A new ISO standard for the "Sustainable development of communities — Indicators for city services and quality of life", has been launched on May 15th. ISO 37120:2014 is the first set of indicators to assess the performance of cities of any size and population with regards to the services they offer and the quality of life for their citizens.
As reported in the ISO official website, 53% of the world population lives in cities, with the number expected to raise up to 70% by 2050, and is responsible for 70% of the world GDP. Investing in their sustainable development is therefore a crucial point for governments all around the world.
As any of the ISO standards, this new one is not mandatory nor does it provide a limit value or threshold for the indicators, but any city, municipality or local government can decide to use it to measure the development of their performance over time and against other cities' on the basis of a common set of comparable and verifiable methodologies.
The areas covered by the indicators are:

• Economy
• Education
• Energy
• Environment
• Finance
• Fire and emergency response
• Governance
• Health
• Recreation
• Safety
• Shelter
• Solid waste
• Telecommunications and innovation
• Transportation
• Urban planning
• Wastewater
• Water and sanitation

Please visit the official ISO website for more information and the full text of the standard.