DIRECTIONS in 49166 Urban Development THE GLOBAL CITY INDICATORS PROGRAM: A MORE CREDIBLE VOICE FOR CITIES Perinaz Bhada and Dan Hoornweg No single standard or comprehensive system to measure and monitor city performance and urban quality of life exists today. The Global City Indicators Program, driven by cities themselves, fills this important gap. Through the collection and analysis of city data in a comparative format and data domain, elected officials, city managers and the public will be able to monitor the performance of their cities over time based on a core set of indicators. T he Global City Indicators Program (GCIP) is a decentralized, were collecting over 1,000 indicators, only three of which city-led initiative that enables cities to measure, report, and were common to all cities. This lack of standardization lim- improve their performance and quality of life, facilitate capac- its the ability of cities to observe trends, monitor process ity building, and share best practices through an easy-to-use improvements, establish benchmarks, share best practices, web portal. GCIP assists cities in providing support to deci- or learn from each other. Moreover, data collection costs sion makers in making informed policy decisions, in addition are often considerable for municipalities. to enhancing government accountability to the public. An ISO standard for city indicators, which is currently in development, will facilitate comparability and verification across cities and over time. The GCIP was initiated by the World Bank and its partners and is now run by the Global City Indicators Facility, based at the University of Toronto, which oversees the devel- opment of indicators and assists cities to join the Program. The World Bank, along with UN-Habitat, the World Economic Forum, OECD, the Government of Canada, and ICLEI, recog- nized the urgent need for a single comprehensive system for measuring and monitoring city service delivery and urban quality of life that would enable elected officials, city man- agers, and the public to monitor the performance of cities over time, facilitate comparisons across cities, and provide enhanced government accountability demanded by policy makers and the public. The Need for Standardized Indicators Managing cities effectively and efficiently is critical and becom- Amman Institute will support the City of Amman in moni- ing more complex as population growth and economic develop- toring service delivery through its participation in GCIP, ment are taking place in urban areas. Today's big challenges, while also serving as a regional partnership platform to such as poverty reduction, economic development, climate extend its services to other cities in Jordan and the region. change, and the creation and maintenance of an inclusive and peaceful society, will all need to be met through the responses of cities. So too will the day-to-day challenges of garbage col- The pace of change within and among cities is increasing. lection, responding to the house on fire and larger disasters, Indicators need to be anchored on baseline data and be suffi- and facilitating the provision of water, electricity, education, ciently broad to capture social and economic aspects of urban health care, and the myriad of other services that make life development. Standardized indicators are essential in order to more productive and enjoyable. measure the performance of cities, capture trends and devel- opments, and support cities in becoming global partners. To date, no single, standard, or comprehensive system exists to measure and monitor city performance and quality of life. Cities, on average, are each collecting in excess of 100 indi- Perinaz Bhada, Junior Professional Associate, and Dan cators, and in some cases, annually collect 1,000 indicators. Hoornweg, Lead Urban Specialist, are both part of the Cities and Climate Change Thematic Group in the Urban Development The nine pilot cities of the Global City Indicators Program Unit at the World Bank THE WORLD BANK URBAN DEVELOPMENT UNIT | JUNE 2009 DIRECTIONS IN URBAN DEVELOPMENT Measuring City Performance urban citizens are likely to demand more leadership from the municipal representatives. Much of this growth is · Over the last twenty years, the role of cities and local gov- occurring in developing countries. For example, Beijing ernments has expanded considerably. Where some were won the bid for the 2008 Olympics outcompeting Istanbul focused primarily on basic service provision in the past, they and developed-country cities such as Paris, Osaka, and now are engaged in debating the climate change agenda, Toronto; EXPO 2010 in Shanghai will be the first of its kind attracting foreign investment, and partnering with the in the developing world. private sector and civic organizations on a number of initia- tives as never before. · Cities are playing an increasingly active role in the climate change negotiations. Over 900 US mayors voluntarily com- · Indicators help city managers and decision makers moni- mitted to meeting Kyoto Protocol emission targets while tor the performance of policies. Indicators help determine seeing a lack