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 Women in cities give much but take far less than men Society: Women in developing countries contribute significantly to the prosperity of cities but they are often the last to benefit. This becomes evident, a new report says, in notable gender gaps in labour and employment, pay, tenure rights, access to and accumulation of assets, personal security and safety and representation in formal structures of urban governance. The report Gender and the Prosperity of Cities recommends that cities formulate gender policies, strengthen accountability for gender equality and enhance strategies for the economic empowerment and livelihoods of women. More Museums draw more visitors than US sporting events and theme parks Culture: The website of the American Alliance of Museums has a section titled, “How do I start a new museum?” It’s a fascinating question, suggesting that anyone can start a museum. In fact, most of the museums in the United States were started by private individuals and are privately funded and privately operated. Most American museums are also readily accessible to the general public and most of the art museums are located in cities. More Racial profiling again under scrutiny in the United States Society: A federal court in New York City is considering the legality of the New York Police Department’s ‘stop and frisk’ practices. The NYPD maintains that stopping and searching suspicious persons has resulted in the confiscation of illegal weapons and drugs, thus preventing crimes and saving lives. The plaintiffs in the court case argue that Blacks and Latinos are illegally characterized, or ‘profiled’, as troublemakers and stopped and frisked at higher rates than whites. Moreover, they say, there is no constitutional justification for the majority of the stops - that most people stopped aren’t 'suspicious' in any meaningful, objective way - and that there is no oversight of the police department’s practice. More Megaregions are predicted to propel US population and economic growth Development: It’s a commonplace among urban planners and many policymakers that regions are the basic unit of economic competitiveness in the global economy. America 2050, part of the Regional Plan Association, reckons that America’s population growth and and even a larger share of the country’s economic expansion will occur in 11 megaregions. Yet nowhere in the industrialized world are regions given fewer resources and less power than in the United States. More The North Carolina model is more relevant than ever to US local government finance Finance: North Carolina’s municipal finance and oversight system demonstrates how to limit the number of fiscal crises. As a result of its local government default history in the issuance of municipal bonds during the Great Depression, the State of North Carolina developed a system that continues to influence others in following the path it took in the early 20th Century. Today when a number of US states are forced to take over the financial management of municipalities and school boards, North Carolina’s system of state supervision of local government finances has become more relevant than ever. More A comparison of UK and European cities Statistics: Almost 13 per cent of the UK population live in London. With the exception of Vienna, no other major European capital city is home to such a high proportion of its country’s citizens. Recent research by City Mayors shows that 20.2 per cent of Austrians live in Vienna, 12.9 per cent of Britons call London their home, while 12.4 per of Norwegians reside in Oslo. Helsinki, Copenhagen and Brussels also house more than ten per cent of their respective national populations. But less than five per cent of the people of France, Germany, Poland and Italy live in their respective capital cities. More The price of bread in the world’s most and least expensive cities Economics: At the beginning of 2013, Tokyo has firmly established itself as the world’s most expensive city. Three out of four organisations, that conduct annual research into the cost of living in cities across the world, agree for the first time that the Japanese capital is now more expensive for expatriates than either Zurich or Oslo. Only the Swiss bank UBS still maintains that Oslo and Zurich are more expensive than Tokyo. More Sustainability and the American City Books: Americans can imagine a sustainable world, but can they attain it? The answer may lay in the deeply-held beliefs - the hard constants - that Americans carry with them. Sustainability, after all, means changing one’s behavior by using fewer resources, adjusting consumption patterns, altering daily habits, and thinking long-term. n his new book Hard Constants: Sustainability and the American City, Tony Favro shows that sustainability is neither obvious nor assured. Hard Constants: Sustainability and the American City, published by The City Mayors Foundation, is now available free of charge. More America debates how investment in transportation affects the economy Transport: Highways and private motor vehicles are iconic features of American culture - the open road, the fast lane, the drive-in and drive through, the independent trucker, the soccer mom, the teen’s first car, and so on. The cultural icons are linked to the economic