Some research and studies exists related to quality of life and well-being. The work mentioned under Section 1.1 so far does not yet provide sufficient evidence and knowledge about the territorial dimension of quality of life at regional level and its possible integration in future EU territorial cohesion policy and in national, regional and local territorial development strategies. The service provider should be knowledgeable about the main work and initiatives developed on this topic and use that as a starting point for the implementation of this service contract. In general, it will be important to take into account current ongoing research projects and studies related to quality of life and initiatives to collect, produce and visualise indicators in order to avoid overlaps or a low relevance of the results. The following tasks, which are interconnected and interdependent, shall be carried out within the framework of this service contract: Task 1: Establishment of an Advisory Group in cooperation with EUROSTAT, the OECD and the UN The service provider in close cooperation with the ESPON EGTC should establish an advisory group with 8-12 experts aimed at supporting the implementation of this service contract. Representatives from EUROSTAT, the OECD, the UN should be invited to join the advisory group. The membership of the advisory group should be agreed with the ESPON EGTC. During the life-time of this service contract, the service provider in close cooperation with the ESPON EGTC should convey 3 meetings of the Advisory Group. The experts participating and involved in the already existing expert groups on this topic should be addressed and invited to be part of the Advisory Group such as the Quality of Life Expert Group established by EUROSTAT, as well as the High-Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress (HLEG) from the OECD and UN. The tender should include ideas on the networking activities and cooperation to be developed with EUROSTAT, OECD and UN including workshops or joint publications keeping in mind that the main objective of the service contract in exploring the territorial dimension of quality of life and in policy implementation. In this context, overlapping and duplication of work with ongoing or planned activities by other institutions shall be avoided. The main objective of this task is to involve producers, users and stakeholders at different geographical levels to investigate and possibly improve data quality, to support indicator work and ensure the practical use and applicability of the outcomes of this service contract. The tender submitted should include already ideas and proposals on the implementation of this concrete task.Task 2: Gathering and updating data, indicators and evidence related to quality of life at regional level. Within this task the service provider is requested to complement the work already done by EUROSTAT, the OECD and the UN and gather data, indicators and evidence related to measuring quality of life at regional level by considering the diversity of European territories and its possible impact on the perception of quality of life and well-being. In this context, it might also be fruitful to consider the ways in which European integration and better cross-border linkages provide potential added value for quality of life (by developing trust and enhancing connectivity). The result of this task will be data and indicators gathered and evidence obtained regarding current territorial patterns, progress and changes in quality of life at regional level and an assessment of the links between various quality-of-life domains for European regions and cities in Europe. The dimensions used by the OECD (income, jobs, housing, health, access to services, environment, education, safety, civic engagement and governance, community, and life satisfaction) and by EUROSTAT (material living conditions; productive or main activity (covering employment); health; education; leisure and social interactions; economic and physical safety; governance and basic rights; natural and living environment; and overall life satisfaction) shall be considered. An overview of the data availability considering the various dimensions/domains, sub-topics, sources, geographical coverage, frequency, timeliness, breakdowns available and quality should be produced and in cases of data gaps alternative but scientifically sound solutions to gather missing data should be proposed by using for example social media or big data. In relation to data issues and the intention to cover the entire ESPON space at regional level (preferably NUTS 3 depending on data availability), this service contract should also cover quality of life in cities based on the OECD metropolitan areas (functional urban areas with more than 500’000 inhabitants) and the rural/urban typology from EUROSTAT. In this context, pragmatic and innovative solutions in terms of data work should also be considered, focusing on deliverables and maintaining a reasonable cost-benefit balance in terms of data gathering and production. At the same time, activities that generate statistical outputs, enhance the statistical base or further develop underlying concepts and methods shall be identified. Considering the complexity and multi-dimension aspect of the topic it is also important to consider alternative data sources as such big data and qualitative information such as surveys that could enable a more detailed measurement of the quality of life domains at regional level. Objective and subjective indicators and perceptions to quality of life need to be considered and possible relation between domains and indicators need to be analysed and considered. The tender submitted should include a brief reflection and assessment on the data situation and feasibility in terms of data collection for the ESPON space at different levels and by using innovative data sources if necessary and/or relevant. Task 3: Propose and develop a methodology for measuring quality of life at regional level (preferable NUTS 3). This methodology should build on the work already done and not duplicate what is already measured by EUROSTAT, the OECD and the UN and it should apply to different types of territories and to different geographical scales (including cross-border and transnational if feasible).The methodology should be developed including qualitative and quantitative indicators, as well as