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— Can Well being Become an Evaluation Criterion for Public Action? — This article examines the conditions which are necessary so that well being may become an evaluation criterion for public action. As a result, it examines the policy, methodology and technical issues that would arise from the adoption of this perspective. These issues are analysed based on two questions that are raised: (1) measuring well being and (2) how to operationalise this strategy, meaning how it is transferred from socio economics into public action. The first part is addressed using quantitative and participatory methods for the construction of well being indicators, which is in turn based on two testing grounds: the Walloon region and the communauté d’agglomération of Grenoble Alpes Métropole. The second part examines how institutions and policies can employ this type of measurement. Is it possible to operationalise both the definition and the measurement of well being? The article does not claim to establish new general evaluation criteria, rather, it attempts to point out current trends that – although still in their experimental stage – are indeed beneficial. Without forgetting of course, the many methodological, political and ideological pitfalls that must be overcome...