Manila achieves ISO certification for cities

While most of us are aware of ISO standards and recognise the certification when businesses promote it, a lesser known fact is that ISO certification is available not just for organisations but also for cities.

In November, Makati City in the metropolitan Manila area joined cities such as London, Boston, Amsterdam, Dubai and Toronto in being awarded ISO 37120 – the ISO standard for world cities.

This ISO certification for cities introduces common standards for urban areas that measure the quality of life in the city, focusing on the environment and the local government’s provision of services.

Makati City successfully completed 98 out of 100 indicators and was awarded ISO 37120 certification in November.

The indicators encompass 17 themes measuring aspects of the city’s operation such as the local economy, education, environment, governance, transportation, emergency response and urban planning.

The new certification for cities

The full title of the certification is ISO 37120: Sustainable Development of Communities: Indicators for City Services and Quality of Life’ and it is being promoted by the World Council on City Data (WCCD), a Toronto-based organisation that encourages the use of data by cities to measure quality of life and performance in the provision of city services.

The certification is relatively new, having been first published in May 2014.

At present 20 cities around the world have met the standards required for certification with 9 attaining the higher level Platinum level certification (Makati being one).

Gold level grading requires compliance with at least 76 indicators while Platinum requires a city to meet 91 indicators.

The WCCD intends that the ISO structure will help guide city officials in conjunction with stakeholders on policy, planning and management to both improve quality of life in cities and ensure better economic performance.

According to the organisation the benefits of using a standardised system of metrics include:

• Improving funding opportunities and terms with government and financial stakeholders such as insurance companies
• Assessing the impact of infrastructure projects in the context of overall city performance
• Developing SMART and sustainable cities
• Benchmarking cities and sharing knowledge and best practices with other cities globally
• Adopting an evidence based approach to policy and planning

An urban future

With the long term trend of urban migration there is a clear need for effective planning.

Recent decades have seen a consistent movement of people from rural to urban areas.

According to UN figures back in 1950 less than one-third (29 per cent) of the world’s population lived in urban areas.

By 2007 this had increased to almost half (49 per cent) and by 2050 it is projected that almost 70 per cent of the global population will live in cities.

The ISO 37120 certification is one attempt to implement standards that will ensure successful urban environments while also directing energies at providing a reasonable quality of life.

ISO Quality Services Ltd are proud to specialise in the implementation and certification of the Internationally recognised ISO and BS EN Management Standards.

Primarily working with clients throughout the whole of the UK and Ireland, ISO Quality Services Ltd also cover Europe and the UAE.

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