Maria de Vine at WUF13 talks on global initiative to assess quality of life in cities

The Quality of Life Initiative aims to shape a human-centric approach to urban development and well-being assessment that goes beyond traditional economic indicators, the Global Coordinator - Programme Management Officer of the Quality of Life Initiative of the UN-Habitat Country Programme in Saudi Arabia, Marija De Wijn, said at the event "From Commitments to Impact - Joint Comprehensive Improvement of Quality of Life in Cities" within the framework of WUF13 in Baku, Report informs.

According to her, the initiative is implemented by UN-Habitat with funding from Saudi Arabia and is aimed at developing and implementing a Quality of Life Index, which has already been tested and implemented in cities around the world.

"The key goal of the initiative is to advance a global human-centered agenda, as well as to strengthen the approach that goes beyond GDP as an indicator for assessing development," she said.

She noted that the Quality of Life Index is aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, making it possible to assess the contribution of global goals to improving living conditions at the local level.

De Wijn emphasized that an important feature of the index is the combination of objective and subjective quality of life indicators, since people's perceptions play a key role in assessing well-being.