innovative sources of information as described in task 2, and should be tested and validated allowing for applying different weightings or calibrations for the various dimensions of quality of life. This should allow for better integration of the territorial context in the measurement of quality of life. For instance, the weighting given to a certain dimension in rural regions might be different than in urban regions. Several studies have analysed and looked at quality of life from a national perspective. Less is known however on quality of life in European regions, metropolitan areas and urban and rural regions. For instance, rural regions may highlight those dimensions most relevant to their territory and play a significant role to their quality of life, which might be different from urban regions. In this context, besides European and international initiatives, national, regional and local experiences in developing and choosing quality of life indicators and measurements should be considered. In this process, proposals for headline and supplementary indicators for each of the dimensions should also be considered and their relationship with demographic, socio-economic indicators, as well as cultural aspects. The choice of which indicators to choose as headline indicators should be based on various factors such as their political, technical and communication utility.It should be clear, that the proposed indicators do not have a prescriptive character, but should provide qualified information to policy processes towards quality of life. Within this task, recommendations on adjustments to be done to the methodology for measuring quality of life at regional level to be able to measure/access data on quality of life down to smaller regions than NUTS 3, like LAU-1 and LAU-2 shall also be made. This is particularly relevant for small countries in Europe where NUTS 2 corresponds to the national level. The advisory group should be consulted and provide feedback in relation to the methodology proposed and the results of the testing. Task 4: Mapping and analysing quality of life in European regions, metropolitan areas and urban and rural regions. Within this task an in-depth analysis on quality of life in Europe at sub-national level shall be carried out based on the data, indicators and evidence gathered and the methodology developed in the previous tasks. The following main questions should be considered in this task: what is the territorial dimension of quality of life? How does quality of life relate to economic growth, the environment, governance, social aspects? What territorial patterns and disparities can be identified and how did they develop throughout time? How can these aspects be visualised and mapped? In addition, the service provider is also asked to make a screening and reflect on how quality of life has been considered by policymakers at different geographical levels when designing and implementing territorial development strategies and in policy implementation. The aim with this approach is to feed into task 5 and 6 and to investigate how quality of life can be better integrated in the future in policy processes and strategies. Regarding the territorial dimensions of quality of life, the service provider is asked to provide new insights into the main factors related to it; how it has been progressing throughout time; how it relates to territorial cohesion and development; which policies and actions seemed to have an impact on it (based on the screening previously carried out). In this context, socio-economic, demographic and territorial factors should be taken into account and considered in the analysis, as well as the relevance of objective and subjective indicators.Task 5: Carry out minimum 5 case studies to identify good practices in integrating quality of life measurements in national, regional and local territorial development strategies. Minimum five case studies should be carried out with the aim to analyse good practices in considering and integrating quality of life measurements in national, regional and local strategies, including also successful participative processes. Moreover, the case studies should complement the approach developed in the previous tasks. It should identify examples of good practice in considering quality of life as a factor to increase competitiveness and territorial development in European regions (urban and rural) and metropolitan areas.The final selection of the case studies should be based on the preliminary results of task 4 and consider different territorial contexts but the tender should already present a rationale or first ideas on the selection. The case study regions will be proposed by the contractor in the interim report and approved by the ESPON EGTC. The tender should include a first proposal on the case studies to be carried out.Task 6: Developing recommendations on the integration of quality of life measurements in policy implementation. European policies, such as Cohesion Policy, play a specific role with regards to quality of life. Cohesion Policy may result in increased quality of life due to direct investment in less favorable regions and in reducing regional disparities. However, it is normally through national, regional and local actions in the Member States that quality of life can be addressed and implemented on the ground. However, further steps also can also be taken in the context of future Cohesion Policy to integrate indicators and measurements of quality of life. Within this task the service provider is asked to develop recommendations to support policy makers at local, regional, national and European levels on how measures related to quality of life and well-being in Europe, its cities and regions can be promoted and achieved in practice by taking into consideration the diversity of the European territory in terms of socio-economic, cultural and environmental endowments but also demographic factors such as ageing and population structure. In this context is should include recommendations for rural policy, urban policy, and cohesion policy and reflect on how can regions and cities use a place-based approach and territorial cooperation to promote quality of life. In addition, recommendations for national, regional and local policymakers based on good practices on how can quality of life be better integrated in territorial development strategies should be developed.