Challenge
With the Aarhus Objectives, Aarhus City Council has set the overall direction for how Aarhus will develop over the coming years. Many of the objectives are operationalized through quantitative indicators such as growth in the number of inhabitants. But two of the objectives are softer and reflect the desire that all citizens of Aarhus must feel that the city is a good place for them to live and that everyone should have a sense of active citizenship. These objectives should also be monitored.
Approach
In close collaboration with the municipality and relevant stakeholders (e.g. the active citizenship committee), Epinion develops a method for taking the temperature of these two Aarhus objectives. In 2016, 2018 and 2020 Epinion completed comprehensive temperature checks based on phone and web surveys. In 2020 a major additional data collection was carried out in socially vulnerable residential areas in the municipality.
Resolution
A comprehensive report on the status of the Aarhus Objectives based on answers from more than 4.000 citizens of Aarhus Municipality selected thru representative sampling. Valid data for the municipality's overall target monitoring. At the same time, the analysis provides knowledge of what is important to the citizens of Aarhus – e.g. it shows that the many cultural activities, in particular, help make Aarhus an attractive city for its citizens.
