ISO 37105:2019

DRAFT INTERNATIONAL STANDARD
ISO/DIS 37105
ISO/TC 268 Secretariat: AFNOR
Voting begins on: Voting terminates on:
2018-07-09 2018-10-01
Sustainable cities and communities — Descriptive
framework for cities and communities
Développement durable des collectivités — Cadre descriptif pour les villes et les collectivités
ICS: 13.020.20
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ISO/DIS 37105:2018(E)
© ISO 2018
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ISO/DIS 37105:2018(E)
Contents
Foreword . v
Introduction. vi
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions. 1
4 Descriptive Framework of Cities and Communities . 2
4.1 General description of the City . 2
4.2 Cities as Ecosystems . 2
4.3 How the Descriptive Framework supports governance and transformation . 3
4.4 Basic elements of the Descriptive Framework for Cities and Communities . 3
4.4.1 Structure (system) . 3
4.4.2 Interactions (system) . 4
4.4.3 Society (system) . 4
4.5 Structure (system) . 4
4.5.1 Environment . 4
4.5.2 Infrastructures . 5
4.5.3 Built Domain . 10
4.5.4 The Three Subsystems of the Structure . 11
4.6 Interactions (system) . 11
4.6.1 Functions . 11
4.6.2 Economy . 11
4.6.3 Culture . 11
4.6.4 Information . 12
4.7 Society (system) . 13
4.7.1 Citizens . 13
4.7.2 Government . 13
5 A Foundation Ontology for the Descriptive Framework of Cities and Communities . 13
5.1 The Descriptive Framework as a Basis for the City Anatomy Ontology . 13
5.2 Ontologies taxonomies and controlled vocabularies . 13
5.3 Descriptive Framework City Anatomy Foundation Ontology Design Principles . 14
5.3.1 Basic Competency Questions of the Descriptive Framework City Anatomy
Foundation Ontology (CAO) . 15
5.3.2 Strategic Design Objectives of the Descriptive Framework City Anatomy Ontology
(CAO) . 15
5.3.3 The city as a “system of systems” . 16
5.4 Structure system . 18
5.4.1 Environment . 19
5.4.2 Infrastructures . 20
5.4.3 Built domain . 22
5.5 Interactions system . 24
5.5.1 City Indicators . 27
5.6 Society system . 30
5.7 City Dynamics as City Processes. 34
Annex A (informative) Applying the Descriptive Framework to Core Organizing Activities
for Cities: Governance, Evaluation, and Transformation . 37
A.1 Governance . 37
A.2 Evaluation . 38
A.3 City Transformation and Knowledge Sharing . 39
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Annex B (informative) Developing guidelines for multi-purpose public spaces with
physiological performance described by the Descriptive Framework . 41
B.1 Elaboration of the Descriptive Framework City Anatomy Ontology Classes . 43
B.2 Elaboration of the CAO Classes (in the Descriptive Framework) . 43
B.2.1 The city as a system of systems . 43
B.2.2 The Structure system . 44
B.2.3 The Interactions system. 49
B.2.4 The Society system . 53
B.2.5 City dynamics and City processes . 54
Bibliography . 57
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ISO/DIS 37105:2018(E)
1 Foreword
2 ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
3 bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out
4 through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical
5 committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International
6 organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO
7 collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of
8 electrotechnical standardization.
9 The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
10 described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular the different approval criteria needed for the
11 different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
12 editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
13 Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
14 patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of any
15 patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or on
16 the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www.iso.org/patents).
17 Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
18 constitute an endorsement.
19 For an explanation on the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and
20 expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to the World
21 Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) see the following URL:
22 www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.
23 This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 268, Smart and Sustainable Cities and
24 Communities.
25 This is the first edition of this standard.
26 A list of all parts in the ISO 37100 series can be found on the ISO website.
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27 Introduction
28 The Descriptive Framework for Cities and Communities detailed in this document helps city and
29 community stakeholders define a common language to describe cities and communities. This Framework
30 can facilitate the sharing of ideas, data and solutions within, and also between, cities. The Descriptive
31 Framework, which can also be referred to as the city anatomy, serves as a basic blueprint to facilitate the
32 integration of operating systems and services within a city or community. Ultimately, the Descriptive
33 Framework can be the basis of a formal ontology—or knowledge model—which can be useful for helping
34 to plan and implement city operating solutions, particularly for those cities operating solutions and
35 services that may require digital machine-readable information.
