About the project
Hot or Cool has argued since 2023 that we will only truly go Beyond GDP when a) we are able to identify a handful of headline indicators to replace or complement GDP, rather than relying on unwieldy and hard-to-interpret dashboards and b) when citizens are involved in selecting indicators, ensuring greater democratic legitimacy and public support. In 2024 we launched the Charter for People’s Measures of Societal Success.
We’re putting these ideas into practice in Kerava, a town in Finland near Helsinki, creating the world’s first-ever citizen-led set of headline indicators, involving a genuinely representative group of 30-40 residents – information in Finnish available on Kerava website. The residents, chosen by sortition (democratic lottery), will meet over three evenings, contemplate, listen to experts, talk with policy-makers, discuss their definitions of a good life, and set their priorities in order to identify the five most important components. With input from statisticians, we’ll then help the Residents’ Panel select an indicator to measure each of these components.
Kerava municipality has committed to considering the panel’s recommendations seriously and providing a formal response, with the aim of using them to report on their Wellbeing Strategy.
A Residents' Panel for your city?
We don’t intend to stop in Kerava. We think that every city, and indeed country, should involve citizens in the central task of defining the good life/prosperity. Only then will there be a clear mandate to move beyond GDP. And, in a world facing multiple challenges and increasing polarisation, we are convinced that bringing citizens together is the best way to highlight that we have so much common ground. If you think your city or town would benefit from a Residents’ Panel to go beyond GDP, then contact us!
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