LSE Cities

We're delighted to announce that a limited number of online places have been made available to the public for the Executive MSc in Cities' 10th Anniversary event this weekend. Join us virtually as we reflect on a decade of learning, leadership and impact, and hear from alumni, faculty and city leaders from around the world. Places are limited, so register asap to secure your spot. https://lnkd.in/g3dDBg2M

'Ten years ago, the EMC was an experiment. Today, it is a global community of urban leaders united by a shared commitment to making cities more equitable, sustainable and effective.'   This weekend, alumni, participants, faculty and invited urban practitioners return to LSE to mark ten years of the EMC and explore the urban questions that shape the programme today and in the future.   From the outset, the EMC was an experiment in bringing different forms of urban knowledge and practice into the same learning environment. The people working most directly with cities needed a learning environment equal to the scale and complexity of urban change. Their work cut across public policy, design, development, research, civic life and governance. The programme brought them together to examine the social, spatial, political, environmental and economic forces shaping urban life.   That remains the distinctive proposition of the EMC today: a degree that connects professional experience with critical urban research and allows participants to test ideas against the realities of other cities and forms of practice.   At this weekend’s Anniversary Forum, we will discuss themes that have been central to the EMC since its launch, including social inclusion, the urban environment, economic development and governance. The occasion brings the community back into conversation around the pressures now facing cities and the ways urban practice is changing in response.   The next decade of urban leadership will be shaped by climate risk, housing affordability, technological change, democratic pressure, fiscal constraint and new forms of institutional innovation.   Responding to those pressures will require city leaders and urban practitioners with the skills, judgement and perspective to work across disciplines, sectors and places, and make better decisions for cities. By connecting professional experience from across the globe with teaching grounded in critical urban research, the EMC today remains more relevant than ever.   Read more about how the EMC took shape and has developed here: https://lnkd.in/efgi4p64 #EMC10 #urbanpolicy

Last week to apply for the first edition of the Africa #Urban95Academy, a fully funded, application-based executive education programme designed to help you build more child-friendly cities. 📆 Submit your application before Thursday 24 September, 2026. ▶️ https://lnkd.in/eKXEc3vi To submit a successful application you will need:  3️⃣ Team members  📝 A city challenge 📃 An official support letter from your Mayor If you have any questions about completing your application, you can watch the recording of the information session here: https://lnkd.in/eaQNkEzG Savvas Verdis Philipp Rode Andrea Torres Sansotta Rushda Majeed Edgar Pieterse Katie BeckNobukhosi Ngwenya Warren Smit Victoria Chavez Susan Parnell Carly Gilbert-Patrick Eshetayehu Kinfu Tesfaye (Dr.-Ing.) Geci Karuri-Sebina Kentse Radebe Hannah Rothschild

Did you miss the Urban95 Academy Africa Programme Application webinar? See below the recording and discover how to apply! Application deadline 24th September 2026 Read the programme launch announcement here:  https://lnkd.in/dJbpiBJU https://lnkd.in/eaQNkEzG Savvas Verdis Katie Beck Victoria Chavez Nobukhosi Ngwenya Edgar Pieterse Philipp Rode Warren Smit Rushda Majeed Andrea Torres Sansotta Valentina Riverso

How can land allocation help shape better urban futures? Executive MSc in Cities participant Rania Nazmi (Class of 2025) examines the connection between Egypt's recent land allocation reforms and the delivery of broader urban development objectives under Vision 2030. We're pleased to share this excellent example of practice-informed thinking emerging from our Executive MSc in Cities community.

Happening today: Learn more about how to apply for the Urban95 Academy Africa Programme!

Do you work for an African municipality? Would you like to improve the lives of your youngest citizens? Join the Urban95 Africa Programme Academy application webinar to find out more about the programme and how to submit a successful application. 📅 Thursday, 10th September ⌚ 14.30–15.00 BST 🟢 Register to join: https://lnkd.in/ePGNDYzw African Centre for Cities Van Leer Foundation Katie Beck Nobukhosi Ngwenya Warren Smit Valentina Riverso Edgar Pieterse Philipp Rode Savvas Verdis Victoria Chavez

