This article is part of POLITICO’s Global Policy Lab: Living Cities, a collaborative journalism project exploring the future of cities. Sign up here.
The old adage is that all politics are local — and in Europe’s cities, that’s reflected in municipal policies that mirror the major issues dominating the global conversation.
In an informal survey, seven mayors from cities across the bloc — Athens, Brussels, Bucharest, Mannheim, Rennes, Umeå and Vienna— told POLITICO that the threat posed by climate change was top of mind in their administrations.
“The future of Europe will be shaped by its just, green and productive cities,” said Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig, who stressed that municipal governments needed additional funding to become more climate-resilient.
“Vienna is committed to achieving climate neutrality by 2040 and, to this end, we have set up a comprehensive and ambitious program to phase out the use of gas,” Ludwig said, adding that the city is also creating “additional programs to help our local economy improve” and to reach its climate goals “in a socially sustainable way.”
In Athens, a city that’s increasingly having to deal with extreme heat and climate-related fires, Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis said local cash was being channeled to focus on “immediate, as well as evolving, needs” like the green transition.
Hans Lindberg, mayor of the Swedish city of Umeå, said the local government’s top priority was finding ways to “cope with climate adaptation and build our city safe and secure for the future,” in a way that’s “both socially and climate sustainable.”
“If we do not succeed, today’s generation will not have a brighter future than yesterday’s generation,” he said. “As a local politician, I want Umeå and our entire region to become an even better city to live in in the future.”
The mayors also told POLITICO they need a seat at the table, both at the national level and in Europe, so they can better serve their residents.
“Changing our governance to a real multi-level governance is a prerequisite to meet the challenges,” said Peter Kurz, the outgoing mayor of the German city of Mannheim.
Vienna’s Ludwig echoed that sentiment, insisting that “the voice of Europe’s mayors — and their special skills in everyday problem solving — need to be heard more” in EU policymaking.
“This will open new perspectives, both on the national and European level,” he added.
More cash for social services
While the local leaders all said they would welcome more funding, they differed in their responses to how they would spend a hypothetical 10 percent boost to their city budgets.
Bucharest Mayor Nicușor Dan, who admitted that the Romanian capital’s traffic keeps him up at night, said he would channel that extra cash to “accelerate urban mobility and to reduce pollution by increasing green areas” throughout the city.
But in other parts of Europe, mayors stressed they if they had access to more money, they would use it to expand and improve social services.
Umeå’s Lindberg said the city would seek to “reward investments in welfare — schools, elderly and social care” and make further investments in employment and housing.
Nathalie Appéré, the mayor of the French city of Rennes, also said that if her municipality had more funding, she would use it to address the housing crisis affecting metropolitan regions across Europe.
“We are living through a moment in which prices are rising and there is less supply,” she said. “If we don’t want gentrification and exclusion, we need to build more to welcome everyone,” she said.
In Brussels, Mayor Philippe Close said extra money would ideally be used for education, which he called his “top priority for efficient, inclusive growth.” He added that poverty was also a matter of constant concern for him, saying “we need to do more to listen to the people … who we in French refer to as les invisibles.”
In Vienna, Ludwig said the COVID-19 pandemic had highlighted the importance of having robust public services that are accessible to all residents, saying cities with strong services “managed better than those who had privatized their social services.”
He also warned that the public sector is under “growing pressure from demographic change, digitalization, climate change, and the need to be resilient in the face of multiple crises.”
In facing these challenges, cities need to keep the next generation of residents in mind, said Rennes’ Appéré, and ensure that “all children have the same opportunity to access quality services — education, housing, health — no matter where they come from.”
She’s confident local leaders are up to the challenge, she added, insisting that “cities change the world.”
EU mayors’ top challenge: A fair, green city
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