ISO TR 37121-2017 PDF

Full title and description

ISO/TR 37121:2017 — Sustainable development in communities — Inventory of existing guidelines and approaches on sustainable development and resilience in cities. This Technical Report compiles and categorizes existing guidelines, indicator sets, rating systems and approaches used to measure and promote sustainable development and urban resilience, providing a reference inventory to inform cities, practitioners and standards development work.

Abstract

ISO/TR 37121:2017 provides an inventory of existing guidelines and approaches on sustainable development and resilience in cities. It focuses on resilience as the ability of a city, system, community, local government or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate to and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including preservation and restoration of essential structures and functions. The report is informational (a Technical Report) and was produced to support future work on indicators for resilient cities and to complement the ISO 37120 series.

General information

• Status: Published (valid/current Technical Report)
• Publication date: January 2017 (Edition 1 — 2017‑01)
• Publisher: ISO (International Organization for Standardization)
• ICS / categories: 13.020.20 — Environmental economics; Sustainability
• Edition / version: Edition 1 (first edition, 2017)
• Number of pages: 96

(General publication and bibliographic facts as listed in the ISO catalogue and national standards bodies.)

Scope

Provides an organized inventory of existing international and regional guidelines, indicator frameworks, rating and assessment systems, and methodological approaches relevant to sustainable development and resilience at the city and community scale. The report emphasises resilience indicators intended to assess how cities help residents, businesses, institutions and infrastructure resist, absorb, accommodate and recover from hazards, and it includes a gap analysis with ISO 37120 and an alignment with established resilience guidance to inform future standards development.

Key topics and requirements

• Inventory and categorization of international guidelines, indicator sets and rating systems used for urban sustainability and resilience.
• Definitions and conceptual framing of city-scale resilience (resist, absorb, accommodate, recover).
• Mapping of indicators across themes (climate and disaster risk, energy, water, waste, transport, health, governance, economy, social cohesion, built environment, biodiversity, etc.).
• Gap analysis comparing ISO 37120 (city services & quality of life) and resilience priorities, and identification of areas for future standardization.
• Summary descriptions of practical tools for measurement, reporting and benchmarking at city level; guidance on data sources and indicator application (informational, not prescriptive).
• Recommendations to support development of a future International Standard on indicators for resilient cities (basis for later work such as ISO 37123).

Typical use and users

Intended for city and regional planners, municipal sustainability and resilience officers, policy-makers, national standards bodies, consultants, researchers, multilateral agencies and NGOs. Use cases include: reviewing existing indicator frameworks, selecting candidate indicators for local monitoring, benchmarking current measurement approaches, preparing city resilience strategies, and informing development of local/regional guidance or voluntary reporting schemes.

Related standards

Closely related to the ISO 37120/37122/37123 series and other ISO work under ISO/TC 268: ISO 37120 (Indicators for city services and quality of life), ISO 37122 (Indicators for smart cities), ISO 37123 (Indicators for resilient cities), and ISO 37101 (Management system for sustainable development in communities). The report was produced to complement and inform the resilient-cities indicator work and to map existing frameworks such as those promoted by UNDRR/Sendai and other international guideline sets.

Keywords

sustainable development, resilience, city indicators, urban resilience, urban sustainability, indicators inventory, ISO/TC 268, benchmarking, measurement, reporting

FAQ

Q: What is this standard?

A: ISO/TR 37121:2017 is a Technical Report (informative document) that compiles an inventory of existing guidelines, indicator frameworks and approaches on sustainable development and resilience in cities. It is not a prescriptive standard of mandatory requirements but a reference resource.

Q: What does it cover?

A: It covers the mapping and description of existing tools and indicator sets relevant to sustainability and resilience at the community/city level, a conceptual framing of resilience, thematic coverage across common urban sectors, and a gap analysis against ISO 37120 to identify needs for future standardization.

Q: Who typically uses it?

A: City planners, municipal sustainability and resilience practitioners, national standards bodies, consultants, researchers and international agencies use it as a reference when designing monitoring frameworks, choosing indicators, or aligning local practices with international approaches.

Q: Is it current or superseded?

A: ISO/TR 37121 was published in January 2017 as an ISO Technical Report (Edition 1) and is listed as published/valid in ISO’s catalogue. It serves as an informational inventory; subsequent ISO standards in the same topic area (for example, standards on resilient-city indicators) have been developed since its publication, but the Technical Report itself remains the published 2017 inventory document. For the definitive current status consult the ISO catalogue or national standards body for updates to lifecycle or any replacement.

Q: Is it part of a series?

A: Yes — it is part of the broader ISO/TC 268 work on sustainable cities and communities and complements the ISO 37120/37122/37123 family and related guidance such as ISO 37101 on management systems for sustainable development in communities. The TR was explicitly produced to support future work on indicators for resilient cities.

Q: What are the key keywords?

A: Sustainable development, resilience, city indicators, urban indicators, benchmarking, ISO/TC 268, inventory, guidelines, measurement.