City Mayors: Mayors running the world's cities

Cities are shaping today's social, cultural, technological and economic agendas. They compete, learn from each other and act together.

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City Mayors ranks the world’s largest, best as well as richest cities and urban areas. It also ranks the cities in individual countries, and provides a list of the capital cities of some 200 sovereign countries. More

City Mayors profiles city leaders from around the world. More

City Mayors describes the history, architecture and politics of the greatest city halls in the world. More

Mayors from The Americas, Europe. Asia, Australia and Africa compete for the World Mayor Award. More

Use Mayor Monitor to rate the performance of mayors from across the world More

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City Mayors reports political events, analyses the issues and depicts the main players. More

City Mayors describes and explains the structures and workings of local government in Europe, The Americas, Asia, Australia and Africa. More

City Mayors deals with economic and investment issues affecting towns and cities. More

City Mayors describes and explains financial issues affecting local government. More

City Mayors reports urban environmental developments and examines the challenges faced by cities worldwide. More

City Mayors reports on and discusses urban development issues in developed and developing countries. More

City Mayors reports on developments in urban society and behaviour and reviews relevant research. More

City Mayors invites readers to write about the people in their cities. More

City Mayors examines city brands and marketing. More

City Mayors lists and features urban events, conferences and conventions aimed at urban decision makers and those with an interst in cities worldwide. More

City Mayors deals with urban transport issues in developed and developing countries and features the world’s greatest metro systems. More

City Mayors examines education issues and policies affecting children and adults in urban areas. More

City Mayors investigates health issues affecting urban areas with an emphasis on health in cities in developing countries. More

City Mayors reports on how business developments impact on cities and examines cooperation between cities and the private sector. More

City Mayors examines the contributions history and culture make to urban society and environment. More

City Mayors examines the importance of urban tourism to city economies. More

City Mayors questions those who govern the world’s cities and talks to men and women who contribute to urban society and environment. More

City Mayors profiles national and international organisations representing cities as well as those dealing with urban issues. More

City Mayors reports on major national and international sporting events and their impact on cities. More

City Mayors lists cities and city organisations, profiles individual mayors and provides information on hundreds of urban events. More

Mayor and assembly support
amnesty for illegal immigrants
News (London): London's assembly has backed Mayor Johnson's support for an amnesty for irregular migrants resident in the British capital. The motion proposed by Green member Darren Johnson calls on the mayor to join with it in petitioning the UK government for a amnesty for undocumented workers. The authors of the motion argued that a one-off scheme to give such workers citizenship rights would be in the interests of both the economy. However, five members of the mayor's Conservative Party voted against the motion. More

Bosnians vote for ethnic
parties in local elections
News (Elections): Results of Sunday’s (5 October) local elections in Bosnia Herzegovina reflect the ethnic divisions of the country. To the dismay of many European politicians, voters provided the three nationalist parties, representing Muslims, Serbs and Croats, with decisive victories. Preliminary results show that the Alliance of Independent Social democrats (SNSD) of Serb Prime Minister Milorad Dodik won mayoral races in at least 32 municipalities. The Serb Democratic Party (SDS) was far behind with 15 wins. More

Helen Zille, Mayor of Cape Town,
wins the 2008 World Mayor Prize
World Mayor 2008: Helen Zille, Executive Mayor of Cape Town and leader of South Africa’s opposition Democratic Alliance, has been awarded the 2008 World Mayor Prize. Commentators supporting her nomination said that in a country devoid of present-day role models, this amazing lady was making a difference and giving people there hope: “Her only equals are Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela in Southern Africa.” Elmar Ledergerber, Mayor of Zurich has been awarded the World Mayor Commendation. More

Brazil’s socialists celebrate
first wins in local elections
Politics (Brazil): Sao Paulo’s mayoral race has gone to a second round between incumbent Gilberto Kassab and former mayor Marta Suplicy following a closely fought campaign. Elsewhere in the 5 October 2008 elections, the Workers’ Party (PT) hailed its “best performance yet” with a clutch of outright victories in state capitals, while in Rio the outside-ranked Green challenger has forced a run-off against the leading centrist candidate. More

