In November 2021 the ‘Atlas on Quality of life in Slovenia’ was issued in the framework of cooperation between ESPON EGTC, Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and Slovenian Presidency to the Council of the EU. Atlas preparation followed the conceptual map developed by ESPON and presented in the ESPON policy brief on the Quality of Life, summarizing the evidence from ESPON research and proving that it can be measured at different territorial levels.
The ESPON approach used in the Atlas provided a framework for measuring territorial quality of life that bridges the theoretical concept and policymaking on various territorial scales. A total of 40 indicators were used in the atlas, comparing Slovenian regions in the European and macroregional frames, and comparing Slovenian regions and municipalities with each other. Indicators were included in the Dashboard, a tool that helps decisionmakers calculate the territorial quality of life for their regions. In such wise the Dashboard provided composite indexes at the level of subdomains, domains, and dimensions, as well as the final territorial quality of life index.
The ‘Atlas on Quality of life in Slovenia’ shows usefulness of the Quality of life assessment with ESPON approach for decision makers and for those acting in the field of spatial planning. Nevertheless, the ESPON approach brings some challenges. One of them relates to indicators: if carefully chosen and interpreted, they bring relevant information at the lowest territorial level which can be discussed thoroughly during policy development processes. However, possibility to use tailor-made indicators for a specific territorial level or framework, offered by the ESPON approach, makes a comparability of the data among different countries less suitable.
You can learn more about the ‘Atlas on Quality of life in Slovenia’ here.