Introduction

In 2015, the United Nations (UN) committed to adopting 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) addressing a broad range of development issues. Each goal has specific targets to be achieved by 2030. However, UN SDG 11b specifies that by 2020 cities should embark on integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, and resilience to disaster. Achieving these goals requires coordinated work by governments, the private sector, civil society and citizens.

Local governments play a key organizing role in building a more sustainable and desirable collective future. The SDGs can be seen as challenges but offer an opportunity for cities to find a new way to develop, minimizing their impact on the environment. As a Management System Standard (MSS), ISO 37101 represents a tool for achieving these goals by proposing a holistic approach to address the related challenges and is therefore consistent with this idea.

To enhance their economic dynamism, each country and metropolis concentrates headquarters, research and development (R&D), hotels and services in large business districts, flagships of their excellence. Even if these districts often include residential neighbourhoods, natural spaces and cultural amenities, they present singular characteristics regarding sustainable development. ISO 37101 provides a general framework for the cities as a whole. ISO 37104 offers practical guidance to all types of cities and other settlements on initiating, planning, implementing, measuring and managing sustainable development activities in a way that is holistic, inclusive and based on sustainability principles. The purpose of this document is to implement ISO 37101 and to provide guidance to business districts as specific urban districts (see 4.1). This document can assist local governments and all relevant interested parties in integrating a more sustainable holistic approach at all steps of the lifecycle of the business district: planning, design, construction, maintenance, operations, and renovation.

Establishing and implementing a sustainable development strategy has a number of benefits for a business district, at the local and national or international levels, such as:

— to design and improve both the built environment and unbuilt areas, by promoting better use of resources, enhancing levels of reuse and recycling of existing resources when possible, optimizing mobility and accessibility and bolstering the business district's integration into the surrounding area;
— to encourage initiative and interaction between all interested parties;
— to promote economic development and job growth, including in the surrounding area;
— to improve working and living conditions;
— to balance short-term and long-term perspectives in setting priorities and decision-making processes;
— to ensure sound and balanced finances throughout the business district's lifecycle;
— to get a better return of investment for the future;
— to promote and encourage pooling of resources between similar activities in the business district and the surrounding area;
— to improve environmental performance;
— to create a distinct identity and cultivate a sense of belonging among interested parties;
— to increase satisfaction and productivity;
— to develop new opportunities for wealth creation;
— better adaptability to changing contexts.
— to apply sustainable energy use and communication technologies, especially water, waste, electric energy, ICT technologies.

It is based on ISO 37101 and on the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) model, which can be briefly described as follows:

— Plan: establish objectives and processes necessary to deliver a strategy for the sustainable development of business districts in accordance with city and community purposes;
— Do: implement processes and achieve objectives;
— Check: monitor and measure established processes against policy, objectives and commitments, and report the results;
— Act: take necessary actions to improve performance.

Figure 1 illustrates how this document follows a PDCA approach in the management of sustainable development in business districts.

Figure 1 — Overview of the guidance contained in this document

NOTE Clauses 1 to 3 (Scope, Normative references and Terms and definitions) are not shown in the figure as they are clauses that contain information not specifically related to the technical or guidance part of the document.

BS ISO 37108:2022

Sustainable cities and communities. Business districts. Guidance for practical local implementation of ISO 37101

Current

Published:

31 Oct 2022