When I am assisting clients with analysis and planning for economic development the concept of “quality of life” repeatedly comes up as a factor that influences decisions to locate and expand.  It is often mentioned as one of the top factors in interviews and surveys of business owners and workers when discussing where they desire to live, work, and grow a business.  In turn, quality of life is therefore touted by economic development professionals as a key asset of their community, region, or state within their economic development marketing efforts.  

In the course of this work I have learned that while there is much commonality in the importance of quality of life as a factor, there is much difference and often ambiguity in what characterizes a place with a “high quality of life”.  For some it is arts, culture, and great restaurants.  For others it is outdoor recreation, sporting venues, or parks.  For others, it is some combination of these along with other characteristics.  More than 20 years ago, I had a wise colleague who was heading a regional vision effort who said that to some a high quality of life is being five minutes from good pizza and for others it is the peace and seclusion of owing ten or more acres of land and the problem is, you can’t have both!

I too have come to find that there is no one right set of events, venues, activities, or physical characteristics that capture what most people mean when they mention quality of life in economic development.  Rather, it is better understood by how easily people can interact with these assets and as a result how easily and readily they can the make a difference in improving their own lives and their communities.   This is evidenced by the use of words and phrases that accompany the specific asset when mentioned by interviewees, participants, and survey respondents in the course of economic development planning  and include words such as: available, accessible, affordable, approachable, and manageable.

So what does this mean for economic developers and economic development strategy?  It means that simply highlighting the many physical assets that are present or nearby in your community and region within your collateral materials is not enough to achieve results.  Rather you must demonstrate that these assets can be easily accessed and utilized by the average worker, resident, or business for improving their lives and improving their communities.  Following this through to specific economic development marketing tactics, this means examples, stories, and testimonials by persons who have utilized the assets is preferable to simple lists, photos and catalogues of the assets themselves.