of leadership at the national level. The num- municipal capacity for service delivery and can diagnose ber of national and international city-to-city agreements key areas where city services are lagging and need to be and accords will continue to increase. improved. They can inform city officials on how to manage city growth and provide enhanced accountability demanded · Cities are trying to `brand' themselves and become indi- by policy makers and the public. vidual members of a wider urban concept. · Use of city indicators at the national level can enable national governments to determine the management and financial capacity of municipalities. In many countries, cities are demanding more powers and financing from state and Characteristics of Good Indicators national governments. Cities, they argue, provide the bulk The performance and the quality of life of a city are of services and are usually less well-financed than higher measured by a set of indicators and indices, which col- levels of government. Responses to these requests vary lectively tell a "story". Good data are necessary, but depending on the fiscal situation at the national level as not sufficient. Often, the data that are usually avail- well as perceptions of good governance and management able come from censuses, national household surveys, capacity within cities. demographic, health, and living standards measure- · National governments are increasingly looking at fiscal disci- ment surveys, or from public or private companies. pline at the local government level and can use verified indi- These data are usually expensive to collect or are repre- cators to monitor and track local government performance. sentative at the state or national level and don't allow For example, the Government of Canada is asking cities to for disaggregation at the local level. provide performance data in exchange for receiving a por- The following are characteristics that an indicator must tion of the fuel tax being collected by the national government. possess for it to be accurate, timely, and relevant for Capturing Trends over Time and across Cities policy and measurement purposes: Objective: The indicator should be clear, well defined, · Indicators are necessary in order to assess trends to deter- precise, simple to understand, and be reported annually; mine future implementation of policies. Mayors, residents, busi- nesses, research and financial institutions all desire informa- Relevant: The indicator should have a clear link to estab- tion on a city's performance. Indicators help to facilitate lished goals (e.g., city services and quality of life objec- comparisons across cities and over time. There is a growing tives, MDGs) and be relevant for decision makers; need to know the quality of life, economic and demographic Measurable and Replicable: The indicator must be easily trends, and environmental measures adopted in cities. quantifiable, statistically accurate, scientifically consistent · Indicators also enable development organizations to moni- in collection, cost effective to collect, capable of third- tor aid effectiveness of projects. The lack of reliable disag- party verification, accurate, transparent, independent of gregated data is a limitation that development institutions external influence, and not subject to disruption through face when trying to respond to development assistance lack of funding support; needs of cities. Well-defined, standardized indicators could Flexible: The indicator should be capable of accommo- thus help in monitoring and evaluating projects. Such indica- dating improvements and refinements over time; tors will be particularly useful in designing policy-based lend- ing instruments, with progress on key indicators, triggering Effective: The indicator should be fundamental to the release of financing tranches based on the achievement improved decision making and sound urban planning, of policy reforms and improved service delivery outcomes. meaningful to cities across the globe regardless of size, political structure, geography, or affluence and compa- · Indicators can also determine benchmarks and targets for rable over time and across cities; cities based on experiences of other cities and enable cities to share best practices. Interrelated: An indicator combined with other indica- tors should add a greater understanding than just the Playing a Global Role sum of its parts; and · As part of a more interconnected world, cities are compet- Inclusive: The indicator should be such that participating ing for investments, international events such as sports cities could enter the program at their own pace and col- events and fairs, and corporate and institutional head- lect information directly relevant to their circumstances. quarters. Competition among cities is intensifying, but is expected to be most intense among the `elite' cities. Thus, 2 JUNE 2009 The Global City Indicators Program Framework of Indicators and Indices The World Bank initiated the Global City Indicators Program, through The Global City Indicators Program is organized into two broad funding from the Government of Japan, to develop a