ISO 37101:2016 establishes requirements for a management system for sustainable development in communities, including cities, using a holistic approach, with a view to ensuring consistency with the sustainable development policy of communities.

The intended outcomes of a management system for sustainable development in communities include:

· managing sustainability and fostering smartness and resilience in communities, while taking into account the territorial boundaries to which it applies;

· improving the contribution of communities to sustainable development outcomes;

· assessing the performance of communities in progressing towards sustainable development outcomes and the level of smartness and of resilience that they have achieved;

· fulfilling compliance obligations.

ISO 37101:2016 is intended to help communities become more resilient, smart and sustainable, through the implementation of strategies, programmes, projects, plans and services, and demonstrate and communicate their achievements.

ISO 37101:2016 is intended to be implemented by an organization designated by a community to establish the organizational framework and to provide the resources necessary to support the management of environmental, economic and social performance outcomes. A community that chooses to establish the organizational framework by itself is considered to constitute an organization as defined in ISO 37101:2016.

ISO 37101:2016 is applicable to communities of all sizes, structures and types, in developed or developing countries, at local, regional or national levels, and in defined urban or rural areas, at their respective level of responsibility.

ISO 37101:2016 can be used in whole or in part to improve the management of sustainable development in communities. Claims of conformity to ISO 37101:2016, however, are not acceptable unless all its requirements are incorporated into an organization's management system for sustainable development in communities and fulfilled without exclusion.