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

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Good policing is about social integration
and not about ‘zero tolerance’ measures
25 July 2010: In an interview with City Mayors, Latin American security expert and judicial Argentinean reformer, Carlos Arslanian, who is known for his progressive ideas for overcoming security threats in Latin American cities, described ‘zero tolerance’ and ‘tough on crime’ measures as total failures. “They’ve created a symbolic criminal law system, a criminal law system that fools citizens or utilizes the collective idea that with strong penalties we solve the problems,” he said. More

Marcelo Ebrard, the battle-hardened
and reforming mayor of Mexico City
10 June 2010: A mayor with a thousand battles behind him, Marcelo Ebrard, the leftist Mayor of Mexico City, has proved that he is a liberal reformer and pragmatist, who is not afraid to challenge Mexico’s orthodoxy. He has championed women’s and minorities rights and has become an outspoken and internationally respected advocate on environmental issues. Mayor Ebrard recently discussed his city's affairs with City Mayor’s Special Correspondent in Latin America. More

Stuart Drummond
Mayor of Hartlepool
9 February 2010: Unusually for a civic leader, Hartlepool’s elected mayor is recognisable to most of the UK population, having been elected in 2002 on the back of a joke campaign, which attracted international attention. While Stuart Drummond may have once sought office for less than political reasons, his status as England’s only three term elected mayor shows that voters in the North East town are satisfied with his administration. More

All citizens must benefit
from the Zurich's success
25 December 2009: In an interview with City Mayors, Zurich Mayor Corine Mauch said maintaining the city’s quality of life, improving its sustainability and delivering housing for all - not just the well off - were the main issues she would be judged on at the end of her term in office. More

Gallup can offer cities the tools
to attract the ‘creative classes’
20 October 2008: In a rapidly globalizing world, cities are increasingly competing with each other for the most skilled and talented people. Robert Manchin, Managing Director of Gallup Europe, believes that only by understanding the needs of their citizens and by providing them with a high quality of life can cities appeal to the ‘creative classes’. In an interview with City Mayors editor Tann vom Hove, Robert Manchin explains the background of Gallup's Soul of the City tool and how cities can gain a competitive advantage by using it. More

Japan is eager to learn from
local government worldwide
17 March 2008: Japan’s local authorities needed to be able to handle globalisation, said Michihiro Kayama, chairman of Japan’s Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR) on a recent visit to the UK. “We have to make sure we know what’s going on in the world so we don’t become isolated,” he explained. More

Ukrainian mayors are ready
for a municipal revolution
4 December 2007: Many mayors in the Ukraine are angry about the lack of progress of reforming the relationship between central and local government. They accuse the government of neglecting the needs of cities, towns and villages to protect the interests, and often bank accounts, of their business supporters. Now local leaders call for a municipal revolution to follow on from the country’s Orange revolution. More

La Laguna Mayor: World Heritage status
has brought rewards and responsibilities
After a career in banking as well as local and regional government, Ana María Oramas y González-Moro was elected Mayor of La Laguna, Tenerife, in 1999. She is a founder member of the Coalición Canaria (CC), which was formed in 1993 and was then made up of eight different parties, including nationalists, conservatives and former communists. It governs the Canary Islands Autonomous Region as a minority administration and is also represented in the Spanish parliament, where it traditionally supports the government coalition. In 2005, the parties that originally made up the CC were dissolved. In an interview with City Mayors’ Spanish correspondent, Daniel González Herrera, Mayor Oramas discusses her city’s regional, national and international importance. More

Cities must have a sustainable future
to be enjoyed by all, says Global City
Preceding MIPIM, Europe’s biggest real estate event, and overlapping it by one day, last year’s Global City, a forum for ‘urban decision makers’, could not fail. This year, however, the event will have to succeed on its own merits, having been moved by its organisers, Reed Midem, from Cannes to Lyon, where it will take place from 17 to 19 May. City Mayors’ Guy Kervella spoke to Global City Director Nathalie Depetro and asked her what she hoped the 2006 forum will achieve. More

Cologne Mayor Schramma: Long-term
planning needs to take centre stage again
In Europe, Cologne is in competition with cities like Munich, Barcelona, Lyon or Milan and, outside Europe, we compare ourselves to cities like Chicago or Toronto. It is therefore important to know where we stand, how we compare? Also, each and every one of Cologne’s citizens should know where and how he or she fits into our society. To answer these questions, we felt Cologne needed a vision for the future. It aims to provide not only our citizens, but also our guest and investors, with an idea of the direction our city is taking. More

For one month Cologne will be home
from home for Brazilian football fans
From 9 June to 9 July this year, Germany will host the 2006 Football World Cup, which will be staged in 12 German cities. The country’s Rhine metropolis Cologne, where five World Cup games are scheduled to be played, will welcome teams from Angola, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Ghana, Sweden, England, Togo and France as well as two teams that made it into the second round of the competition. City Mayors’ European Editor, Gregor Gosciniak, interviewed Karl-Heinz Merfeld, Chief Executive Officer of the Cologne Tourist Board, about his expectations and how Cologne marketed itself among Brazilian football fans. More

Mayor of Mexico City:
We lick no one’s boots
Two of the Mayor's of Mexico City most visible accomplishments have been the construction of the two-level Distribuidor Vial, an overpass connecting a number of highways in a cloverleaf; and the remarkable saga of the restoration of the lost parts of Chapultepec Park. Over the years the wealthy and powerful had the unfortunate tendency to move into properties surrounding the park, and then, quite simply, take some of it. The Mayor sent in the bulldozers. ‘No special interest groups,’ he said, ‘have any claim on us. We lick no one’s boots. Deliver to the people – that’s all we have to do.’ More

Mayor Chiamparino: Turin promotes its
environment to attract modern industries
Sergio Chiamparino was elected Mayor of Turin in May 2001. During his election campaign he stressed the need for Turin to combine the development of modern industries with the protection of the environment. In an interview with City Mayors, Mayor Chiamparino explained his concept of ‘promotion of the environment’ and also spoke about Turin’s role in Europe. More

Munich Mayor Christian Ude calls
for end to social divisions in the city
Munich's Mayor Christian Ude told City Mayors that Munich, in comparison with the other major German cities, had the lowest unemployment, the highest purchasing power per capita, the largest number of education places, by far the highest communal investment budget, the lowest crime figures, the highest cultural and recreational opportunities. The downside of Munich's prosperity includes a housing crisis caused not only by new recruits to the workforce from outside, but also increasing wealth among Munich’s population allowing grownup children to be able to afford a flat of their own. While a poor city will have difficulty looking after disadvantaged sections of the population mere wealth does not solve the social problem. Christian Ude believes that left unchecked, social divisions would increase to everyone's disadvantage. More

Mississauga Mayor McCallion:
We run our city like a business
In November 2003, at the age of 82, Hazel McCallion started her 10th term of Mayor of Mississauga, a city of some 680,000 people just to the south-west of Toronto. Mrs McCallion celebrated her first mayoral election victory in 1978 and, during her 25 years in office, both she and the City she leads have set new standards in Canadian municipal government. Mississauga is one of a few cities in Canada that are debt-free. In fact, the city has not had to borrow money since 1978. More