OECD presentation on Well Being in Danish Cities - Overview: 1. Why and how to measure well-being in cities 2. What are the city-regions in Denmark? 3. How do Danish city-regions fare in terms of people’s well-being? 4. How can well-being metrics be used for policy-making? For more information, see the publication Well-being in Danish Cities http://www.oecd.org/gov/well-being-in-danish-cities-9789264265240-en.htm

1. WELL BEING IN DANISH CITIES
Measuring local well-being for
policymaking
7 November 2016

2. Outline
2
1. Why and how to measure well-being in cities
2. What are the city-regions in Denmark?
3. How do Danish city-regions fare in terms of people’s
well-being?
4. How can well-being metrics be used for policy-making?

3. Why look at well-being at local level?
A framework for measuring local well-being
3
- Measures well-being where
people live (the importance of the
scale e.g. functional urban areas or
city-regions)
- Focus on outcomes rather than
output
- Multidimensionality
- Focus on distributions of
outcomes
- Assess how well-being changes
over time (resilience, sustainability)
- It considers that well-being can be
manageable to change by citizens,
governance and institutions
Main features

4. What are the city regions in Denmark?
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• City-regions in Denmark
• 58% of national
population (2016)
• 61% of national
employment (2014)

5. Since 2000, disposable household income has
been growing in all Danish cities, most quickly in
Copenhagen and Aarhus.
5
Aarhus also shows the fastest increase in tertiary educational
attainment of its working-age inhabitants.
Equivalised household disposable income (US$ constant 2010 prices and PPP)

6. Income inequality has been rising driven by faster
growth in the top 20% of the income distribution.
6

7. Labour participation higher than OECD average, but
stagnating since the economic crisis, with Odense showing the fastest
decline
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72%
74%
76%
78%
80%
82%
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Labour force as a % of working
age population
Copenhagen Aarhus Odense Aalborg Esbjerg OECD (282)
Copenhagen
Esbjerg
Aalborg
Aarhus
Odense
OECD cities (282)

8. Unemployment is concentrated in the cores,
with the highest gap between the core and the commuting zone observed
in Esbjerg and Aarhus.
8
1
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
1.9
Esbjerg Aarhus Copenhagen Aalborg Odense
2003 2013
Ratio between the unemployment rate in the
cores and in the commuting zones

9. Exposure to violent crimes is higher in the cores
than in the commuting zones, despite the generally high safety levels of
the cities.
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0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
Copenhagen Odense Aarhus Esbjerg Aalborg Rest of Denmark
Number of victims of violent crime
per 100 000 inhabitants
Core Commuting zone

10. Life expectancy is not homogeneous within cities
Differences across municipalities within the same city-region can go up to
more than 5 years (Copenhagen)
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11. Life expectancy tends to be higher in municipalities with
higher median income (and larger population), on
average
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Median income in 2010 and life expectancy at birth (2011-14)

12. Spatial segregation by income is stronger among
the poorest households, a pattern similar to that
found for Dutch cities.
12

13. How can well-being metric be used for policy-making?
An update of the web-tool for an user-friendly visualisation of well-being conditions in
OECD regions has been released in the Summer
www.oecdregionalwellbeing.org

14. 14
Translate well-being
objectives into
policy-relevant
indicators
Select indicators
Identify baselines
and expected results
Monitor progress
and potential of places
Foster citizen
engagement
and communication
Information,
consultation
and participation
How can well-being metric be used for policy-making?
The starting point of this well-being
measurement cycle varies across regions,
according to the specific objective of
measuring well-being and who is leading
the process.
Regional well-being measurement cycle: A possible sequencing of steps

15. • State of Morelos, Mexico:
– Clear well-being targets integrated in the state development plan
– Complementarities between well-being dimensions addressed in the metrics
• Northern Netherlands, the Netherlands:
– Involvement of the academic community allowed the development of sophisticated
regional well-being indicators to be used by policy makers
• City of Genoa, Italy:
– Political debate involving the local governments, civil society, trade unions, and social
enterprises around a dashboard of well-being indicators
• City of Newcastle, United Kingdom:
– National mandate to highlight integrated and life-long approach to health and well-
being
– Measure the “right” things and combine good health service provision with low health
status
Examples of other local well-being initiatives at
subnational level
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16. Objectives
Geographic scale
Strategies
Distribution
Governance
How to adopt a well-being (and inclusive) approach in policy making for cities
Fostering both growth and equity
Different scales (neighbourhoods,
cities, metropolitan areas) also
functional urban areas
Multi-sectoral approach
Support well-being of all social
groups
Collaboration among levels of
government, citizens, private and
public stakeholders

17. • Gather a solid evidence base of outcome indicators on the different
aspects of people’s lives
• Build partnerships among stakeholders around common strategic
projects
• Target policy interventions on the right geographical scale (which
can range from neighbourhood scale to the metropolitan scale)
• Make sure that participatory processes are truly inclusive
• Tap innovative sources of financing
From design to implementation