Metropolitan Indicators

This collaboration with Metropolis aims to develop a system of comparative indicators and collect the corresponding data for a range of major cities and metropolitan areas.

The growth of large metropolitan areas like megacities, urban regions and corridors is reshaping governance and the urban landscape, presenting new challenges for the management of territories. Global comparative research on metropolitan activities and governance is also confronted with a substantial lack of data.

Metropolis is focused on acquiring data about its members – major cities and metropolitan areas. A key objective for this project is developing a system of indicators that can effectively generate new empirical insights, comparable across jurisdictions. The project will also deliver a database for 50-60 metropolises around the globe.

The indicators will refer to six overarching themes: Metropolitan Governance, Economic Development, Social Cohesion, Gender Equality, Sustainability, and Quality of Life. The framework will also adopt a gender perspective, disaggregating data according to this descriptor, as far as possible.

Photography courtesy: Assemblea.cat; Jeff Attaway; Craig Rohn; Tuca Vieira; and NASA.