The City of Oshawa has been awarded Platinum ISO 37120 certification for 2018 by the World Council on City Data (WCCD).
With this accomplishment, the City has achieved the highest level of certification, joining a select group of 100 data-driven cities worldwide including thirty cities across Canada. Through this WCCD ISO certification, Oshawa continues to demonstrate its commitment to harnessing city data to drive community-focused service delivery improvements, while embracing sustainability, resilience and the smart city agenda.
Developed by the Toronto-based World Council on City Data, with the input of Canadian and global cities, ISO 37120 is the first international standard for cities by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in Geneva. Its 104 key performance indicators across 19 themes enable cities to set internal baselines according to standardized definitions, and benchmark against peer cities throughout the GTA, Canada and globally.
The WCCD was founded in Canada in 2014 and helps global communities of all sizes embrace standardized, independently verified, and globally comparable city data to become more sustainable, resilient, prosperous, inclusive and smart.
In her message to City Council, President and CEO of WCCD, Dr. Patricia McCarney said, “The WCCD is so pleased to welcome the City of Oshawa to our Canadian and global network. The commitment of the City of Oshawa to a more data-informed – and data-driven – future is underscored by achieving the highest, Platinum-level of WCCD ISO 37120 certification. The entire WCCD team looks forward to working with you in achieving this goal. Congratulations to Mayor Carter, Council and the hard-working, dedicated staff for this exemplary accomplishment.”
The City initiated this project in 2018 through the TeachingCity Oshawa partnership. Among the indicators Oshawa excelled in within the WCCD network were:
- Higher Education Degrees: Oshawa demonstrates a highly educated workforce, among the top 15 per cent of cities for higher education degrees.
- Total Water Consumption Per Capita: With an impressive commitment to water conservation, Oshawa ranks in the top 20% of Canadian cities in the WCCD network that consume the least amount of water per capita.
- Air Quality: Oshawa is among a small group of global leaders in exceptional air quality (as measured by particulate matter in the air), ranking in the top 33 per cent of Canadian cities and the top 15 per cent of cities in the WCCD network.
The certification was presented to City Council virtually during the regular City Council meeting on Monday, January 25, 2021.
The ISO standard, and its annual reporting, will be used by the City to continue to ensure that delivery of service to residents remain at world class standards. The data analysis and partnership with the WCCD will also help the City identify potential areas of future sustainable development and research projects to be undertaken by the TeachingCity Oshawa partnership.
For more information on the WCCD and the Platinum ISO 37120 certification, visit www.dataforcities.org.
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“On behalf of City Council, we are pleased that the City has been awarded the highest level of certification from the WCCD. This achievement recognizes our great city for its efforts to develop and use world-class standards to drive and measure our service delivery to community members.” said Mayor Dan Carter.
