The University of Murcia, within the framework of the international EuWIGeN network—comprising 11 European universities and led by the University itself—organises the 1st International Symposium “Infrastructures for Everyday Life, Social Well-being and New Metrics for Public Decision-Making”, which will take place in Murcia from June 11 to 12, 2026.

The symposium will place particular emphasis on the concept of “infrastructures for everyday life”, encompassing everything from essential services—such as healthcare, education, and transport—to public, cultural, and digital spaces that shape our daily lives. All of this will be approached from a perspective focused on social sustainability and quality of life.

In addition, the WIGI Index (Well-being and Infrastructure from a Gender Perspective Index) will be presented—an innovative indicator developed by the University of Murcia that enables the measurement of the real impact of infrastructures on people’s well-being. This tool, already recognised internationally, provides new insights for designing more efficient, inclusive, and results-oriented public policies.

This symposium not only opens up new lines of research but also proposes concrete solutions to improve public decision-making, positioning itself as an international benchmark in building a fairer, more sustainable, and people-centred development model.

Approach and Innovative Contributions

Research conducted within the EuWIGeN framework links public infrastructures to everyday life and proposes a new development indicator. Although these policies involve significant investment and have long-term effects, they have traditionally been treated as technical and neutral, overlooking their social impact.

This approach demonstrates that factors such as gender, income, age, place of residence, and care responsibilities shape access to and use of infrastructures, directly influencing well-being.

Thus, infrastructures are understood as key determinants of well-being, economic activity, and social cohesion, incorporating the concept of social sustainability: their capacity to sustain life under conditions of accessibility, safety, and balance.

From this perspective—still emerging and pioneering—a broad view is adopted that includes both physical and social infrastructures (such as education, healthcare, transport, public spaces, and telecommunications). This allows them to be analysed not only as economic support systems, but as the foundation of well-being and everyday quality of life.

Contents and Implementation of the Symposium

The symposium will be structured over two scientific days (11–12 June 2026) and one strategic day (13 June 2026), combining:

• Keynote lectures by international experts
• Thematic panels on infrastructure and well-being
• Dialogue spaces between public administrations and academia
• Presentations of ongoing research, both by members of the research team and external researchers working in these fields
• The content will address, among other aspects:
• The impact of infrastructure on economic activity through its role in facilitating access to the labour market, physical and mental health, education, social relationships, leisure and, ultimately, quality of life
• The relationship between mobility, time-use organisation and productivity
• The role of public services in the efficiency of the economic system
• Citizens’ perceptions of well-being and their measurement
• Safety and the use of public space