James Patava, Vice President and Patricia McCarney, President and CEO of World Council on City Data (WCCD) were in attendance for this portion of the meeting.
They reported that the City of St. John's has received World Council on City Data (WCCD) ISO 37120 Platinum Certification. This international recognition is awarded to cities that reach the highest standard in collecting, sharing, and using data to effectively make decisions. Reporting over 90 of the 104 indicators within WCCD's ISO 37120 standard, the City of St. John’s is among a select group of global cities reporting at the highest platinum level.
Participation in this national initiative is supported by the Federal Ministry of Infrastructure and Communities through the WCCD’s ‘Data for Canadian Cities Project’. This Project effectively doubles the number of Canadian cities in the WCCD network to thirty – allowing for “apples to apples” comparisons across the country, and globally. This project helps the participating cities become certified for three years under ISO 37120, the world’s first international standard for city data. As the project continues in years two and three, a significant focus will be placed on assisting the participating municipalities in using the data to improve city services and quality of life for citizens.
"All communities, large and small, need good data to plan and build modern public infrastructure,” said The Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities. “Meeting global data standards is critical. Through the Data for Canadian Cities Project, in partnership with the World Council on City Data, we've been helping municipal leaders in a number of communities across Canada do just that. I am delighted that the City of St. John's has obtained the ISO standard for municipal data. This will help the City plan projects with quality data and will help guide evidence-based decision-making. Canada's infrastructure plan invests in thousands of projects, creates jobs across the country and builds stronger communities."
"The City of St. John's has a well-deserved reputation for balancing its strong sense of heritage with the needs of a modern urban population,” said WCCD President and CEO, Dr. Patricia McCarney. “The City's participation in the Data for Canadian Cities Project is a perfect demonstration of this commitment. In harnessing standardized, globally comparable and independently verified city data, Mayor Breen and the City Council are underlining their commitment to evidence-based, data-driven decision making to create a more sustainable, smart, resilient, prosperous and inclusive future for city residents. On behalf of the WCCD, it is my pleasure to congratulate Mayor Breen, City Council and the truly dedicated City Staff on their WCCD ISO 37120 Platinum Certification."
St. John’s joins one hundred cities around the world in measuring indicators like air quality, electricity use, how close people are to public services, and population density. This data will be used to assess how cities are tackling challenges like climate change and identify the solutions that are working well.
“Participating in this initiative means that the City of St. John’s will have an opportunity to share our successes with other municipalities and learn from best practices around the world,” said Mayor Danny Breen. “We are committed to making strong and effective decisions, based on evidence, that ensure our city is sustainable, now and into the future.”
Data collected in 2018 is now available on the City’s website. Staff have begun compiling data for the 2019 report. For more information about the World Council on City Data (WCCD) and the certification, visit dataforcities.org
About the WCCD
The World Council on City Data (WCCD) was founded in 2014 and exists to help communities of all sizes - in Canada and across the globe - to embrace standardized, independently verified, and globally comparable city data to become more sustainable, resilient, prosperous inclusive and smart. Since its founding, the WCCD has been working with 100 cities worldwide and has helped these cities to adopt ISO 37120, the first international standard for city data. The WCCD and ISO 37120 are a truly “Made in Canada” initiative – with their ultimate creation primarily spearheaded by Canadian urban thinkers and city leaders. The standard includes 104 indicators across 19 themes and standardizes data to measure progress on a set of city services and quality of life. ISO 37120 provides cities with quantitative, globally comparable and independently verified local-level data enabling any city, of any size, to measure and compare its social, economic, and environmental progress internally year over year, and also in relation to other peer cities locally and globally. The WCCD Global Network includes one hundred cities across more than thirty countries. The WCCD is now implementing three international standards referred to as the ISO 37120 Series – that includes ISO 37120 as the base document and two new standards: ISO 37122 – Indicators for Smart Cities and ISO 37123 – Indicators for Resilient Cities.
About the ISO 37120 standard
The WCCD administered ISO 37120 is a globally standardized data set that measures quality of life and delivery of municipal services, and its creation was primarily spearheaded by Canadian urban leaders. The data within ISO 37120 enables Canadian municipalities to compare their progress with their counterparts across the country and around the world, according to nineteen city service and quality of life thematic areas. These themes include the environment, economy, education, governance, finance, transportation, recreation, and health, amongst others. Data compiled through this standard supports municipalities to better plan and implement infrastructure investments and measure the impacts of those investments on economic prosperity and the quality of life of their residents.
The Committee thanked the organization for this honour and commended staff on a job well done, working with the organization to bring this distinction to fruition.