Recently I realized that another way of seeing the United States and also the world is to see it as a collection of major, significant, powerful cities, rather than as a collection of countries, states, continents, regions, et cetera. So here’s the question: does there exist in the U.S. or the world a sort of United League of Major Cities, in which one member comes from New York City, another Chicago, another Tokyo, Paris, London, et al?
This could include not only politics (something like the U.N. or NATO) but also business, arts, entertainment, travel industry, et cetera. Does anything like this exist? Let me know if I need to clarify my thought more.
And before anyone mentions it: yes, I know that many major cities have a “sister city” in another country that’s linked to them, which is some program somebody started who knows when that as far as I can tell doesn’t lead to any significant link between those two cities involved (correct me if I’m wrong).
I’ve seen rankings of global cities by their degree of involvement in the world economy, but not a league.
“The GaWC examines cities worldwide to narrow them down to a roster of world cities, then ranks these based on their connectivity through four “advanced producer services”: accountancy, advertising, banking/finance, and law.”
Is this anywhere close to what you are thinking of?
It’s on the right track, but I already know that people have done studies on major cities in the world and ranked them (National Geographic did a global survey and ranked the top 20 or whatever most important cities on Earth, NYC coming in first place). I’m looking for an organization that actually represents some kind of connection or cooperation or communication between major cities.
Example: “The United Nations Security Council has voted for war between China and Japan, but we received word that the United League of Major Cities (ULMC) (which contains Beijing, Tokyo, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, etc.) is crying for peace!”
Those are all kinda cool, and on the right track, but all three are American-only, and not quite what I’m thinking of.
If there’s a Conference of Mayors, there’s probably a Conference of Governors, too, right? But I gotta tell you, outside of major cities (or even mid-sized cities), the whole mayor thing is kind of a joke to me, given how many small towns in America (and maybe the world, too, though I haven’t researched it) have elected 12 year olds or teenagers, or dogs, cats, and even a turtle, to be their damn mayor. Are those representatives allowed to attend the Conference of Mayors?
C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group is a group of 96 cities around the world that represents one twelfth of the world’s population and one quarter of the global economy.[3] Created and led by cities, C40 is focused on fighting the climate crisis and driving urban action that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and climate risks, while increasing the health, wellbeing and economic opportunities of urban residents.
It was originally a grouping of megacities, but others now join as innovator and observer cities. It seems to have more actual heft and purpose and be less an eclectic historical grab-bag than …
I think in most countries, small towns don’t have mayors, just town councils or the equivalent. The American custom of having the same system of government no matter how small or large the settlement is somewhat unusual.
Different jurisdictions will have different legal and political frameworks that might affect how local governments engage with counterparts in other countries, and how those might interact with national foreign policies.
The Commonwealth countries have a local government network, and a joint initiative on Sustainable Urbanisation, and I believe there’s a network of cities with water/flood management concerns, like Rotterdam, Venice and St Petersburg
Because in modern times, we have outright states rather than collections of city-states. We take it for a given that travel between cities within a nation will be relatively straightforward and safe. This was much, much less true back when each city was itself close to being a sovereign state and the concept of a unified ‘nation’ itself would be a bit odd.
Basically, we have proper countries now. Cities banding together in the style of the Hanseatic means something is very wrong at the national level and that you should have entered Doomsday Prepper mode some time ago.
There is the Covenant of Mayors.
There is the Cities Alliance, which sprang up after a decision taken by the International Mayors Summit in 1999. Here is the current International Mayors Summit, but this one was founded in 2016. It must be a new Mayors Summit, and it does not even know there was another one with the same name before. I would not call that an encouraging sign. From the link:
International Mayors Summit (IMS), launched in 2016 in Ukraine as a knowledge exchange platform for local government leaders, became “more than a conference”, a place where projects and partnerships are born.
In navigating this challenging journey, Ukraine and Moldova have drawn closer to the European family they belong to, recognizing that local-level cooperation is integral to strengthening regional security and development efforts. Consequently, the 5th International Mayors Summit will take place in Moldova with the esteemed support of President Maia Sandu.
Probably not what the OP meant.
I worked at a meeting of cities in Berlin somewhen in the early '90s, it was a very important meeting, if I remember the speeches correctly. There was much future then, and they were going to be very relevant and part of it. I simply cannot remember what they were called and what became of them and even my favourite search engine is not helping.
Because national governments have tended to want to control things like trade and tariffs themselves. Mediaeval monarchs could be relaxed about devolving those sorts of powers to trade bodies, as long as they got their cut of revenues. Modern nation states mostly care more about visible sovereignty and control of their economies.
But there have been cases of modern states (rather than local authorities) sharing certain economic powers, through customs unions: one of the precursors in Germany to unification in 1870 - and later the Benelux post-WW2 leading ultimately to the EU and similar international agreements (NAFTA, Mercosur). But one of the common issues with such agreements is how to reconcile them with national sovereignty and democratic accountability for the formation and enforcement of trade rules.
Those who live and work in northern cities recognize the need for better planning and design. The sustainability of winter cities requires a creative, innovative approach that addresses the problems of snow and cold while enhancing the advantages, opportunities and beauty of the winter season. A positive approach benefits the attitudes of residents, and bolsters the community’s ability to attract new business and residents.
The Winter Cities Institute was organized to identify, promote and share the positive attributes of winter living, new concepts in architecture and urban design, and success stories from those places that are thriving in the north.
I was our city’s liaison to Winter Cities back in the day. It had a truly worldwide reach, from South Korea and Japan to Norway and Sweden to the U.S. and Canada and points between. Many ideas were shared that could take the sting out of winter without being wild geoengineering or expensive boondoogles.
I have to admit that their website looks pretty feeble. I haven’t been involved since the 1980s, so they could have lost a lot of funding since.
