City metrics and Sustainable Development Goals

Summary

We will develop a new set of high level city metrics for all stakeholders to aim towards a fairer, happier and more sustainable city. This will help us move away from relying solely on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - a high level economic growth indicator - as the headline measure of our success. The work already done by Bristol-based Happy City Initiative, along with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), provide useful frameworks and tools for developing a new, inclusive set of Bristol metrics. These need to be developed and agreed with a wide range of city partners so that they can then be used as the basis for designing and evaluating future city policies and programmes across different organisations and policy areas. They can also be used to raise public awareness and as a mechanism to anchor the city’s international engagement.