set of indica- categories: city services (which includes services typically pro- tors to be collected and used by cities that would be representa- vided by city governments and other entities) and quality of life tive and rigorous enough to enable third-party verification. GCIP (which includes critical contributors to overall quality of life, was announced as a pilot initiative at the World Urban Forum in though the city government may have little direct control on Vancouver in 2006, and with support from several donors and these activities). The two categories are structured around 18 development partners, such as UN-Habitat, World Economic Forum, themes (see tables 1 and 2). Each theme consists of core and OECD, the Government of Canada, and ICLEI, was launched at the supporting indicators. It is expected that participating cities World Urban Forum in Nanjing in November 2008. The World Bank will report on the core indicators annually and are encouraged, proposed to build on existing indicators and facilitate the develop- but not required, to report on the supporting indicators, which ment of consistent and comparative city indicators to help cities may initially be harder for cities, especially those in developing monitor service delivery performance and quality of life. It is essen- countries, to collect or may not be relevant for some cities. tial that cities adopt a consistent and commonly agreed upon defini- tion and methodology for each indicator to ensure comparability of Table 2: Quality of Life Themes reported results. A lack of standardization will continue to severely limit the ability of cities to learn from each other and defeat the purpose of the Global City Indicators Program. Thus, the indicators Civic Engagement Shelter are standardized to enable cross-city comparisons and third-party verification and are designed to be simple and inexpensive to facili- tate annual data collection. Each participating city is responsible for Economy Social Equity inputting and updating the indicators for its city. The Global City Indicators Program is suitable and applicable for all Environment Technology & cities regardless of their size; however, at the present time, cities Innovation with over a million people are targeted in order to reach a critical mass. Given the lack of a standardized definition of a `city', the unit Global City Indicators of measurement used is the first and most direct level of local gov- ernment: the municipality. The Program also accommodates and At present, there are 27 core and 36 supporting indicators. aggregates data from metropolitan areas or urban agglomerations. Standardized definitions and detailed methodologies have been For example, the city of Toronto can be both an `individual' mem- developed for all 63 indicators, which can be found on the GCIP web- ber as well part of the Greater Toronto Area, which consists of the site (www.cityindicators.org). municipalities of Durham, Halton, Peel, and York. In addition to these 63 indicators, there are also 10 indices listed Program Management in table 3 that are currently under development. Indices are con- structed as weighted combinations of indicators and can usually pro- The GCIP is run by the Global City Indicators Facility based at the vide more information than specific indicators to provide a profile of UniversityofToronto,whichmanagesthedevelopmentofindicatorsand a city's overall performance. Indices give a more complete picture of assistscitiesinjoiningtheProgram. ABoardofDirectorsandanAdvisory city performance or quality of life. For example, in financial markets, Board oversee the Global City Indicators Facility and provide technical Earnings per Share (EPS) is an indicator of corporate performance, and advisory support to the Facility. The Boards are made up of repre- while the Dow Jones Index is a measure of aggregate stock market sentativesfromcities,internationalorganizations,andacademia. performance. Specific city indicators and indices collectively can pro- vide a sound basis for measuring city performance. Further develop- Through extensive consultation and in collaboration with partner cities ment of these indicators is planned through a cooperative approach and organizations, the Global City Indicators Program has developed a with several pilot cities and participating agencies. truly globally relevant and applicable set of city indicators and a process toreviseandupdatetheindicators.Citieswereactivelyengagedandpar- ticipated in the preparation, critical review, selection, and development The most recent list of indicators is available of the indicators as well as the definition and methodology for monitor- on the GCIP website: www.cityindicators.org ingandreporting. Table 1: City Services Themes Process to Standardize Indicators The Global City Indicators Program process encompasses monitor- Education Recreation ing, reporting, verifying, and amending the indicators. Similar to a Wikipedia approach, the Global City Indicators Program is a dynamic Energy Safety web-based resource (www.cityindicators.org) that allows partici- pating cities across the world to standardize the collection