The global community seeks solutions for integral wellbeing, addressing both people and the planet to achieve a sustainable future (UN, 2015). However, the good life and human flourishing (eudaimonia), are not new topics in the literature (Francesconi et al., 2022). Quality of life policies already started in 2005 with the creation of the first statistical index to evaluate dimensions of wellbeing. This marks a shift in socio-economic paradigms from the economic-based approach towards alternative approaches. In this direction, local policies are undergoing transformative processes, such as Smart City Policies that aim to improve quality of life by increasing the efficiency of urban operations and services, meeting the needs of present and future generations (UNECE, 2020). In a systemic and integrative view, cities are socio-ecological and complex adaptive systems consisting of many interrelated systems (Folke et al., 2016). Cities allow people to extend their learning beyond the classroom, in a kind of life-wide education, initiating generative and transformative processes addressed to shape a learning city (Méndez & Sánchez Moral, 2010). The “cities-based” approach recognizes the central role of education to enhance integral wellbeing and quality of life (UNECE, 2020). Against this backdrop, the responsibility must be shared across a community network and among diverse agents beyond school. This process entails the implementation of educational initiatives outside of the traditional school environment. The purpose of these initiatives is twofold: firstly, to encourage community learning (Dingyloudi & Strijbos, 2020); and secondly, to facilitate the comprehensive development of both citizens and the city as a whole (Felt & Sepehr, 2024; Stoll & Kools, 2017).

The present research study is included in a research project founded by a national science fund project (anonymized for the submission), which addresses to systematize the main theories of quality of life in educational sciences and co-develop a pedagogical model with in-service and future teachers for teaching quality of life within schools and communities. The Smart Climate City Vienna Strategy (Vienna Municipal Administration, 2022) has a broader view of the Smart City concept instead of mere achievement of energy efficiency and technological-digital implementation (Fernandez-Anez et al., 2018). Indeed, every target area combines all three pillars of the first version of the strategy (resources, quality of life, and innovation). However, policy documents lack explicit guidelines for the implementation of participatory processes linked to quality of life (Felt & Sepehr, 2024). Therefore, it is necessary to identify the pedagogical approaches, drivers, and bottlenecks involved to enhance integral wellbeing within cities. In a first attempt to address this gap, this proposal aims to investigate the international literature on quality of life education related to city- and community-based approaches.

The multifaceted nature of learning cities is intrinsically linked to a plethora of theoretical underpinnings, encompassing community-based learning, situated learning, communities of practice, and socio-ecological systems (Dingyloudi & Strijbos, 2020; Folke at al., 2016). Therefore, a systematic literature review was conducted by integrating the previous concepts with quality of life, wellbeing, health, and happiness. We present the findings by synthetizing the main pedagogical approaches implemented to develop transformative processes addressed to quality of life within cities, highlighting agents and practices which could foster or hinder them. This work offers guidelines for local initiatives implementation and suggestions for future research in interdisciplinary fields which aim to foster quality of life beyond school contexts, contributing to extend contemporary reflections on these topics and identifying future pathways to empower people and communities to achieve integral wellbeing and sustainable development.

A systematic literature review in line with the PRISMA guidelines (Liberati et al., 2009) was conducted across the scientific databases WoS, Scopus, and ERIC within the fields of Educational and Social Research. Due to the extended literature on the research topic and the variety and complexity of the related approaches and theoretical frameworks, we included different keywords in order to reflect the Viennese case study, such as community-based learning, situated learning, communities of practice, and socio-ecological systems; integrating them with the following concepts: quality of life, wellbeing, health, and happiness. To enable a structured comparison of the selected papers, we established the following inclusion criteria: Sources must be peer-reviewed, in English, relevant to the educational field, and focused on life-wide learning and non-formal education implemented among schools and the local territories. Once duplicates were removed from the dataset, parallel screening was conducted by the project team researchers, carefully evaluating the title, abstract, and keywords of each paper. The final set of papers was analyzed in full and coded through MAXQDA software, according to the following research questions: • What is the temporal and geographical distribution of the publications? • Who are the primary authors, and what does the co-citation network reveal? • What pedagogical approaches emerged in the literature linked to quality of life education within a community? • What are the drivers and bottlenecks that enable the implementation of these transformative processes? We conducted text and content analyses using qualitative and quantitative methods (Creswell & Creswell, 2022; Cohen et al., 2018) to offer an overview of the international frameworks that can support community development concerning quality of life education. Following this, we compared the Viennese case study with international literature, thereby providing a framework for policymakers to enhance integral wellbeing within the city.

Education in the Anthropocene demands innovative and interdisciplinary approaches to face the increasingly multifaced challenges (Wallenhorst, 2023). Furthermore, it is essential to create learning opportunities outside formal systems such as schools and universities to deal with contemporary challenges. Through our presentation, we emphasize that the city environment can be understood not only as a medium between subject and learning, rather as an embodiment of the personal lifeworld which co-develops with citizens (Varela et al., 2016). Thus, we aim to contribute to contemporary reflections on quality of life and community-based approaches, identifying future pathways to empower people and communities to achieve integral wellbeing and sustainable development. This research offers guidelines for local initiatives implementation and suggestions for future research in interdisciplinary fields which aim to foster quality of life in out-of-school educational initiatives. Finally, we explore the differing interpretations of the broad concepts of quality of life, wellbeing, happiness, and health that are useful to deeply understand their connections with sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda 2030 (UN, 2015).

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