What is ISO 37120?

As part of a new series of International Standards being developed for a holistic and integrated approach to sustainable development and resilience under TC268 Sustainable Development of Communities, ISO 37120 establishes a set of standardized indicators that provide a uniform approach to what is measured, and how that measurement is to be undertaken. This International Standard does not provide a value judgement, or numeric thresholds on what a particular city should choose as appropriate targets for the indicators. ISO 37120 defines and establishes definitions and methodologies for a set of indicators to steer and measure the performance of city services and quality of life.

Introduction

Cities need indicators to measure their performance. Existing indicators are often not standardized, consistent, or comparable over time or across cities.As part of a new series of International Standards being developed for a holistic and integrated approach to sustainable development and resilience, this set of standardized indicators provides a uniform approach to what is measured, and how that measurement is to be undertaken. As a list, it does not provide a value judgement, or threshold or a target numerical value for the indicators.Conformance with this standard does not confer a status in this regard. A city which conforms to this standard in regards to measurement of indicators for city services and quality of life may only claim compliance to that effect.These indicators can be used to track and monitor progress on city performance. In order to achieve sustainable development, the whole city system needs to be taken into consideration. Planning for future needs must take into consideration current use and efficiency of resources in order to better plan for tomorrow.The indicators and associated test methods in this International Standard have been developed in order to help cities:

• a) measure performance management of city services and quality of life over time;
• b) learn from one another by allowing comparison across a wide range of performance measures; and,
• c) share best practices.

NOTE It is acknowledged that cities may not have direct influence or control over factors governing some of these indicators, but the reporting is important for meaningful comparison and provides a general indication of service delivery and quality of life within a city.

The indicators in this International Standard have been selected to make reporting as simple and inexpensive as possible, and therefore reflect an initial platform for reporting. Further development of indicators to support sustainable development and resilience in cities is on-going in TC268.The indicators are structured around themes. Recognizing the differences in resources and capabilities of cities worldwide, the overall set of indicators for city performance has been divided into “core” indicators (those implementing this International Standard shall follow) and “supporting” indicators, (those implementing this International Standard should follow). Both core and supporting indicators are listed in Annex A, Table A.1. In addition, profile indicators, which provide basic statistics and background information to help cities determine which cities are of interest for comparisons, are included in Annex B, Table B.1, as a reference.In this International Standard, the following verbal forms are used:

• — “shall” indicates a requirement;
• — “should” indicates a recommendation;
• — “may” indicates a permission;
• — “can” indicates a possibility or a capability.

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This article was brought you by:

Stephane Metral | World Council onCity Data Series | December 12th., 2014 | Add me to your network and get a publishing alert for new public releases | Member at Smart Cities Council | Washington | USA

We envision a world where digital technology and intelligent design have been harnessed to create smart, sustainable cities with high-quality living and high-quality jobs.

We promote cities that embody our three core values:

• Livability: Cities that provide clean, healthy living conditions without pollution and congestion. With a digital infrastructure that makes city services instantly and conveniently available anytime, anywhere.
• Workability: Cities that provide the enabling infrastructure -- energy, connectivity, computing, essential services -- to compete globally for high-quality jobs.
• Sustainability: Cities that provide services without stealing from future generations.

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