36 A city or community is a system of systems and interactions that fosters emergent human behaviour. It
37 can be seen as an arrangement of, and set of relationships between, the multiple layers of a permanent
38 human settlement, with an administrative and legal status supported by laws and generally recognized
39 throughout the world. Rather than being static, discreet entities, cities or communities often have porous
40 and sometimes ambiguous borders (politically, economically, environmentally, and socially) and can thus
41 often be difficult to describe. The structure, interactions, and societal aspects of a city or community are
42 also integral parts of all wider systems of systems extending beyond the city borders. However, more
43 than half the world’s population now lives in cities or communities and many of humanity’s chronic
44 challenges are faced in cities or communities. A common descriptive framework for cities or communities
45 is a useful tool to assist them in sharing knowledge and finding solutions to issues common to cities or
46 communities all over the world.
47 Solutions to the issues cities face should improve the quality of life for all city citizens and follow
48 sustainable development principles. Those principles dictate that the solutions to city issues
49 implemented today do not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The
50 United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG) issued in 2015 resolve this relatively abstract
51 ideal into more tangible objectives. The UNSDG Goal 11 provides these objectives for cities, creating 10
52 targets for improving the quality of life for citizens and the city’s resiliency, while also limiting the impact
53 of human activity on the environment. Tools such as ISO standards, such as ISO 37101 and ISO 37120,
54 help cities plan for, monitor, and reach these objectives. The purpose of this document is to provide a
See: City Protocol Society, City Anatomy: A Framework to Support City Governance, Evaluation, and Transformation
Emergent Human Behavior: its existence and activities are ad hoc and therefore unique to the event. These are small or large groups
that take shape and carry out tasks or activities that institutionalized groups cannot accomplish. Thus the emergent organized response
(people sometimes speak of 'emergent groups' too), is related to the idea of non-traditional and new behavior (example of mutual assistance
groups that form just after a catastrophe to look for the injured and help evacuate them). While the informal emergent groups are generally
organized in the period after the disaster and more rarely during the event, during which period individuals organize their actions more
around their families and friends (Quarantelli, 1988), institutionalized groups, whether emergent or not, act both during and after the event.
EMERGENT HUMAN BEHAVIOR DURING A DISASTER: THEMATIC VERSUS COMPLEX SYSTEMS APPROACHES Damienne
Provitolo, Edwige Dubos-Paillardy and Jean-Pierre Muller EPNACS- September, 2011
Sustainable Development Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable: (11.1) By 2030,
ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums; (11.2) By 2030, provide access to
safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with
special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons; (11.3) By
2030, enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning
and management in all countries; (11.4) Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage; (11.5) By
2030, significantly reduce the number of deaths and the number of people affected and substantially decrease the direct economic losses
relative to global gross domestic product caused by disasters, including water-related disasters, with a focus on protecting the poor and
people in vulnerable situations; (11.6) By 2030, reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special
attention to air quality and municipal and other waste management; (11.7) By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and
accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities; (11.a) Support
positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, per-urban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional
development planning; (11.b) By 2020, substantially increase the number of cities and human settlements adopting and implementing
integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, resilience to disasters,
and develop and implement, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, holistic disaster risk management
at all levels; (11.c) Support least developed countries, including through financial and technical assistance, in building sustainable and
resilient buildings utilizing local materials.
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55 common language for the description of cities that will enable those goals and support the sharing of city
56 solutions.
57 The Descriptive Framework is based on work by the City Protocol Society. It uses an analogy to human
58 anatomy and its dynamic physiology to describe any city or community, of any size, in a manner that is
59 timeless, culturally agnostic, scalable, and generic. The Descriptive Framework categorizes the
60 components of the city into three major elemental systems: a set of physical structures (Structure), the
61 living entities that create a city’s society (Society), and the flow of interactions between them
62 (Interactions). These elemental systems are further resolved into—or described by—layers that capture
63 all the activities of importance to the city, both within and outside of the city boundaries as well as all the
64 natural and built domain components within a city.
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DRAFT INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/DIS 37105:2018(E)
Sustainable cities and communities — Descriptive framework for
66 cities and communities
67 1 Scope
68 This international standard specifies requirements for a descriptive framework including an associated
69 foundational ontology of the anatomical structure of a city or community. The descriptive framework has the
70 following qualities: timeless, i.e., compatible with any human settlement at any time in history; acultural,
71 i.e., valid for any culture and any type of city; scalable, i.e., valid for a metropolis, a city, a small town, or a
72 village; and generic, so that everything we could define as a “human settlement”, such as a “smart city”, would
73 have a place in this structure.
