On 8 July 2026, the GOVQoL project organised a workshop during the Regional Mountain Conference in Obergurgl, Austria. The workshop, titled “Alpine-wide roadmap addressing the role of local governance for better quality of life – Insights from the Alps“, aimed to discuss the preparation of the roadmap that will be developed within the project. The workshop, organised by Pina Klara Petrović Jesenovec (UL), Cemre Betul Ay (Polito) and Maya Knevels (AidA), brought together researchers from across the Alps and beyond.
An introductory presentation on the project’s findings regarding quality of life, its governance, and the roadmap development process was followed by a discussion in which participants were invited to share their insights, comments and knowledge.
The participants discussed the following questions:
- Do you agree with the findings on the biggest factors currently affecting quality of life in Alpine municipalities?
- Which population groups are most affected (young people, older adults, commuters, seasonal workers, families, newcomers)?
- Which challenges are expected to become more significant over the next 10–15 years?
- Which measures could municipalities implement within the next 3–5 years?
- Which measures provide the greatest benefit with limited resources?
- What barriers could prevent implementation, and how might they be overcome?
- What are realistic ways to measure progress (indicators, monitoring)?
Despite many challenges being shared across the Alps, municipalities have different capacities, resources and local contexts in which to address them. Therefore, participants highlighted the importance of addressing quality of life topics at the local level.
Identifying local priorities for the Alpine arc
Participants identified the integration of newcomers as an increasingly important issue, highlighting the need to strengthen both physical and digital connectivity while supporting community integration. Housing affordability, changing community dynamics (newcomers, ageing populations, youth outmigration and tourism development), and maintaining local services were also recognised as major challenges likely to become even more significant in the coming years.
First steps should be practical and simple
Creating welcoming public spaces, encouraging intergenerational interaction, supporting local initiatives and volunteering, and strengthening opportunities for participation were all recognised as practical and not overly demanding measures. Participants agreed that municipalities often lack the capacity to implement comprehensive monitoring systems and emphasised the need for simple, practical indicators, as well as the potential of innovative and participatory approaches to monitoring quality of life. Participants highlighted the importance of providing municipalities with flexible tools and guidance that they can adapt to their own capacities, priorities and local contexts.
The workshop insights will contribute to the further development of the Alpine roadmap, supporting Alpine municipalities in integrating quality of life more effectively into local governance (due before December 2026)
In the meantime, if you want to know more about GOVQoL:
- You can browse through our practical handbook
- And stay tuned to register to our final conference which will take place in Grassau/Germany on December 2nd, 2026!
Photo credits: Pina Klara Petrović Jesenovec, Cemre Betul Ay and Maya Knevels