9/26 Global
Trust in Mayors and the Character of Cities
Opening question: Do you trust your mayor?
Trust in mayors spikes when leaders are from the neighborhood and work with neighbors: rates rise to , , or even .
Example: Mayor Cory Booker of Newark reportedly intervening personally (getting out of his car to pull people from a burning building or to stop a mugging) as he goes to work.
Contrast: Heads of state are not typically allowed by security to perform such actions; this illustrates a fundamental difference between city leadership and national leadership.
Core idea: The difference lies in the character of cities. Cities are profoundly multicultural, open, participatory, democratic, and able to work with one another.
Cities vs. States: Cooperation vs Rivalry
When states face each other (e.g., China vs the U.S.), relations often resemble a standoff or rivalry for “number one.”
Cities, by contrast, interact with each other in a spirit of cooperation rather than competition for supremacy.
This city-to-city dynamic enables collaboration on transnational issues like climate change.
Global networks and organizations cited: C40 and ICLEI, which have been working together for many years even before major summits like Copenhagen.
Copenhagen and the Power of Intercity Cooperation
Copenhagen hosted a pivotal moment: 184 nations came together on climate, but the city’s mayor invited 200 mayors to attend and stay, facilitating city-to-city collaboration.
Result: Ongoing cooperation among cities and among intercity networks.
Key statistic: 80% of carbon emissions come from cities; thus, cities are well-positioned to address carbon emissions even if national governments falter.
Concrete City Actions and Their Impacts
Los Angeles: Cleaned up its port, which accounted for about 40% of city carbon emissions; the cleanup contributed to roughly 20% reduction in overall carbon emissions.
New York: A program to upgrade old buildings to improve insulation in winter and reduce energy leaks in summer (air conditioning), yielding measurable climate benefits.
Bogotá (Mayor Antanas Mockus): Introduced a transportation system that transformed surface buses to operate in subways-like corridors, effectively creating faster, more energy-efficient travel; helped reduce unemployment by enabling cross-town mobility and had broad climate benefits.
Singapore: Development of dense public housing paired with an island of parks; emphasis on green space and livability (high horizons and parkland integrated into urban form).
Overall implication: Cities are implementing diverse, tangible interventions that can have large-scale environmental and social benefits.
Shared Best Practices and Global City Networks
Cities are not innovating in isolation; they share what works across borders.
Methods include bike-sharing programs (began ~20–30 years ago in Latin America) that are now present in hundreds of cities globally.
Urban policies like pedestrian zones, congestion pricing, and emission limits are spreading beyond borders and being adapted to local contexts.
Urbanization and its Global Implications
Bottom line: The world remains politically organized around borders and states, but the lived experience is increasingly borderless in many domains:
Diseases and healthcare (Doctors Without Borders vs borders)
Economics and technology
Education
Terrorism and war without borders
This tension underscores the need to globalize democracy or democratize globalization to effectively address transnational problems.
If democracy remains tied to the old nation-state framework, we risk losing democratic capacity to manage global challenges.
The Road to Global Democracy: Through Cities, Not States
Argument: The road to global democracy does not run through states.
Historical note: Democracy was born in the ancient polis; it could be reborn in global cosmopolises.
Proposal: A transition from Polis to cosmopolies to empower democracy on a global scale.
Vision: A league of cities, not a league of nations; a united cities framework rather than a single nation-centric order.
Concrete idea: A global parliament of mayors, discussed in city halls in Seoul, Amsterdam, Hamburg, and New York.
Rationale: A parliament of mayors is a parliament of citizens (you and me).
Call to action: If there were citizens without borders, TED attendees might be among them; a call to embrace a new global democracy.
Reflections on Citizens, Cities, and Historical Context
Question raised: Do citizens have more power when cities have more power relative to countries? Historical echoes include the Greek city-states (e.g., Athens, Sparta).
Throughout history, urban power expanded beyond city borders and ultimately contributed to the rise of nation-states.
Demographics, Economics, and Urban Growth
Global population trends: The vast majority of people live in urban areas.
Economic production: The majority of economic output comes from cities. A graphic (described verbally) illustrates that in the U.S., about 50% of economic output is produced in one set of areas and the other 50% in other areas; however, within the urban areas, a small number of cities (e.g., Charlotte, Miami, Houston) account for a disproportionate share of that 50%.
Expressed as:
with the visual of many small dots representing cities that contribute to that 50% share.
Urbanization dynamics: People are moving to cities; this is not just a trend but a global phenomenon with both opportunities and challenges (e.g., urban density, housing, infrastructure).
The text uses a concrete example from the U.S. map to illustrate concentration of economic activity in a relatively small set of cities.
Policy Experiments, Public Response, and Real-World Implementation
New York City congestion pricing: Entering the center with a personal vehicle triggers a charge of about {\sim}$12 per visit. The aim is to reduce car traffic in the densest parts of the city.
Early adoption skepticism: In Europe, most pedestrian-only zones faced initial opposition from shop owners who feared loss of customers. Despite this, pedestrian zones ultimately attracted more people to those districts.
Ongoing debate: Nations-states are highly entrenched; the idea of city-based global democracy is intriguing but faces political hurdles.
Interactive Elements and Final Questions
The speaker attempted to use an interactive poll tool (Poll Everywhere) to engage the audience with questions.
Final prompts emphasize citizen engagement and curiosity: "Are you ready to embrace a new global democracy?" and invitation to think about the role of cities in democratic governance.
Key Figures, Organizations, and Concepts to Remember
Cities and leadership:
Mayor Cory Booker (Newark) as a symbol of city-level action and accountability.
Organizations:
C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40)
ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability
Notable city programs and outcomes:
Los Angeles port clean-up and carbon reductions
New York City energy-efficiency and building upgrades
Bogotá’s Bus Rapid Transit-like corridors and social impacts
Urban planning concepts:
Congestion pricing
Pedestrian zones
Urban green spaces and parkland integration
Demographic and economic concepts:
Urbanization and its link to economic output
The distribution of GDP across urban vs. non-urban areas
Theoretical framework:
Polis to cosmopolies; global democracy via city networks and a potential global parliament of mayors
Equations and Data Points (for quick reference)
Trust in mayors: T_{ ext{mayor}} o 70 ext{–}80 ext{%} when leaders are locally connected
Climate governance: 80 ext{%} of carbon emissions originate in cities
Urban impact on emissions: LA port impact ≈ 40 ext{%} of city emissions; improvements yield ≈ 20 ext{%} carbon reduction
City GDP concentration: roughly 50 ext{%} of national economic output produced in cities; the remaining 50 ext{%} elsewhere
NYC congestion pricing example: charge ≈ dollars per center-city trip
Summary Takeaways
City leadership can be more immediate, participatory, and locally accountable than national leadership, enabling direct action and trust at the neighborhood level.
Cities, through networks and shared best practices, are powerful engines for climate action, innovation, and social outcomes.
The globalization of democracy may be better realized through city-to-city collaboration and a potential global parliament of mayors, rather than through traditional nation-state-centric models.
Urbanization is a defining trend of the modern era, with cities responsible for a substantial share of economic production and a wide array of policy experiments that can inform national and global governance.