benefits that highways can bring. Ninety-eight per cent of US mayors point to investment in affordable, reliable surface transportation as an important part of their cities’ economic growth. More London Underground carries three million people every day World Metros: Heritage and modernisation are the watchwords for London’s underground rail network, the ‘tube’, as it reaches its 150th anniversary. The world’s first underground railway, between Paddington and Farringdon Street was opened by the Metropolitan Railway in December 1863. Today, London Underground carries three million passengers a day across 275 stations on its 253 mile network. More Mumbai in urgent need of reforms to governance and management Government: Mumbai is one of the world's 10 most populous cities and the most populous, and wealthiest, city in India. Yet over 42 per cent of its people live in slums. The megacity has lost the capacity to deliver public services, because of negligence as well as insufficient financial and physical resources. Almost two-thirds of revenue is spent on staff and less than one third on services. There is now an urgent need to consider other management options and changes to governance. More The best cities in the world for environment and infrastructure Environment: Vienna has again been named as the ‘best city’ in the world, with the Austrian capital’s perennial Swiss rival, Zurich, in second place. Auckland, Munich and Vancouver complete the top five. Overall, German-speaking cities, including Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Bern, occupy six places in the top ten of this year’s Quality of Living Survey by Mercer Consulting. Paris is ranked 29th, London 38th and New York City 44th. Singapore, Frankfurt and Munich offer the best infrastructure. More The US communities most in danger of going bankrupt Finance: In October 2012, the debt of 30 US cities, towns, villages, counties and school districts were rated as ‘speculative grade’. A year earlier only 25 communities were given speculative grades. More America’s most popular city mayors on Twitter Social Media: With a few exceptions, all mayors of America’s largest cities use social media to communicate with residents but, with more than 1.2 million followers on Twitter, the Mayor of Newark, NJ, is in a league of his own. Cory Booker’s personal Twitter page records almost five times as many followers than his city has residents. New York’s Michael Bloomberg has the second highest number of Twitter followers of any US mayor. The mayors of Portland, Illinois and San Antonio complete the top five of most popular Twitter mayors. More Flourishing cities embrace immigrants Society: Without migration homo sapiens would not dominate today’s world. Had our ancestors stayed in central Africa some 50,000 years ago, the human race would have developed very differently. The drive to spread out geographically, for whatever reason, is part of our make-up and is behind Man’s success story. Many recent scientific and technological advances - e.g. the telephone, the internet, space exploration - are the result of our need to move beyond local boundaries. Migration will remain a dominant feature of further human development, a fact recognised by many progressive city mayors from around the world. More Directories of European and North American cities Directories: City Mayors' internet directories provide one-click access to the websites of European and North American cities. Europe | North America Urban population growth between 1950 and 2030 Statistics: In 2008, the world reached an invisible but momentous milestone: For the first time in history, more than half its human population, 3.3 billion people, lived in urban areas. By 2030, this is expected to swell to more than five billion. Urbanisation has already surpassed the 90-per-cent mark, not only in city states like Singapore and Kuwait, but also in Belgium, Venezuela, Uruguay, Argentina, Israel and the UK. In the US, where for the past 100 years the majority of people have been living in cities, more than 82 per cent of the total population now reside in urban areas. More  Democratic mayors capture most of America’s big cities Politics / Elections: On the same day as US President Barack Obama won a second term in office, mayoral elections were held in some 300 major US cities, with the Democrats scoring some notable successes. In San Diego, California, Bob Filner became the city’s first Democratic mayor in 20 years. In an extremely tight race, Filner defeated Republican Carl DeMaio, who, if successful, would have become the first openly gay Republican mayor of a major US city. More  Women in cities give much but take far less than men Society: Women in developing countries contribute significantly to the prosperity of cities but they are often the last to benefit. This becomes evident, a new report says, in notable gender gaps in labour and employment, pay, tenure rights, access to and accumulation of assets, personal security and safety and representation in formal structures of urban governance. The report Gender and the Prosperity of Cities recommends that cities formulate gender policies, strengthen accountability for gender equality and enhance strategies for the economic empowerment and livelihoods of women. More Racial profiling again under scrutiny in the United