealth. 

GLA City Intelligence led the development of this measure of wellbeing and sustainability. It brings together data on the multiple aspects of our lives that form the basis of our collective wellbeing. This enables us to track which aspects of our lives are getting better over time and focus on the areas that need improvement.

The London Wellbeing and Sustainability Framework was developed through a review of frameworks used by other cities, liaising with likely users of the measure to understand how it could inform their work, and by conducting in-depth qualitative research with a range of Londoners to ensure it reflects the things that matter to people.

From this, City Intelligence produced a draft framework, a qualitative research report based on research with Londoners between December 2021 and January 2022, and a community engagement report based on roundtables with community groups in January 2022.

Following this, in August 2022, City Intelligence produced a draft proposal for a measure, which included a document setting out the work undertaken so far and how this had led to the proposals, and a document providing further supporting detail on the recommended data for the measure.

In January 2023, City Intelligence held a key stakeholder consultation involving boroughs and London organisations to refine its proposal and finalise the draft framework.

You can download detailed reports below on this participatory research process we underwent with Londoners.

In October 2023, City Intelligence officially launched the London Wellbeing and Sustainability Measure . This followed an intensive period of data collation of a wide array of London's data on wellbeing, which we have made available via the Data Explorer tool .

If you have any questions regarding the London Wellbeing and Sustainability Measure, please get in touch by sending an email to socialevidence@london.gov.uk.