Very few mayors rise to top
positions in US government
Politics (USA): Sarah Palin, the running mate of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, is a former mayor of Wasilla (population 7,000), Alaska. Ms. Palin is trying to become the second mayor ever to ascend to the vice-presidency of the United States. To a large degree, Palin’s candidacy reflects Americans’ ambivalence towards cities. More

Scientists from Germany and Korea
work on creating green mega cities
Environment: Seoul, the capital of South Korea, is a typical mega city: vast, pulsating, noisy and full of exhaust fumes. This is the setting in which researchers from the German Fraunhofer Institute are developing new building concepts and IT solutions. which will save energy, cut pollution and make living in the city a more pleasant experience. More

Paris, London and Barcelona
are Europe’s top city brands
City Marketing: In a unique study, which ranks Europe’s largest cities based on a comparison of their assets and attractions against the strength of their brands, Paris emerges as Europe’s number one city brand, followed by London, Barcelona, Berlin and Amsterdam. The research also reveals that the French capital is the most asset-rich city in Europe, ahead of, again, London and followed by Munich, Barcelona and Amsterdam. Bradford, UK, is the lowest-ranked city in both categories. More

Mayor Monitor
Critical but fair
Mayor Monitor: Mayor Johnson, how many deputy mayors does it take to run London?...More; Shirley Franklin’s worst decision has been the closing down of fire stations….More; Mayor Kilpatrick cares more about his own legal problems than the city of Detroit… More; Mayor Bloomberg is helping to force the middle class population, which has been a big part of New York City, out of this city…More; Gavin Newsom didn't have to take a stand on gay rights but he did what's right and followed through on it…More; Mayor Cohen’s worst decision has been to take down Amsterdam’s red light district…More; Mayor Wowereit is not perfect, but…More.

Currency movements main factor in deciding
ranking of most expensive cities in the world
Statistics: Moscow is the world’s most expensive city for expatriates for the third consecutive year, according to the latest Cost of Living Survey from Mercer. Tokyo is in second position climbing two places since 2007, whereas London drops one place to rank third. Oslo climbs six places to 4th place and is followed by Seoul in 5th. Asunción in Paraguay is the least expensive city in the ranking for the sixth year running. More

Mayor Monitor: City Mayors introduces Mayor Monitor (MM), which allows residents and non-residents to rate the performance of mayors and highlight their ‘best’ and ‘worst’ decisions. Mayor Monitor uses the widely understood one-to-ten rating system, where '1' signifies an extremely poor performance and '10' ‘an outstanding one. In addition to rating mayors’ performances, citizens are invited to highlight their best and worst decisions while in office. More

Brazil’s governing party predicted
to do well in coming local elections
Politics (Brazil): Midway through the Workers’ Party (PT) government’s second term, the party appears on course to repeat its electoral success in Brazil’s local elections on 5 October 2008. Nowhere does this seem more apparent than in São Paulo, the country’s economic and financial powerhouse. There, the party’s candidate, Marta Suplicy, the sitting mayor who lost the 2004 election to the social democratic (PSDB) candidate Jose Serra, has a good chance of winning the post a second time. More

Very few mayors rise to top
positions in US government
Politics (USA): Sarah Palin, the running mate of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, is a former mayor of Wasilla (population 7,000), Alaska. Ms. Palin is trying to become the second mayor ever to ascend to the vice-presidency of the United States. To a large degree, Palin’s candidacy reflects Americans’ ambivalence towards cities. More

Supreme Court rules against
US cities fighting gun violence
Society (USA): A June 2008 US Supreme Court ruling on gun control appears to be a clear defeat for American cities struggling to control gun violence. The ruling struck down the city of Washington, DC’s ban on handguns and will likely lead to fewer restrictions on the ownership, sale, and possession of firearms. More

For humanity’s sake, developing world
must prepare for soaring urbanisation
Society (World): In 2008, the world reaches an invisible but momentous milestone: For the first time in history, more than half its human population, 3.3 billion people, will be living in urban areas. By 2030, this is expected to swell to almost five billion. Many of the new urbanites will be poor. Their future, the future of cities in developing countries, the future of humanity itself, all depend very much on decisions made now in preparation for this growth. More

