Showing 1 - 10 of 31
Yokohama and Bangkok team up
News, Takeharu Yamanaka and Chadchart Sittipunt, Published on 13/12/2025
» In Yokohama, our identity is tied to our port, a gateway to the world and a source of prosperity. But this also means we are on the front line of climate change. We have learned that protecting our city requires innovation, from advanced storm-water management to cool pavements that combat urban heat. Our experience has taught us that technology is vital, but its true value is realised when it is shared.
Wake-up call for voters
Oped, Editorial, Published on 24/04/2025
» As nationwide elections for municipality mayors and council members are approaching, concerns are mounting amid the relatively low level of public enthusiasm for the polls that fall on May 11.
State entities too complex to be treated as startups
Oped, Mariana Mazzucato and Rainer Kattel, Published on 17/04/2025
» Around the world, governments are trying to reinvent themselves in the image of business. Elon Musk's DOGE crusade in the United States is quite explicit on this point, as is Argentina's chainsaw-wielding president, Javier Milei. But one also hears similar rhetoric in the United Kingdom, where Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden wants the government to foster a "test-and-learn" culture and move towards performance-based management.
We can't escape climate migration, it's inevitable
Oped, Gaia Vince, Published on 15/02/2025
» Not quite a quarter of the way through this 21st century and horrifying scenes of inferno are again broadcast across the world -- this time, from Los Angeles. Among the tens of thousands of dazed citizens forced to evacuate are the world's wealthiest climate refugees: business moguls and Hollywood stars.
City's anti-rat crusade has never been this normal
News, Stephen Mihm, Published on 13/08/2024
» New York City's mayor, Eric Adams, has opened up a new front of his war on rats. Mr Adams, who already made headlines for appointing a "rat czar" last year, has escalated his campaign against the city's ubiquitous rodents. Last week, he announced the creation of the "Rat Pack", which he billed as an "elite squad of anti-rat activists" who will take the fight to the enemy.
China needs to step back from decentralisation
Oped, Huang Yiping, Published on 10/08/2024
» The decentralisation of decision-making from the central government to local authorities is widely regarded as one of China's most effective policy reforms in the past four decades. As the Communist Party's priorities shifted from class struggle to economic development, decentralisation turned out to be a tremendous catalyst for growth.
Bangladesh's youth uprising has Arab Spring echoes
News, Niaz Asadullah, Published on 27/07/2024
» In recent weeks, the Bangladeshi government has cracked down violently on students demanding equitable access to coveted government jobs amid an unemployment crisis. To contain the protests, authorities have shut down all educational institutions, imposed a strict curfew, and cut off internet access. Thousands of police officers and paramilitaries have been patrolling the streets, and more than 170 people have died.
Cities can drive climate solutions
Oped, Michael R Bloomberg & Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, Published on 06/12/2023
» Nation-states, presidents, and prime ministers are the players who garner the biggest headlines and the most media attention at each year's UN Climate Change Conference. Yet for the past decade, and with far less fanfare, cities, states, and regional governments (known as "subnationals") have been implementing the Paris climate agreement's guidance, even when their national governments have not. This has meant investing in clean-energy systems and other urban innovations to reduce emissions locally and sharing what works through networks like C40 and the Global Covenant of Mayors to accelerate progress on a larger scale.
Global leaders unite at COP28
Oped, Annalena Baerbock, Published on 01/12/2023
» A farmer in the Niger whose fields have dried up due to the heat. A father in Palau who does not know whether his house will still be standing when his children are grown up -- or whether the rising sea levels will swallow up his village. Mayors in Spain, Germany or Lithuania who have to find a way to protect their towns and cities from a water shortage and ever more dangerous floods.
What local governments need to lead properly
Oped, Mariana Mazzucato & James Anderson, Published on 08/07/2023
» Local governments are manning the front lines of our most important global battles -- from managing severe weather and other climate shocks to preparing for the next pandemic, ensuring health for all, rectifying longstanding racial inequities, and addressing housing affordability. Urban areas now account for over half the world's population, and their governments are uniquely positioned to understand and address their own communities' needs.