Happy City Alliance officially inaugurated in the UK Parliament
During a meeting at the UK Parliament in Westminster on 20 March 2026, we officially inaugurated the new Happy City Alliance programme.
“The Happy City Alliance is built not only on evidence and comparable data, but also on the experience, judgment and commitment of a global research community.”
The launch of the Happy City Alliance marks an important new step in the development of the wider Happy City Index ecosystem. The programme has been created to recognise cities that set strong standards in sustainable urban development and quality of life, while also creating space for a more community-driven perspective on urban progress.
At the point of inauguration, selected cities from the Gold group were invited to join the programme. The first cities to enter the Happy City Alliance through this pathway are London and Munich.
At the same time, we want the Alliance to be shaped not only by structured data and verified indicators, but also by the people who work directly with cities through the Happy City Index. For this reason, the programme includes a community-driven pathway based on nominations and voting by our global research network.
Gold Cities invited to the programme
London
Invited to join the Happy City Alliance as a selected city from the Gold group, reflecting its strong position within the Happy City Index framework.
Munich
Invited to join the Happy City Alliance as a selected city from the Gold group. Munich also emerged as the overall winner, reinforcing its position as a city seen as setting a standard for quality of life.
A community-driven pathway shaped by researchers
The Alliance goes beyond data alone. Our global researchers nominated cities they believed stood out not only in measurable outcomes, but also in the overall direction, ambition and credibility of their urban development.
In total, researchers nominated 18 cities from among those they had analysed. This was followed by an online vote open exclusively to researchers contributing to the Happy City Index. Based on this vote, the research community selected the following cities for inclusion in the programme.
What this means for the programme
The Happy City Alliance is designed to connect rigorous urban analysis with the perspective of a global research community. It recognises cities through two complementary routes: invitation from the Gold group and community selection by Happy City Index researchers. In this way, the programme reflects both evidence-based performance and the lived, contextual understanding of people engaged in city-level research across the world.