74 2 Normative references
75 The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
76 constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated
77 references, the latest edition of the referenced documents (including any amendments) applies.
78 ISO 37100:2016, Sustainable cities and communities – Vocabulary
79 3 Terms and definitions
80 For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply. ISO and IEC maintain
81 terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
82 — IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
83 — ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp
84 3.1
85 Descriptive Framework
86 A logical structure that describes how the key entities within a specific domain can be classified so as to show
87 their relationship with each other.
88 Note: “Entities” refers not only to tangible things, but also to anything important that has a separate and
89 distinct existence — for instance: elemental conventions, principles, practices, strategies, policies, decision
90 making structures, and accountabilities.
91 3.2
92 Ontology
93 A specification of concrete or abstract things, and the relationships among them, in a prescribed domain of
94 knowledge.
95 [ISO/IEC TR 19763-9:2015]
96 3.3
97 Stakeholder
98 Any person or organization that can affect, be affected by, or perceive themselves to be affected by a decision
99 or activity.
ISO/DIS 37105:2018(E)
100 3.4
101 Urbanism
102 Urban life and environment.
103 4 Descriptive Framework of Cities and Communities
104 4.1 General description of the City
105 Figure 1 shows the three overarching logical elements of any city or community ecosystem as the holistic
106 integration of: the physical structure (Structure), the people who live in it and occupy this physical space
107 while carrying out functions (Society), and the Interactions through which the Society engages with the
108 Structure.
110 Figure 1 — A timeless, culturally agnostic, scalable, generic descriptive framework for any city or
111 community
112 4.2 Cities as Ecosystems
113 Cities can best be viewed and understood as an ecosystem, which shall be broken down into three elements :
114 • The physical structure of that ecosystem;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramon_Margalef
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115 • The living entities that it contains; and
116 • The flow of interactions and information.
117 The Descriptive Framework offers a common language to describe the city ecosystem as: a set of physical
118 structures, the living entities that make up a city’s society, and the flow of interactions between them. In so
119 doing, it suggests an analogy to the human anatomy and its dynamic physiology.
120 4.3 How the Descriptive Framework supports governance and transformation
121 Ultimately, the Descriptive Framework aims to help enable effective governance, evaluation, and
122 transformation by providing city officials and other stakeholders:
123 • A way to describe their aims and objectives, existing or proposed city initiatives, and services in a
124 manner that is consistent across cities, vendors, and service providers, and standards developers;
125 and
126 • A comprehensive checklist of key city aspects and domains.
127 By providing a framework for describing projects and objectives in a way that is consistent with other cities,
128 city solution providers and standards organisations will enable them to more easily:
129 i. Identify opportunities and potential areas for innovation and collaboration within or between cities;
130 ii. Improve communications between different city service owners and/or operators within the city;
131 iii. Communicate their objectives and priorities clearly to citizens and service providers;
132 iv. Frame and support emerging processes and citizen demands; and
133 v. Identify the standards that are most relevant to the needs they are seeking to address.
134 The checklist can help them:
135 i. Review their city in a comprehensive way to evaluate areas of strengths and weaknesses and set
136 priorities for future action;
137 ii. Review potential projects to understand the areas of city life they are likely to impact and the city
138 stakeholders that need to be consulted or involved; and
139 iii. Develop comprehensive sets of evaluation criteria to judge the success of projects.
140 4.4 Basic elements of the Descriptive Framework for Cities and Communities
141 4.4.1 Structure (system)
142 The first layer within the Structure system element is the Environment, which is the physical and geographic
143 setting of the city, including the natural environment (“nature”). It is formed by the three basic components—
144 air, earth, and water—interacting dynamically in a seasonally variable wayand increasingly subject to the
145 impacts of climate fluctuations linked to anthropogenic greenhouse gas pollution. The second layer of the
146 Structure system element is Infrastructures, the connective structures that enable resource gathering and
147 extraction from the environment, transporting resources to the city, and the material and energy cycles
148 within the city itself. These infrastructures include those that support communications, the water and energy
149 cycles, the matter cycle that supports the movement of goods and food as well as the resultant waste, the
150 mobility networks, and nature or green infrastructure of the city. The third layer is the Built Domain, which
151 can best be organized according to the approximate number of people that it can accommodate on a physical
Anthropogenic sources are those caused or produced by humans, such as the carbon pollution emitted through power generation or transport.