States Society: A federal court in New York City is considering the legality of the New York Police Department’s ‘stop and frisk’ practices. The NYPD maintains that stopping and searching suspicious persons has resulted in the confiscation of illegal weapons and drugs, thus preventing crimes and saving lives. The plaintiffs in the court case argue that Blacks and Latinos are illegally characterized, or ‘profiled’, as troublemakers and stopped and frisked at higher rates than whites. Moreover, they say, there is no constitutional justification for the majority of the stops - that most people stopped aren’t 'suspicious' in any meaningful, objective way - and that there is no oversight of the police department’s practice. More  The price of bread in the world’s most and least expensive cities Economics: At the beginning of 2013, Tokyo has firmly established itself as the world’s most expensive city. Three out of four organisations, that conduct annual research into the cost of living in cities across the world, agree for the first time that the Japanese capital is now more expensive for expatriates than either Zurich or Oslo. Only the Swiss bank UBS still maintains that Oslo and Zurich are more expensive than Tokyo. More  The North Carolina model is more relevant than ever to US local government finance Finance: North Carolina’s municipal finance and oversight system demonstrates how to limit the number of fiscal crises. As a result of its local government default history in the issuance of municipal bonds during the Great Depression, the State of North Carolina developed a system that continues to influence others in following the path it took in the early 20th Century. Today when a number of US states are forced to take over the financial management of municipalities and school boards, North Carolina’s system of state supervision of local government finances has become more relevant than ever. More The US communities most in danger of going bankrupt Finance: In October 2012, Moody’s, the US credit rating agency, published a report which rated the debt of 30 US cities, towns, villages, counties and school districts as ‘speculative grade’. A year earlier only 25 communities were given speculative grades. More  The best cities in the world for environment and infrastructure Environment: Vienna has again been named as the ‘best city’ in the world, with the Austrian capital’s perennial Swiss rival, Zurich, in second place. Auckland, Munich and Vancouver complete the top five. Overall, German-speaking cities, including Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Bern, occupy six places in the top ten of this year’s Quality of Living Survey by Mercer Consulting. Paris is ranked 29th, London 38th and New York City 44th. Singapore, Frankfurt and Munich offer the best infrastructure. More  Megaregions are predicted to propel US population and economic growth Development: It’s a commonplace among urban planners and many policymakers that regions are the basic unit of economic competitiveness in the global economy. America 2050, part of the Regional Plan Association, reckons that America’s population growth and and even a larger share of the country’s economic expansion will occur in 11 megaregions. Yet nowhere in the industrialized world are regions given fewer resources and less power than in the United States. More  America’s most popular city mayors on Twitter Social Media: With a few exceptions, all mayors of America’s largest cities use social media to communicate with residents but, with more than 1.2 million followers on Twitter, the Mayor of Newark, NJ, is in a league of his own. Cory Booker’s personal Twitter page records almost five times as many followers than his city has residents. New York’s Michael Bloomberg has the second highest number of Twitter followers of any US mayor. The mayors of Portland, Illinois and San Antonio complete the top five of most popular Twitter mayors. More  US state school teachers face public performance scrutiny Education: The new school year is beginning in the United States, and millions of public (state) school students and their teachers are heading back to their classrooms. Students can look forward to having their progress tracked by report cards, and, for the first time, so can many teachers. Teacher evaluations are moving beyond the perfunctory “thumbs-up” or “thumbs-down” to more detailed - and more public - performance ratings tied to student performance. More  Urban planners must make public health main priority Health: As our society changes and develops, so too does our urban environment and the process of urban planning is, at present, in a state of flux. Central to the objectives of future planning needs to be an emphasis on public health. Urban planning and public health have long been intertwined, so intrinsically is human environment linked to well being. More  Mumbai in urgent need of reforms to governance and management Government: Mumbai is one of the world's 10 most populous cities and the most populous, and wealthiest, city in India. Yet over 42 per cent of its people live in slums. The megacity has lost the capacity to deliver public services, because of negligence as well as insufficient financial and physical resources. Almost two-thirds of revenue is spent on staff and less than one third on services. There