Urban population is growing
by one million people a week
Society (World): The world’s urban population will grow from 2.86 billion in 2000 to 4.98 billion by 2030, of which high-income countries will account for only 28 million out of the expected increase of 2.12 billion. The world’s annual urban growth rate is projected at 1.8 per cent in contrast to the rural growth rate of 0.1 per cent and about 60 per cent of the world’s population will live in cities. More

London remains number one
but the future belongs to Asia
Economics: London remains the world's best financial and commercial city, the future, however, appears to belong to Asia and Eastern Europe, whose cities represent the fastest rising world regions in the latest commercial and financial research by MasterCard. Shanghai had the largest jump in overall rank - moving eight places from 2007 to 2008 - bringing it into the top 25 of this year's index and demonstrating the growing importance of Asian cities to a progressively urbanized global economy. More

Los Angeles is paying the price
for mayor’s focus on real estate
Economics (USA): Ever since his election in 2005, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has been portrayed as a politician with a future that possibly included the governorship. As soon as he entered office, he launched an impressive succession of ‘bold’ initiatives — among them, to make the Los Angeles Police Department a 10,000-cop force, to ‘green’ the port of Los Angeles, to improve the academic scores of some of LA Unified's worst-performing schools. Until the real estate bubble burst, he oversaw a building boom downtown and elsewhere, casting himself as a visionary re-creating LA as a model of ‘elegant density’. More

Municipal bonds have been issued
by US local government since 1812
Finance (USA): Infrastructure in the US is generally financed through subnational capital financing vehicles, termed municipal bonds, which encompass the issuance of bonds by state and local governments, their agencies and quasi-public bodies generically termed special districts. While the term comprises issuers other than municipalities, the first bond of this trail-blazing genre was issued in 1812 by New York City. This pioneering debt instrument was a general obligation bond, which meant that it was backed by the taxing power and tax revenues of the issuer. More

Scientists from Germany and Korea
work on creating green mega cities
Environment: Seoul, the capital of South Korea, is a typical mega city: vast, pulsating, noisy and full of exhaust fumes. This is the setting in which researchers from the German Fraunhofer Institute are developing new building concepts and IT solutions. which will save energy, cut pollution and make living in the city a more pleasant experience. More

The world’s best cities
are still in Switzerland
Environment (World): Zurich and Geneva are the best cities in the world as far as quality of live is concerned, says a new survey. Vancouver (Canada) is placed third, followed by Vienna (Austria), Auckland (New Zealand), Düsseldorf (Germany) and Frankfurt (Germany). Paris, London and Madrid are in the lower half of the top-50 table. Overall, Baghdad is not surprisingly the lowest ranking city in the survey. More

American mayors welcome military
schools into poorer neighborhoods
Education (USA): A little-known occurrence in public education in American cities is the rise of military schools. These schools generally operate as a partnership between the local school district and the US Department of Defense. They target poor, minority students between the ages of 10 and 18, especially African-Americans, and offer academic instruction and athletic activities within a framework of military discipline. More

Elected mayors are more
effective, says US study
Government (USA): An historical study of mayors in US big cities finds that mayors who are popularly elected are more effective than those who come to office through other means. The study, by Andrew D. McNitt* of Eastern Illinois University, examined the performance in office of 846 mayors of 19 US cities -- including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Detroit, San Francisco, Boston, and Houston – between 1820 and 1995. More

Local government in Cyprus
Government (Europe): For such a small territorial entity, the island of Cyprus is relatively unique in having three forms of administration under three forms of competing national sovereignties. However, since its independence from Britain in 1960, its people have coped with the burden of an international dispute through a relatively stable form of pluralistic local democracy, which has enabled them to at least serve the needs of everyday life. More

Tomihisa Taue
Mayor of Nagasaki
Mayors (Asia): Though only one year in office, Nagasaki mayor Tomihisa Taue has attracted an international profile as an outspoken opponent of nuclear weapons. A bureaucrat turned city leader, not uncommon in Japan, Taue has surprised many with his energy and informal approach to governing the city, which lies at the south-western edge of the country and has long been its gateway to the world. More

Jerry Abramson
Mayor of Louisville
Mayors (USA): Jerry Abramson is the first Jewish mayor of the city best known for the Kentucky Derby and has dominated its public life since his first election in 1985. Mayor of a city with a strong history in the slave trade and known for its prominence in the national racial unrest of 1968, Abramson appointed the city's first black police chief. More

