CityMetrics
CityMetrics is a dashboard that gathers, analyzes and presents open data on 60 cities worldwide, empowering city leaders and other decision-makers to better understand and respond to local climate and equity challenges. CityMetrics also highlights potential actions relevant to a city's risk profile.
As the climate crisis intensifies, cities — with their dense populations, vulnerable infrastructure and ever-changing built environments — are especially at risk. They face multiple interlocking challenges, from extreme heat to flooding and air pollution. While many cities have ambitious climate targets, municipal teams often lack access to the latest data-driven insights on risks and opportunities, as well as the technical expertise to leverage that data for better decision-making.
There are more than 5,000 cities in the world, each with a different constellation of leaders making decisions about infrastructure investments and how to manage risks that could impact residents for generations. Without robust and actionable data, these leaders may not fully comprehend their challenges and can struggle to turn climate ambition into climate action.
The CityMetrics dashboard aims to help fill this data gap. By improving visibility into urban climate risks, it can not only accelerate effective action, but also inspire cities to learn from one another and track progress on key adaptation and resilience priorities.
CityMetrics covers a variety of themes relevant to sustainability and resilience, including flooding, heat, air quality, access to greenspace, land protection, biodiversity and emissions mitigation. The dashboard provides maps for analyzing metrics within each city over time, as well as the ability to compare across multiple cities. Additional cities and indicators will be added to the dashboard in the future.
CityMetrics empowers users to ask and answer a range of questions, such as:
- What risks are most concerning for a city?
- Which geographic areas are at greatest risk within a city?
- Which populations are most vulnerable within a city?
- How has a specific risk within a city evolved over time?
- Given a city's risk profile, which management and mitigation efforts would be most effective?
Currently, the dashboard supports four WRI Ross Center projects: Cities4Forests, UrbanShift, Transformative Urban Coalitions and Deep Dive Cities.
Urban Development
Creating livable neighborhoods that build resilience, improve health, and equitably connect people and opportunities.
UrbanShift
A global program transforming cities for people and planet through sustainable, integrated and inclusive approaches to urban development.
Cities4Forests
A global alliance of cities acting to conserve, restore and sustainably manage forests and nature to support human well-being.
Transformative Urban Coalitions
Developing, testing and disseminating a scalable approach to achieve sustainable shifts in urban development and put cities on a path to zero emissions.
Deep Dive Cities
Driving transformative change through long-term, cross-sectoral, data-driven engagement in cities to create a healthier, more resilient and sustainable urban environment for all.
Urban Analytics & Data Innovation
Equipping decision-makers and researchers with datasets, analysis and guidance for more resilient cities.
Data for Cool Cities
Filling data gaps, enabling insights and scaling infrastructure investment to reduce extreme heat in cities.
