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In this article, a proposal for the evaluation of the quality of life in local environments is presented from the bibliographic and documentary review of the most outstanding work. Taking as a good example the province of Segovia (Spain), a field survey is methodologically designed to integrate the most commonly social and subjective variables collected in surveys with the issues related to the spatial analysis. This is an innovative tool to measure the quality of life at the "geographical level", the results of which might be of great interest for the formulation and evaluation of public policies associated to the territory uniqueness and the specific population needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study, assessment and design of social policies related to welfare have usually focused on material and economic indicators. However, some recent studies argue for the inclusion of subjective indicators to cater for aspects traditionally relegated to families private lives, such as care or the perception of happiness. According to this background, and from a perspective that seeks to integrate contributions of two social sciences such as sociology and geography, this paper aims a critical review of the scientific literature on subjective well-being, considering the sphere of care and taking welfare as a key element, and also a review of the available indicators. The final objective of this proposal would be to provide justifications and methodological keys, in order to integrate variables of care and territory in welfare analysis. To facilitate this review, we take the European geographical space as a field of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]