‍Ease of Living Index: 111 cities in India‍

Predictions show India's urban expansion will grow at rates unseen before, leading to the government's proposal of an Ease of Living Index. In consortium with Ipsos and The Economist Intelligence Unit, Athena assessed 111 Indian cities on liveability. The Ease of Living Index is the first of its kind initiative globally, and ranks each city along 78 parameters set by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. It will serve as a baseline for future liveability assessments. The project boasts a "citizen-centric" approach to urban governance and planning, and will be used as an instrument for planning and policy reform. It will additionally assist with resource mobilization and allocation efforts, along with investment prioritization and management.

The index is unique in that it takes data from cities to assess quality of life. These cut across 4 key areas: institutional, social, economic, and physical. It will thereby enable cities to compete for talent and resources. The consortium visited all 111 cities, conducting 1,00,000+ perception surveys to assess service delivery and additionally validate city-level data. It also built a bespoke "Economist-Portal" that spatially maps the data and "livability ranking" outputs, offering a knowledge base for city managers. Finally, it delivered a white paper mapping use-case motivations of cities for the data. This will offer solutions to overcome data-interoperability concerns and practical recommendations to overcome data gaps.