Jena City Hall: One of
the oldest in Germany
City Halls (Europe): The historic city hall (Rathaus) of Jena, whose origins go back to 1413, is one of the oldest in Germany. Situated at Markt 1 in the city centre, the building still houses a few city departments, such as the civil registry office, but most of them are now located in a separate municipal building close to the city hall. More

Europe’s city centers and suburbs
will change drastically in the future
Development (Europe): The renaissance of the city is a hot topic in Europe. But what does the term renaissance mean? Generally it designates the renaissance of the inner city, the complex, mixed used inner city. The term renaissance is often applied to the city center only. Is such a perception appropriate? Does it mean that suburbanization is in decline? I assume that European cities have turned into urban regions, which will change drastically in the future. More

Dubai and Shanghai examples
of wasteful urban development
Development (World): The danger of treating climate change only as a man-made phenomenon that impacts nature’s systems is that it posits the problem in some distant remoteness and absolves all of us of immediate responsibility. The facts tell us that three-quarters of the carbon dioxide in the world, which is the biggest greenhouse gas, is emitted by cities. Dubai and Shanghai are models that ought to be avoided, as they are examples of environmentally wasteful urban development. More

London’s canal network offers opportunity
for viable and sustainable freight transport
Transport (UK): Back in August 1981 three barges loaded with lime juice and pith in 45 gallon barrels made their way up the Thames. At the helm on that day was a colleague of mine, Gerry Heward. He was about to have a date with history. At Brentford in west London the tiny fleet passed through the tidal lock and onto the 200 year old Grand Union Canal. From here they travelled 50 kilometres north to Hemel Hempstead. At Rose’s factory, the barges unloaded their cargo so it could be processed into lime juice cordial and marmalade. More

Paris, London and Barcelona
are Europe’s top city brands
City Marketing: In a unique study, which ranks Europe’s largest cities based on a comparison of their assets and attractions against the strength of their brands, Paris emerges as Europe’s number one city brand, followed by London, Barcelona, Berlin and Amsterdam. The research also reveals that the French capital is the most asset-rich city in Europe, ahead of, again, London and followed by Munich, Barcelona and Amsterdam. Bradford, UK, is the lowest-ranked city in both categories. More

The largest cities in the world by
land area, population and density
Statistics (World): With the merger of core cities, suburbs and satellite towns into large metropolitan areas, the very largest cities in the world have in fact become megacities, i.e. cities with more than 10 million people. The area comprising Tokyo and Yokohama is, with a population of between 33 and 35 million, the world’s largest megacity. Other cities among the world’s top five megacities are Mexico City, New York Metro, Sao Paulo and Mumbai. More

Tokyo is number one among
the richest cities in the world
Statistics (World): Greater Tokyo stands unrivalled in the world. For many years to come, the Japanese capital together with its surrounding urban areas will remain the richest and largest city in the world. Research published by PricewaterhouseCopper (PWC) in March 2007 places the Japanese capital at the top of the world’s richest cities between 2005 and 2020. In its own research on the world’s largest cities between 2006 and 2020, City Mayors also ranks Tokyo number one in the world. More

Urban events, conferences
seminars and conventions
Events (International): City Mayors’ directory of urban events, conferences, seminars and conventions is aimed at city leaders, urban decision makers and those with an interest in cities worldwide. The directory provides specialists with comprehensive lists of events tailored to their areas of interest. More

Metro Mensch in Baghdad
Dear Mom: Do you remember Carl? His dad fixed our roof some years ago. He always messed about with cars, stole a couple too. But was a real nice guy, even in high school. His folks thought the army would sort him out. Did too. He can repair anything, never had a scratch on any of the trucks he drives. Well, until last week that is. But he was lucky. Only lost a leg when a grenade hit his jeep. The guy next to him took the full blast. The medics put him straight into a bag. More

City Mayors supports mayors who have the vision, the passion and the skills to make their cities amazing places to live, to work and to visit.

