On June 24, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) held a webinar focusing on ISO 37120, Sustainable development of communities -- Indicators for city services and quality of life, the first standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) technical committee (TC) 268, Sustainable development in communities. [related news item] The first in a series of monthly webinars by the new ANSI Network on Smart and Sustainable Cities (ANSSC) [related news item], the event drew an international audience of some 70 participants representing cities, counties, provincial and federal government agencies, professional societies, universities, think tanks, NGOs, and corporations.
The webinar featured Patricia McCarney and Helen Ng of the Global City Indicators Facility (GCIF) and the newly formed World Council on City Data (WCCD), who explained that ISO 37120 will help to drive international homogeny on city indicators. ISO 37120 is a demand-led international standard driven and developed by cities, for cities. The WCCD plans to pilot test the new standard in the coming months. Interested cities may apply to take part in the WCCD initiative by signing and returning an expression of interest form. A second ISO/TC 268 standard in development, ISO 37121, will define additional indicators related to sustainable development and resilience in cities.
The last half hour of the webinar was devoted to discussion of related topics including remarks from Graham Colclough, chair of the newly launched ISO Technical Management Board (TMB) advisory group (AG) on smart cities, which is aiming to develop a strategic roadmap of relevant and needed standards [related news item]. The ANSSC will function as a sounding board that will support ANSI's appointed experts to the ISO TMB AG on smart cities. The ANSSC is also tracking and will be featuring in the coming months other smart and sustainable cities activities described in its directory of initiatives.
Additional information about the ANSSC can be found at www.ansi.org/cities. Registration by June 30 includes a 10% discount on the participation fee.
Those who missed the webinar or wish to share it more broadly can do so by accessing the full webinar recording or just the slide deck.