Well-Being Cities and Territorial Government Tools: Relationships and Interdependencies

At the end of the 1970s, Manuel Castells theorized the concept of a “city of well-being” within what was defined as the “new urban question”. What differentiates the condition of contemporary cities and territories from the second half of the last century is the emergence of environmental issues, related to the climate crisis, which add to those of social revitalization, cultural and economic valorisation of the city, and which call for the need to identify new indicators to build the public city and achieve a new urban welfare. In this context of reference, this contribution aims to investigate the relationship between quality of life and quality of the urban environment, through a critical examination of the Urban Development Plan (STEP 2025) of Vienna, named for the tenth time “most liveable city in the world”. This is to define theoretical-methodological and operational references for the actualization of new indicators/requirements/standards of urban welfare, exportable and applicable to different territorial contexts, which provide both quantitative and performance criteria, useful to integrate/innovate strategies, plans, programs, and normative/regulatory apparatuses from the perspective of sustainable development and ecological-environmental regeneration of the contemporary city. The article introduces an initial set of urban welfare indicators, adopting a systemic approach with the aim to emphasize the close relationship between urban well-being, environmental sustainability, and social inclusion while charting new trajectories for urban planning development.