The World Council on City Data (WCCD), is a not-for-profit organization, headquartered in Toronto. It is the global leader in standardized city data – creating smart, sustainable, resilient, and prosperous cities around the world. WCCD hosts a network of 100 cities across 39 countries building the highest calibre globally comparable and independently verified city data.

Standardization is at the core of the work that WCCD does. In 2014, the organization implemented the first international standard on city data: ISO 37120. This demand-led standard defines and establishes definitions and methods for a suite of fully numeric Key Performance Indicators to steer and measure the performance of city services and quality of life. Most recently, WCCD has led the development of two new standards that are now being implemented in cities worldwide – ISO 37122 (Indicators for Smart Cities) & ISO 37123 (Indicators for Resilient Cities).

Before the development of these standards, cities worldwide struggled to build solid data sets because there were no clear definitions of what was being measured or the methodologies used to compile these measurements.
As a result, cities could not speak to each other – or learn from each other.

With relatively little experience in navigating the world of standards development, SCC’s advice and guidance were invaluable to WCCD. Our support has also helped to solidify WCCD’s global reputation as the “go-to” organization to help cities embrace standardized city data to build smarter, more prosperous, resilient, and sustainable future for residents of cities in Canada and worldwide.