is now an urgent need to consider other management options and changes to governance. More History and many post-war reforms shape local government in the UK Government: There is no single pattern of local government in the United Kingdom. Instead arrangements vary in the four ‘home nations’ of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, Wales and urban England, with the exception of London, single-tier unitary authorities provide all local services, whereas non-metropolitan England is served by a two-tier system split between district and county councils. More  Joko Widodo (Jokowi) Governor of Jakarta Mayors: Joko Widodo, who was awarded third pace in the 2012 World Mayor Project, became the elected governor of Jakarta in October 2012 after serving as mayor of Surakarta (Solo) since 2005. During his time as Mayor of Surakarta, Joko Widodo (Jokowi) turned the crime-ridden city into a regional centre for arts and culture, which has started to attract international tourism. His campaign against corruption earned him the description of being the most honest politician in Indonesia. Joko Widodo’s victory over Jakarta’s incumbent governor Fauzi Bowo was largely due to his track record as mayor of his home town and his reputation for honesty and humility. More Mayors from Europe, The Americas and Asia British mayors | Belgian mayors | French mayors | German mayors | Italian mayors | Spanish mayors | Canadian mayors | US mayors | Argentine mayors | Brazilian mayors | Chilean mayors | Colombian Mayors | Mexican mayors | Japanese mayors | South African mayors |  Latin American cities are the most dangerous in the world Security: Latin America's cities are the most dangerous in the world, with certain cities - especially Honduran and Mexican ones - leading the list of world cities with most murders. San Pedro Sula, a city of some 720,000 people in northern Honduras is thought to be the most dangerous city in the world with 160 murders per 100,000 inhabitants per annum. The murder rate in Ciudad Juárez, on the Mexican-US, border is estimated at 148. New Orleans, with a murder rate of 58, is the world’s most murderous city outside Latin America. More Confronting organized crime and urban violence in Latin America Security: Public safety is increasingly determined by crime and security in urban spaces. How the public safety problem in urban spaces is dealt with in the 21st century as urbanization intensifies will determine citizens’ perceptions of the accountability and effectiveness of the state in upholding the social contract between the citizens and the state. Major cities of the world and the provision of security and order within them, will increasingly play a major role in the 21st century distribution of global power. More  Museums draw more visitors than US sporting events and theme parks Culture: The website of the American Alliance of Museums has a section titled, “How do I start a new museum?” It’s a fascinating question, suggesting that anyone can start a museum. In fact, most of the museums in the United States were started by private individuals and are privately funded and privately operated. Most American museums are also readily accessible to the general public and most of the art museums are located in cities. More Songs written for American cities Culture: It is said there is a song for every city in America. While some songs never got much further than the city limits others became international hits. Gerard Kenny’s 1978 ode to his hometown ‘New York, New York - So Good They Named It Twice’ spelled the re-birth of America’s largest metropolis after it almost went bankrupt in 1975 and one year after a city-wide blackout shut it down for 25 hours. The song ‘If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair’ sung by Scott McKenzie in 1967 became the anthem for the worldwide flower power movement. More  British city halls present a wide range of neo-classical and neo-gothic styles City Halls: The majority of British city halls of the 19th and early 20th century feature neo-classical and neo-gothic architectural designs. Bolton’s Town Hall is a fine example of 19th century neo-classical architecture, while Southampton’s Civic Centre was designed in a modern, spare classical style. In contrast, Bradford City Hall is an impressive example of Victorian neo-gothic architecture. David Jennings describes their history, features and current use. | Bolton | Southampton | Bradford |  America debates how investment in transportation affects the economy Transport: Highways and private motor vehicles are iconic features of American culture - the open road, the fast lane, the drive-in and drive through, the independent trucker, the soccer mom, the teen’s first car, and so on. The cultural icons are linked to the economic benefits that highways can bring. Ninety-eight per cent of US mayors point to investment in affordable, reliable surface transportation as an important part of their cities’ economic growth. More London Underground carries three million people every day World Metros: Heritage and modernisation are the watchwords for London’s underground rail network, the ‘tube’, as it reaches its 150th anniversary. The world’s first underground railway, between Paddington and Farringdon Street was opened by the Metropolitan Railway in December 1863. Today, London