In Budapest, it was a call to flout the Hungarian government\u2019s ban on Pride that catapulted the city\u2019s mayor into the headlines. In Barcelona it was a bold plan to rid the city \u2013 one of Europe\u2019s most visited \u2013 of tourist flats by late 2028. And in Paris, it was a drastic makeover; one that included making the Seine swimmable and turning its car-clogged riverbanks into pedestrian-friendly areas.<\/p>\n
The mayors\u2019 actions \u2013 and the global conversation they elicited \u2013 hinted at how, in much of the world, the role of mayor has been recast. Gone are the stereotypes of endless ribbon cutting ceremonies and flesh-pressing events; instead mayors are increasingly being thrust on to the frontlines of some of society\u2019s thorniest challenges.<\/p>\n
Thousands take to the streets of central Barcelona to demand lower housing costs. Photograph: Albert Llop\/NurPhoto\/REX\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
\u201cI think mayors around the world have started to realise that we have a new role, one that didn\u2019t exist before,\u201d said Jaume Collboni, the mayor of Barcelona. \u201cWe\u2019ve realised that the global problems we\u2019re all facing require local solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he took the reins in Barcelona in 2023, Collboni noticed that one topic came up repeatedly in his discussions with other mayors: the soaring cost of housing. The observation swiftly snowballed into Mayors for Housing,<\/a> an unprecedented alliance of 17 mayors across the continent seeking solutions to the crisis.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re the ones on the frontlines of citizens\u2019 daily lives,\u201d said Collboni. \u201cSo it\u2019s not surprising that we\u2019re also the ones saying that things can\u2019t continue this way.\u201d<\/p>\n From Zohran Mamdani to Sadiq Khan, the increasingly global profile of mayors has led to heightened scrutiny of their actions, propelling some of them into the crosshairs of the culture wars. In Paris, for example, mayor Anne Hidalgo\u2019s years-long effort to create 15-minute neighbourhoods<\/a> and make the city greener was lauded by progressives around the world, while far-right and centre-right forces pushed back<\/a> against the initiatives.<\/p>\n Collboni saw it as a moment in which cities were rising up after decades of being overlooked, particularly in the EU where much of the focus has been on subsidies for farmers and rural development.<\/p>\n Paris mayor, Anne Hidalgo, is shown the new urban forest at Place du Colonel Fabien in Paris. Photograph: Telmo Pinto\/NurPhoto\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n \u201cBasically we\u2019re saying that if there\u2019s any place in Europe where European values and democracies are being defended, it is in our cities,\u201d he said. \u201cFor the most part, cities, whether in the United States or Europe, continue to be bastions of open, inclusive societies, where progressives are the majority.\u201d<\/p>\n He contrasted the practical solutions<\/a> being offered by the mayors\u2019 alliance \u2013 from pushing for EU funding for affordable housing to crackdowns on tourist lets \u2013 with the far right\u2019s scapegoating. \u201cWe all know that where the far right is already governing, things haven\u2019t changed at all,\u201d he said. \u201cThe difference is that hate speech has made inroads, along with division and confrontation, while the rights we all fought for have been eroded.\u201d<\/p>\n At the London School of Economics, where professors have been tracking the changes in cities over the past 20 or 30 years, Ricky Burdett, director of LSE Cities and a professor of Urban Studies, said it\u2019s clear that the role of mayor has become increasingly significant in many cities.<\/p>\n He attributed this shift to two factors. The first was the rate at which urban populations are growing, with 70%<\/a> of the world\u2019s population expected to live in cities by 2050. \u201cAnd the second is that they are on the frontline \u2013 and increasingly so \u2013 of everything that matters,\u201d he said, pointing to the climate crisis, environmental issues and social challenges.<\/p>\n \u201cIf a city floods, it\u2019s a mayor that has to deal with it. If LA has fires, it\u2019s the mayor\u2019s department that has to make sure that the fire service works or the hydrants work. If you have a sudden influx of refugees \u2026 it\u2019s the mayor and local administration who has to also deal with that,\u201d he said. \u201cThis has also happened at a time when the financial ability of cities to deal with many of these things has been under threat, because of reduced income, tax income and power struggles.\u201d<\/p>\n In October, the university launched a new leadership and management programme aimed specifically at mayors across Europe, building on a similar initiative<\/a> launched at Harvard University in 2018.<\/p>\n The programme provides mayors in office \u2013 the inaugural class included 30 from across Europe \u2013 with the strategies, skills and networks needed for a position that comes with little formal training, and as rightwing rhetoric and social media ramp up the pressures they\u2019re facing.<\/p>\n Thousands take part in the Budapest Pride on 28 June 2025. Photograph: J\u00e1nos Kummer\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Perhaps nowhere has this struggle been more evident than in Budapest, where the mayor, Gergely Kar\u00e1csony, in June rallied tens of thousands <\/a>of citizens to defy the country\u2019s prime minister, Viktor Orb\u00e1n, and his government\u2019s effort to ban the city\u2019s annual Pride march.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the relationship between Budapest and Hungary is, in some ways, a laboratory of global trends that you now see around the world,\u201d said Kar\u00e1csony. Since Orb\u00e1n took power in 2010, his rightwing populist government has been steadily choking off funding to the city, while doing it all can to curb the cultural and economic influence of a city that is home to around a third of the country\u2019s population.<\/p>\n \u201cGovernment propaganda is constantly attacking us, we are under huge political pressure \u2013 that\u2019s the environment we\u2019re working in,\u201d said Kar\u00e1csony, citing the police questioning of him as a suspect<\/a> after the Pride march. In December, Hungarian police recommended that Kar\u00e1csony face charges over his role in in the march, though it remains to be seen if prosecutors will concur.<\/p>\n