of their Finance Solid Waste indicators and analyze and share the results and best practices on service delivery and quality of life. Fire & Emergency Response Transportation Monitoring. An essential element in the adoption of any city indica- tor is the establishment of a standardized methodology for mea- Governance Water surement. Without this, cities cannot confidently make meaningful comparisons on performance over time and across cities. A Global Health Wastewater City Indicators Standard within the framework of the International Standards Organization (ISO) is currently being developed to 3 DIRECTIONS IN URBAN DEVELOPMENT Table 3: Indices in the Global City Indicators Program and as improved indicators or methodologies are developed. With input from participating cities and the Advisory Board, the Board of GCIP INDICES Directors of the Global City Indicators Facility is responsible for regu- lar modifications to the Global City Indicators. Competitiveness SocialCapital Next Steps Creativity Subjective Well-Being Since the Global City Indicators Facility was set up in October 2008, over 30 cities have joined the Program. The Global City Indicators Greenhouse Gas TotalEnergyUse Facilityhasmembercitiesoneachcontinent. The Global City Indicators Facility holds workshops and training ses- Governance UrbanAccessibility sions in different cities, and has also been invited by some national governmentstorollouttheProgramnation-wide. Recreation&Culture WaterQuality The Global City Indicators Facility is currently facilitating the develop- mentofvariousindicesthatcitieswillbeabletoaccessontheProgram ensure that there are consistent and standardized methodolo- website. The Facility is also in the process of developing MetroMatch, gies to collect the Global City Indicators. The Canadian Standards a selective incentive program piloted by King County, Washington Association, along with support from Brazil's Associação Brasileira State, US to enable cities to share their best practices and either vol- de Normas Técnicas (ABNT) and Colombia's Instituto Colombiano unteer or request expertise from peer cities on various aspects of city de Normas Técnicas y Certificación (ICONTEC) has sponsored the management or service delivery. Over time, additional benefits are development of the first phase of this new standard, building expectedtohelpencouragebroad-basedcityparticipation. on expertise accrued through TC207, the Technical Committee on Environmental Management, which is responsible for the Table 4: Structure of the Global City Indicators Program development of the ISO 14000 series standard and guidance docu- ments. At this time, only the core indicators would be included in the ISO standard, but over time supporting indicators will also be Global City ISO standardized. Indicators Program Reporting. Cities would be able to report their indicators annually as a "Performance Statement", and eventually at the same time as the city financial statement is issued. The City Performance Statement would provide results on all reported indicators; iden- tify the responsible service provider for each of the service-based indicators; provide results in the context of the city profile (e.g., City Services Quality of Life Indices population, size, city budget); compare results with applicable benchmarks or individual city-established targets and with prior years to show trends; indicate consistency with the approved col- 12 Themes 6 Themes 10 Themes lection methodology; and is signed by a responsible City govern- ment employee as well as an independent verifier. Verifying. It is important that the indicators reported by partici- pating cities be independently verified. This verification will help 22Core 5Core Indicators Indicators assure other cities, decision makers, and the public that the data have been collected using the agreed-to standardized methodol- ogy, that the city is accurately reporting its performance, and to 27Supporting 9 Supporting provide transparency for the overall process. Although there is Indicators Indicators value in providing third-party verification, the need for verifica- tion should not impose significant costs on participating cities. Universities, non-governmental organizations, and professional auditors could be qualified to verify the annual performance state- 170 Bloor Street West, Suite 1100 Toronto, Ontario M5S 1T9 Canada ments. Tel + 416-966-2368 Amending. It is expected that the indicators will change over Fax +416-966-0478 time and will not remain static as they address emerging issues, www.cityindicators.org changes in the roles and responsibilities of city governments, cityindicators@daniels.utoronto.ca in Contact the World Bank Urban Development Unit Copies of this Note are available at: Urban Development Unit, The World Bank Development Telephone: 202-473-0409, Fax: 202-522-3232 http://www.worldbank.org/urban urbanhelp@worldbank.org DIRECTIONS Urban If you are interested in submitting an article for consideration, please contact us at the email address above. TheviewsexpressedinDIRECTIONSinUrbanDevelopmentarethoseoftheauthorsanddonotnecessarilyreflectthoseoftheWorldBank. 4