Underground carries three million passengers a day across 275 stations on its 253 mile network. More Singapore is investing billions to expand its metro rail system World Metros: Singapore began building its Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system in the 1980s. Since the initial 6km section opened in 1987 the investment has continued as the population has grown and the network had reached 167km in 2011. New sections will open every year up to 2017 and the approved investment programme envisages a system of 275km before 2025. More  A comparison of UK and European cities Statistics: Almost 13 per cent of the UK population live in London. With the exception of Vienna, no other major European capital city is home to such a high proportion of its country’s citizens. Recent research by City Mayors shows that 20.2 per cent of Austrians live in Vienna, 12.9 per cent of Britons call London their home, while 12.4 per of Norwegians reside in Oslo. Helsinki, Copenhagen and Brussels also house more than ten per cent of their respective national populations. But less than five per cent of the people of France, Germany, Poland and Italy live in their respective capital cities. More Urban population growth between 2012 and 2030 Statistics: In 2008, the world reached an invisible but momentous milestone: For the first time in history, more than half its human population, 3.3 billion people, lived in urban areas. By 2030, this is expected to swell to more than five billion. Urbanisation has already surpassed the 90-per-cent mark, not only in city states like Singapore and Kuwait, but also in Belgium, Venezuela, Uruguay, Argentina, Israel and the UK. In the US, where for the past 100 years the majority of people have been living in cities, more than 82 per cent of the total population now reside in urban areas. More  Local government and urban business management events Events: The platform 'Local government and urban business management events' is a public service provided by City Mayors. The events pages list and describe events, conferences and conventions aimed at local government, urban business management and all those with an interest in cities worldwide. More  The unknown violinist Metro Mensch: In Washington DC, at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After about three minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule. More |
 The City Mayors Foundation was established in 2003 to promote, campaign for and facilitate good, open and strong local government   Croatian mayoral candidates face second-round ballots  Ex-marine defeats Jersey City mayor  Report recommends more fiscal powers for London  Toronto mayor threatens legal actions over video allegations  Disgraced former president wins Manila mayoral election  Rockefeller offers $100 million to make cities more resilient  Osaka mayor stirs controversy while facing trouble at home  Julian Castro’s victory marred by low turn-out  Former Canadian mayor accused of gangsterism  Athens Mayor to press charges against alleged far-right assailant  Women in cities give much but take far less them men  Nigel Farage follows in the steps of other European rabble-rousers  Anti-Europe party challenges Britian's political staus quo  Charlotte mayor nominated as US transport secretary  American cities accused of criminalising the homeless  Independents win most seats in Ivory Coast local elections  Iraq’s ruling bloc wins most seats in regional elections  State government to restrict Melbourn'e outward growth  German cities to bring in stricter rent controls  Frankfurt, Munich and Bonn named as the most promising German cities  Opinions are hardening against Toronto mayor’s casino project  Texan cities excel in US business ranking  El Paso demolished its City Hall to make way for baseball stadium  Obama’s muni bond proposals find few friends among cities  Women in cities give much but take far less them men  Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille: Mayor of the Month for May 2013  Museums draw more visitors than US sporting events and theme parks  Racial profiling again under scrutiny in the United State  Megaregions are predicted to propel US population and economic growth  A comparison of UK and European cities  The price of bread in the world’s most and least expensive cities  London Underground carries three million people every day  Hunger and homelessness remain most pressing issues for US cities  Mayors stand up to American gun lobby  Mumbai in urgent need of reforms to governance and management  The best cities in the world for environement and infrastructure  Silicon Valley is the role model for many cities around the world  America's most popular mayors on Twitter  The London brand: 2000 years young  Flourishing cities embrace immigrants  Songs written for American cities  The world's most expensive and richest cities  US state school teachers face public performance scrutiny  Colombian mayors and local government  Urban population growth between 2012 and 2030  Singapore is investing billions to expand its metro rail system  Urban planners must make public health main priority  US cities adopt highly creative measures to increase revenue  Americans may be developing a liking for public transportation  Pages of dozens of international municipal events for 2012 & 2013 |