Overview
ISO/TS 37107:2019 - Sustainable cities and communities - Maturity model for smart sustainable communities (MMSSC) - is a top-level technical specification from ISO designed to help cities and communities assess and benchmark their progress toward becoming smart, sustainable and citizen-centric. The MMSSC provides a simple, technology-neutral maturity model for self-assessment, cross-city benchmarking, and rapid signposting to relevant ISO standards and guidance.
Key topics
- Maturity model structure: A matrix of 32 characteristics organized across four dimensions and assessed on five maturity levels (1–5) following ISO 37153 methodology.
- Four dimensions:
- Strategy management (governance, planning, whole-of-city decision-making)
- Citizen-centric service management (co-creation, service delivery for citizens and businesses)
- Physical and digital resource management (management of infrastructure, data and technology)
- Purposes of a sustainable community (six purposes from ISO 37101: attractiveness, environment, resilience, resource use, social cohesion, well‑being)
- Design principles: user-focused, simple to use, applicable to all community sizes, technology-neutral, action-oriented and extensible.
- Supporting tools:
- Annex A: detailed diagnostic/achievement criteria
- Annex B: mapping to other ISO standards and guidance
- Annex C: links to ISO 18091 for local government functions
- Methodology & provenance: Developed using ISO 37153 approach, piloted with multiple global cities and aligned with ISO smart city standards (e.g., ISO 37104, ISO 37106, ISO/TS 37151, ISO/TR 37152).
Practical applications
- Rapid self‑assessment of city maturity across governance, services, infrastructure and sustainability outcomes.
- Cross-city benchmarking to compare progress and identify best practices.
- Gap analysis to identify strengths and weaknesses and to prioritize actions.
- A starting point to find relevant ISO standards and implementation guidance, via Annex B.
- Integration with more detailed sector or technical maturity models for deeper improvement planning.
Who uses it:
- City and municipal leaders, sustainability officers, urban planners
- Smart city program managers and CIOs
- Consultants, standards developers and international agencies
- Local government departments aligning operations with ISO 18091
Related standards
ISO/TS 37107:2019 is a practical, SEO-relevant resource for cities wanting a straightforward, standards-aligned roadmap to becoming smart and sustainable. Keywords: ISO/TS 37107:2019, MMSSC, maturity model, smart sustainable communities, smart cities, self-assessment, benchmarking.
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