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152 basis. Thus, within the Built Domain, an object corresponds to a single person, house, building, block,
153 neighborhood, district, city, and metropolis or region, each increasing the scale by an order of magnitude.
154 Private and public spaces are contained within each level of scale.
155 4.4.2 Interactions (system)
156 The first layer within the Interactions system element comprises urban Functions including living, working,
157 education, shopping, caring for health, the performing arts, and many more. The second layer is the Economy,
158 which influences urban innovation and the everyday operation of the city, as well as the life cycles of services
159 provided by cities. The third layer is Culture — the languages, traditions, beliefs, values, and the ways in
160 which people organize their conceptions of the world around them (i.e., the non-material assets of the city).
161 The fourth and final layer is Information. It includes the City Operating System (City OS), City Performance
162 Indicators and Indexes, Tools and Applications, City Ontology, and an Information Portal for open data and
163 specific learning protocols and related resources.
164 4.4.3 Society (system)
165 The Society system element is composed of the living entities of the city. The first layer is Citizens, which can
166 be broken down into: person (the individual), family, organizations, and businesses. The second layer is
167 government, whose head is, typically, the mayor.
168 Note: The term governance will be used when the Descriptive Framework of a City is used for evaluation
169 purposes. The term governance is the process of running a government and, as such, it focuses on its
170 effectiveness.
171 4.5 Structure (system)
172 4.5.1 Environment
173 The first subsystem layer within the structure system element of the Descriptive Framework (see Figure 1)
174 is the environment, the setting of the city, as shown in Figure 2.
176 Figure 2 — Environment
177 The environment existed well before the establishment of the city and includes the topography, morphology,
178 living systems, and natural flows and cycles that form the city’s physical setting. The environment is the
179 nature (plants and animals) and the three basic components—air, soil and water—which interact
180 dynamically in seasonally variable ways. Each of these components has its own indicators to assess quality
181 and other characteristics.
182 Air quality can be assessed by measuring particulate concentration, ozone levels, and other chemistry, as well
183 as CO levels, temperature, and other measures related to global warming. The ground topography (soil) is
184 fundamental for siting a city and serves as an important resource, supporting agriculture, plants, and animals.
185 It is also an important source of minerals and energy. Soil too has physical and chemical properties, which
186 can be measured. Finally, water cycles through the environment—atmosphere to surface water to
187 groundwater to oceans. Both water quality and water quantity can be measured in a number of ways.
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188 These are the components, which interact to form the Environment Layer and are critical in the functioning
189 of a city.
190 4.5.2 Infrastructures
191 The second subsystem layer within the Structure System Element is the Infrastructures, the connective
192 structures that enable resource extraction and use, as well as enabling city life. The infrastructure layer
193 includes the networks that support communications and mobility, as well as those that support cycles for
194 water, energy, and matter. It also includes the natural—or green—infrastructure that plays an important role
195 in many communities.
196 4.5.2.1 Communications Network
197 The first Infrastructure depicted in Figure 1 above is the communications network shown in detail in Figure
198 3. The communications component is composed of all of the technologies that carry information, such as
199 Information Communication Technologies (ICT) (wire and cellular telephone technologies, radio, television)
200 and the Internet. Centralized models of communication with one emitter and many receivers (i.e., radio and
201 television) have evolved into a more distributed arrangement of information with many emitters and many
202 receivers of information (i.e., the Internet). Telecommunications networks transporting information through
203 copper and/or fiber optic cables, as well as through the electromagnetic spectrum, are all examples of
204 Communication Infrastructure.
206 Figure 3 — Communications Network
207 4.5.2.2 Water Cycle
208 The second Infrastructure is the water cycle component, which includes water supply, treatment, and
209 management of wastewater, surface water runoff, and floodwaters (see Figure 4). Cities draw water from the
210 environment, perform treatment process, and consume it. Gray-water and wastewater is discharged back
211 into receiving bodies, often after treatment, and sometimes recycled directly back into the community’s own
Gray-water is wastewater from sinks, baths, washing machines, and other sources that can be used—recycled—for uses that do not require
potable water, like toilet flushing.
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212 water supply. Water infrastructure describes all of the physical elements that form the water cycle—from its
213 extraction to its disposal or reuse—and that operate it in a structured way to serve a city or community.