Helen Zille, Mayor of Cape Town, wins the 2008 World Mayor Prize

Mayor and assembly support amnesty for illegal immigrants

Bosnians vote for ethnic parties in local elections

NYC divided over mayor's decision to seek third term

London police chief resigns following meeting with mayor

Centre-right suffers large losses in north and south of Germany

Mayor Bloomberg feted by Democrats and Republicans

An irreverent view of sex and p
olitics

Portland named as the greenest US city

Canadian mayors demand long-term vision for cities

Very few mayors rise to top in US government

US cities will find it much harder to make ends meet

London mayor at peace again

Sydney’s colourful mayor overwhelmingly re-elected

Scientists propose white roofs and cool roads

Globalisation creates two-speed urban UK

Rome mayor again angers ant-fascists

The largest cities in the world by land area, population and density

The world's largest urban areas in 2006 and 2020

Swiss and German cities dominate ranking of best cities in the world

The most expensive cities in the world, Asia and Europe

Moscow remains the world's most expensive city

Helen Zille, Mayor of Cape Town, wins the 2008 World Mayor Prize

Mayor Monitor allows for rolling performance assessments of city mayors

Local government

Mayors of the world

World Mayor 2008

The world's city halls

Green mega cities

For humanity's sake, developing world must prepare for soaring urbanisation

A city’s ecological footprint bears no comparison to its actual area

Asia has become home to world's fastest growing cities

Tokyo is numbr one among the richest cities in the world

Cities are not the problem, but the solution in the battle for biodiversity

City mayors must innovate where governments dither

London remains number one but the future belongs to Asia

21st century cities: Home to new riches and great misery

Urban events, conferences, seminars and conventions

Global urbanisation: Threats and benefits

Historic Cities - Living Cities

Mayors from The Americas

Local government in The Americas

City Halls in The Americas

North American cities on the internet

Very few mayors rise to top in US government

Elected mayors are more effective, says US study

Supreme Court rules against US cities fighting gun violence

American mayors welcome military schools into poorer neighborhoods

US and Canadian mayors work together to protect Great Lakes

Pittsburgh and Los Angeles - the most polluted US cities

America prefers to punish rather than to provide care

Hunger and homelessness persists in American cities

Municipal bonds have been issued by US local government since 1812

Brazil’s socialists celebrate first wins in local elections

The world’s largest wholesale market feeds 20 million people

Sao Paulo’s Alphaville gated community - an early answer to middle-class insecurity

Metro Mensch story from Sao Paulo: Maria and Luis

Mayors from Europe

City Halls in Europe

Local government in Europe

Paris.London and Barcelona are Europe's top city brands

Europe’s city centers and suburbs will change drastically in the future

Continental cities provide lessons for urban Britain

London’s canal network offers opportunity for viable and sustainable freight transport

2012 London Olympics to regenerate one of the poorest areas of the capital

EU carbon emission agreement will strengthen concept of liveable cities

European Cities of Culture 1985 to 2019

London, Paris and Frankfurt remain Europe’s favourite business cities

Mayors from Asia

Local government in Asia

City Halls in Asia

Changes in Asia’s fast growing cities are closely watched across the world

China is at the forefront of the greatest urban-industrial revolution of all time

Fukuoka - one of Japan's doors to the world for more than 1000 years

Matsuyama City

Megacities must urgently address the needs of slum dwellers

Indian will need new cities

Time bomb is ticking away for India’s cities

Dubai and Shanghai examples of wasteful urban development

Fought over for many centuries, Madurai is one of India’s most remarkable cities

Metro Mensch in Baghdad

Tokyo Metro: The world’s cleanest and most extensive subway system

Afghan cities offer few opportunities for rising numbers of rural migrants

Mayors from Australia

City Halls in Australia

Local government in Australia

John So elected World Mayor 2006

Australia's logal government association

Melbourne Mayor calls for bold ideas to manage the city's transport system

Australian local government needs more resources

Mayors from Africa

Local government in Africa

By 2030 Africa will change from rural to urban society

Success of future megacities will depend on cooperation between citizens and authorities

Harare's middle-class residents take up urban farming to counter food shortages

Amnesty International calls on African governments to stop forced evictions

Canary Islands: Refugee crisis on the Afro-European fault line

Mauritania’s urban slums offer no support to rural newcomers

African cities demand access to basic services