What is this standard about?
BS ISO 37101 is the first international standard on sustainable development in communities and cities. Among a range of sources, it draws on some content in BS 8904:2011 Guidance for community sustainable development. But whereas that standard is best suited to local, grass-roots organizations, this international standard has been developed to help city leaders create a vision for the future of their cities and implement steps to achieve sustainable development goals.
Who is this standard for?
- City CEOs
- Sustainability officers
- Smart city managers
- Compliance managers
- Policy advisors, NGOs and consultants who are planning their city’s long term sustainability agenda
Why should you use this standard?
It sets out requirements and guidance to help create a sustainable future for communities, using methods and tools that include smartness and resilience. It can thus help city leaders set and achieve their city's sustainable development agenda.
It can also help communities improve in a number of areas such as:
- Developing holistic and integrated approaches instead of working in silos (which can hinder sustainability)
- Fostering social and environmental changes
- Improving health and wellbeing
- Enabling engagement by the community with external organizations to drive positive change
- Encouraging responsible resource use
- Achieving better governance
NOTE 1: ‘Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’ is number 11 of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. This standard should provide the ideal platform for meeting that goal.
NOTE 2: This standard was written in liaison with the Global City Indicators Facility and the United Nations Environment Programme. Every attempt was made to harmonize this standard with work being done on city indicators and smart infrastructure.
