Using design as a leadership strategy
For mayors working to strengthen trust in public institutions, design of the built environment is more than a matter of aesthetics; it's a way of closing the gap between what government promises and what residents actually feel. That was the focus of this year's Mayors Innovation Studio at Bloomberg CityLab in Madrid, where nearly 100 global mayors worked with field-leading experts such as architect Lord Norman Foster and former Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to examine how design can help city leaders not only deliver better projects, but also govern more effectively.
Using design in this way calls for mayors to raise their ambition around improving residents' experiences, navigate resistance to change, constantly ground their efforts in data, and stay laser-focused on outcomes. Here's how they can get it done.
The leadership approach that can help mayors tackle complexity
Mayoral leadership matters now more than ever given the seemingly relentless uncertainty and pressure facing cities. Here, Christian Bason of Transition Collective argues that, in addition to exercising traditional executive authority, mayors need to take new and bolder steps to unite actors inside and outside city hall around shared goals. Ultimately, he believes, that requires a mindset shift where mayors approach their cities less as machines to manage and more as one part of a larger network they can steer toward lasting change.
