The new CityMetrics site from WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities offers an interactive dashboard where users can explore key urban indicators and geospatial datasets from more than 60 cities that WRI works with. It includes cities participating in the Deep Dive Cities Initiative, Cities4Forests and UrbanShift.  

The dashboard is organized around seven key themes related to sustainability and resilience — flooding, heat, air quality, accessibility, land protection, biodiversity and climate change mitigation. It provides datasets and maps that let users analyze metrics within each city over a selected period and compare information across multiple cities.

A screenshot of the CityMetrics dashboard showing the tree cover indicator.

The seven themes include different indicators such as:

Flooding: Exposure to coastal and river overflow, presence of built-up land near natural drainage, and the expected number of days of extreme rainfall.

Heat: Projected high temperatures and number of heat waves, presence of built-up land without tree cover and areas with low surface reflectivity.

Air Quality: Exposure to PM2.5, or fine particle, pollution.

Accessibility: Proximity to essential goods and services such as health care and public transportation, and the amount of green or recreational space per capita.

Land Protection: Protected areas, restored habitats, permeable areas and the presence of tree cover.

Biodiversity: Presence of species in natural and built-up areas, and habitat connectivity.

Climate Change Mitigation: Greenhouse gas emissions and potential mitigation measures.

Creating a broad and detailed view of urban risks can not only accelerate effective action but also encourage cities to learn from one another and track progress on key resilience priorities. By gathering, analyzing and presenting open data on cities worldwide, CityMetrics aims to empower city leaders and other decision-makers to better understand local challenges and prioritize actions. Through the dashboard, they can also identify opportunities for potential management and mitigation efforts based on a city's risk profile.

The CityMetrics dashboard stems from the technical expertise of WRI Ross Center’s Urban Analytics and Data Innovation team and core project partners. It builds on the Cities Indicators Dashboard, an earlier version of the tool created to support cities involved in the UrbanShift and the Cities4Forests programs. Because of its success and value to users, WRI’s Urban Analytics and Data Innovation team refreshed and expanded the tool, adding more cities and indicators for decision-makers to explore and analyze. With the CityMetrics dashboard, users can explore interactive views of data within the site and download background data for a deeper analysis. 

It helps city leaders and decision-makers answer questions such as:

Which risks impact my city the most?

From extreme temperature exposure to accessibility of green spaces, users can identify which risks affect their cities the most.

For example, in Delhi, India, air quality and flooding pose the greatest risks, with the city ranking among the those with the highest risk scores for these two themes in CityMetrics. High levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution contribute to air quality challenges, while intense rainfall combined with development in low-lying, flood prone areas make the city particularly vulnerable to flooding.  

A screenshot from the CityMetrics dashboard showing key indicators of flood and air pollution risk in Delhi, India.

Which areas within the city are most at risk?

Users can explore which areas of a city face different levels of risk across the dashboard’s seven metrics.

For example, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, wards (the city’s neighborhoods) 402, 403, 430 and 422 have the most built-up land near natural drainage of all wards in the city, making them particularly vulnerable to flooding. The first three wards (402, 403 and 403) contain large areas of irregular settlements, while the last one (422) is mostly covered by a coastal port.  

A screenshot from the CityMetrics dashboard showing the areas in Freetown, Sierra Leone, that are most vulnerable to flooding.

How are specific populations impacted by certain risks?

Through the dashboard, users can see which segments of the population face risks across the seven themes.  

For example, the accessibility metric in Mexico City, Mexico, shows that children have less access to open spaces than the entire population. About 53.2% of children have access to an open space within a 400-meter walking distance, compared to 55.4% of the total population and 58.7% of the elderly.  

A screenshot from CityMetrics showing how certain segments of the population have different access to open sources in Mexico City.

How have the risks in a city changed over time?

Users can explore historical trends to see how risks in a city have changed over a selected period.

In Jakarta, Indonesia, the amount of land that can naturally absorb rainwater has dropped significantly over the past 30 years. In 1989, nearly half (49%) of the city’s land could absorb water, but by 2018 that figure had fallen to just 8%.

A screenshot from CityMetrics showing the historical downward trend of the land's ability in Jakarata to absorb rainwater.

To access the full dashboard and explore and compare indicators across cities, visit CityMetrics.wri.org. To learn more about the dashboard and why open data is essential for driving urban innovation and resilience, read the blog on CityMetrics at TheCityFix.org.