“People living in a large city are more satisfied with public transport, but those living in smaller cities feel safer when walking alone at night.”

Can you trust your local city administration? How easy is it to get a job? How welcoming to refugees and inclusive of minorities such as LGBTI.

These were essentially some of the questions essentially asked to more than 58,000 Europeans in 83 cities for the European Commission’s ‘Report on the Quality of Life in European Cities, 2020’. One clear outcome of the report is to emphasise the role of cities in the EU’s broader strategic agendas. Achieving the SDGs, the 2030 agenda, the Urban Agenda for the EU and the European Pillar of Social Rights needs buy-in from cities.

But in 2020 the report also has a renewed focus on listening to citizens and understanding how they feel about life.

The report makes clear that many disparities still exist across Europe: people living in Northern Europe are the most satisfied with how their city is run, but satisfaction in Eastern cities is rising rapidly.

Certainly, there is still a lot to do, and Eurocities can play a strong role in sharing knowledge between cities.

Read the report here.