216  Figure 4 — Water cycle
217 4.5.2.3 Energy
218 The third Infrastructure is the energy cycle component (see Figure 5) composed of the entire power system,
219 including functional nodes producing power (nuclear and fossil fuel power plants, wind farms,
220 biomass/bioenergy power plants, hydroelectric plants, solar generating plants, etc.) often located outside of
221 the city; the networks needed to transmit electricity or convey fuel—like natural gas—into the city; as well
222 as other networks of pipelines, ships, rail, and trucks needed for the transport of fossil fuels and chemicals
223 as raw or refined products. In addition, smaller production nodes, like district-level generating plants, bio-
224 energy systems, and steam generation often operate in cities, as well as distributed energy nodes, like rooftop
225 solar for thermal energy or electricity.
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227 Figure 5 — Energy
228 4.5.2.4 Matter Cycle
229 The fourth Infrastructure is the materials or matter cycle (see Figure 6). This infrastructure component
230 includes the extraction of material resources from nature (including food), their industrial level or small-
231 scale manipulation to create products, the transportation and logistics infrastructures to reach consumers,
232 and the management of waste materials. Stated another way, the matter cycle includes: (i) everything
233 involved in the extraction of resources from the environment and the transport of those resources to
234 factories or production centers; (ii) the distribution of resources and products around the world enabled by
235 logistics platforms, containers, and other means; (iii) deliveries within cities; (iv) consumption within cities;
236 (v) waste generation; (vi) transport of waste to landfills; and (vii) waste recycling and/or waste-to-energy
237 production.
238 Figure 6 depicts two main types of materials: (i) the matter incorporated into consumer goods and
239 construction materials within the city, shown as a solid line, and (ii) food—both plant-based and livestock—
240 shown as a dotted line.
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242 Figure 6 — Matter cycle
243 4.5.2.5 Mobility
244 The fifth type of Infrastructure is mobility (see Figure 7). Mobility chiefly refers to transportation for people,
245 though often the same facilities, networks, and means of conveyance transport goods as well, like airports
246 and ports, and other facilities devoted to shipping and logistics. Mobility networks include large systems,
247 such as railways, airports, highways, as well as road systems, including city streets. City streets, used by
248 pedestrians, bicyclists, vehicles, and public transportation, are not only important for mobility, but they also
249 form an integral part of a city’s public space, which is important for many aspects of city life.
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252 Figure 7 — Mobility
253 4.5.2.6 Green Infrastructure/Nature
254 The final Infrastructure is the green infrastructure (see Figure 8)—i.e., the infrastructure provided by the
255 natural environment. It can be composed of natural elements used in a structured way, like rain gardens or
256 bioswale , or any other natural element, like trees and open space that has an effect on the quality of city life.
Bioswales are landscape elements designed to concentrate or remove silt and pollution from surface runoff
water.
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258 Figure 8 — Nature
259 4.5.3 Built Domain
260 The third component of the city structure system element is the built domain, both public and private, and
261 the surrounding public space. The built domain has two distinct and essential characteristics in relation to
262 urbanism: (i) it is the main expression of the material culture of a city, and (ii) it is fundamentally multi-scale
263 in nature (i.e., scale is an intrinsic characteristic of the built environment), as illustrated in Figure 9. At the
264 highest level of resolution, the built environment supporting urban functions can be viewed as objects.
265 Scaling up, the built domain is a collection of objects and the space that contains them. As illustrated below,
266 this scale can be represented as: houses, building, blocks, neighborhoods, districts, the city, the metropolis,
267 the country, the continent, and ultimately the whole planet.
269 Figure 9 — Built Domain
270 Objects are also those structures at the smallest scale that can ultimately have their own identity in a global
271 network of the Internet of Things (IoT). Most objects belong to a functional category since they support one
272 or more functions for human life in cities. In many cases they become part of a larger scale network made up
273 of other elements and systems (e.g., buildings or the city itself).
274 The built domain in both Figures 1 and 9 is ordered according to the number of people that each level of scale
275 approximately relates to on a physical basis: 1 object; 10 house; 100 building; 1000 block; 10,000
276 neighborhood; 100,000 district; 1,000,000 city; 10,000,000 metropolis or region; etc.
277 The built domain determines where the essential functions attached to human life in cities take place, both
278 publicly and privately. Thus, it is typically buildings like apartments/flats, hospitals, offices, and other places
279 of employment, but it can also be the public space of streets and squares. These public spaces are also often
280 the right-of-way’s through which infrastructure and vehicles pass, and which host green space. It includes
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281 blocks of flats/apartments, hospitals, places of employment, etc. In addition, the public space can have its
282 own intrinsic value in the city as a space shared by people to meet, relax, and carry out activities, either
283 individually or communally.
284 Different city models can be identified or defined based upon the scales at which individual needs are met as
285 they, in turn, determine the associated models for mobility, density, and social interaction. Every node in the
286 built domain has a production and an operational cost, with an economic, social, and environmental impact
287 on its setting and, ultimately, on city finances and efficiency.
288 4.5.4 The Three Subsystems of the Structure
289 The three subsystems of the Structure—the environment, infrastructures, and the built domain—are the
290 physical remnants of a city that would remain if the people disappeared. The three structure layers help
291 explain the city as a system of systems and interactions. As depicted in the diagrams, these networks have
292 connecting lines on which information, energy, or material travel and nodes where such may be processed
293 and/or stored.
294 The relationship between Structure and Society is characterized herein as Interactions, which is the second
295 system element considered in the anatomy of Figure 1.
296 4.6 Interactions (system)
297 The second system element considered in the Descriptive Framework is Interactions. The Interactions
298 between the Structure and Society effectively reflect the activities in the city and can be analyzed and
299 measured as flows of information.
300 Interactions includes four subsystem layers: (i) functions, (ii) economy, (iii) culture, and (iv) information.
301 4.6.1 Functions
302 Functions include living, working, education, shopping, caring for health, the performing arts, tourism
303 (business and personal), and many more. The built domain, including public space, typically hosts most of
304 these functions, though this subsystem layer is concerned with the activities themselves and not the buildings
305 that play host to them. This is an important distinction because some of these Functions, like education and
306 shopping, can be delivered via the Internet and may no longer be confined to specific buildings or facilities.
307 However, Functions, many of which are supported by the city, generally emerge from the interaction between
308 the people in the city and different parts of the built domain.
309 4.6.2 Economy
310 Wealth production and distribution, commerce and trade, innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems,
311 competitiveness, tax base, and financing vehicles are among the many dimensions that create the Economy
312 of a city, the second subsystem of the Interactions System Element. The economy plays a critical role in any
313 city, impacting quality of life and the level of support for city services.
314 The Economy, at both the micro- and macro-economic scales, operates via an increasingly rapid rate of
315 information exchange between people, institutions, companies, and economic and financial agencies. This is
316 particularly true in cities, which today are responsible for generating most of the world’s GDP. The Economy
317 influences urban innovation, as well as everyday city operations and life cycles of services provided by cities.
318 It is also a key element in the evolution of cities, determining the feasibility of transformational projects to
319 increase the quality of life for residents.
320 4.6.3 Culture
321 Culture encompasses the languages, traditions, beliefs, values, and other non-material assets that comprise
322 parts of the city’s identity. It also includes the tacit knowledge that builds shared understanding and trust
323 among people in a given community that can become explicit practices, expressions, representations,
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ISO/DIS 37105:2018(E)
324 knowledge, skills, and organizational behaviors. Culture impacts and reflects all dimensions of human life—
325 emotion, intelligence, spirituality, creativity, and community.
326 4.6.4 Information
327 The conceptual model of a city as a system of systems and interactions at different scales of time and space
328 implies the inclusion in the Framework of an informational or systems platform, depicted Figure 10. This
329 platform has the following five functional elements:
330 • City ontology, or knowledge model, which is the lexicon, syntax, and semantics needed to promote
331 the interoperability and proper integration of city models, bringing together all the structural
332 elements of the anatomy, along with the time and spatial reasoning coupled with the information
333 systems that are involved in the formulation, generation, and evaluation of urban planning, design,
334 and transformation;
335 • City operating system (City OS) that functions as a shared—or trans-disciplinary—set of tools to
336 manage and organize the city as a system of systems for all city activities by defining protocols that
337 standardize methods for improving knowledge acquisition and information transfer (i.e., data flows);
338 • City performance indicators and indexes that include broad performance categories, such as
339 resilience, self-sufficiency, habitability, welfare, economic empowerment, etc., and that also consider
340 qualitative information in an evaluation framework defined for assessment purposes, for example
341 ISO 37120;
342 • Tools and applications for system-level data analysis
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