Our latest article in #Cities Journal has just been published: "The #legitimacy of #CityNetworks in international multi-stakeholder governance."   The starting puzzle: bodies like United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), C40 Cities, ICLEI, or Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) coordinate policy across hundreds or thousands of municipalities, but they have no international legal personality. Their principals are cities, not states. So where does their legitimacy actually come from?   We present a process-based #LegitimacyFramework around five elements: legality, accountability, legitimate membership, and effectiveness plus moral authority. The first four are tested against two original datasets: organisational features of 102 city networks, and board/leadership profiles for over 1,000 individuals across 36 networks.   A few things the data show: → Legal form diversified sharply after Rio/Agenda 21 (1992). Pre-1992 city networks are mostly NGO-style associations; post-1992 ones spread across intergovernmental networks, consortia, foundations, and hybrid platforms. → Despite that diversity, governance converges on a shared template: general assembly, board/steering committee, secretariat. These are present in over half of all networks. → Procedural institutionalisation (statutes, financial disclosure, audits, sanctions, rotation rules) is strongest in older, larger, full-template networks: a "legitimacy package" rather than isolated safeguards. → Representation is uneven: boards are geographically broad, but headquarters and presidencies concentrate in Europe, and presidents are more likely than ordinary board members to be male and to have held prior political office. → On the CDP emissions data, C40 and GCoM member cities show lower per-capita emissions than non-members. Though we are careful to flag this as associational, not causal.   The bigger picture: city networks are not miniature #InternationalOrganisations (IOs) or ordinary #NGOs. They are a distinct form of public-subnational authority, legitimated less by treaty status and more by legal anchoring, delegated organs, transparency, and performance-oriented coordination.   Written with my LSE Cities collaborators from University of Genoa and Heidelberg University: ALESSIO SARDO, Gianluca Cerruti, and Arnulfo Daniel Mateos Durán. Open access with link below.   #UrbanGovernance #CityNetworks #CityDiplomacy #GlobalGovernance #Legitimacy https://lnkd.in/dwVQygj2

Why do people go to one park and not another? And what actually makes a park valuable to the people using it? Dr Alexandra Gomes Gomes, a Research Fellow at LSE Cities and DSI Affiliate, is co-author on a new paper that draws on her research project – (De)constructing health and wellbeing through data – to propose a localised, human-centred approach to park valuation. "More than green: Lessons for valuing green spaces for health and wellbeing" highlights that: ·        Sense of place can be used as a framework to analyse both the spatial and perceptual value of a park ·        Key factors that draw people to parks include both the park's own features and its surrounding environment ·        Value differs from use and need ·        Perception doesn't always align with observation ·        Communities want more agency over their parks ·        Tensions and trade-offs reflect the multifaceted, sometimes contradictory nature of community needs. Read the paper: https://lnkd.in/ej-CPjew

Our latest article in #Cities Journal has just been published: "The #legitimacy of #CityNetworks in international multi-stakeholder governance."   The starting puzzle: bodies like United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), C40 Cities, ICLEI, or Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) coordinate policy across hundreds or thousands of municipalities, but they have no international legal personality. Their principals are cities, not states. So where does their legitimacy actually come from?   We present a process-based #LegitimacyFramework around five elements: legality, accountability, legitimate membership, and effectiveness plus moral authority. The first four are tested against two original datasets: organisational features of 102 city networks, and board/leadership profiles for over 1,000 individuals across 36 networks.   A few things the data show: → Legal form diversified sharply after Rio/Agenda 21 (1992). Pre-1992 city networks are mostly NGO-style associations; post-1992 ones spread across intergovernmental networks, consortia, foundations, and hybrid platforms. → Despite that diversity, governance converges on a shared template: general assembly, board/steering committee, secretariat. These are present in over half of all networks. → Procedural institutionalisation (statutes, financial disclosure, audits, sanctions, rotation rules) is strongest in older, larger, full-template networks: a "legitimacy package" rather than isolated safeguards. → Representation is uneven: boards are geographically broad, but headquarters and presidencies concentrate in Europe, and presidents are more likely than ordinary board members to be male and to have held prior political office. → On the CDP emissions data, C40 and GCoM member cities show lower per-capita emissions than non-members. Though we are careful to flag this as associational, not causal.   The bigger picture: city networks are not miniature #InternationalOrganisations (IOs) or ordinary #NGOs. They are a distinct form of public-subnational authority, legitimated less by treaty status and more by legal anchoring, delegated organs, transparency, and performance-oriented coordination.   Written with my LSE Cities collaborators from University of Genoa and Heidelberg University: ALESSIO SARDO, Gianluca Cerruti, and Arnulfo Daniel Mateos Durán. Open access with link below.   #UrbanGovernance #CityNetworks #CityDiplomacy #GlobalGovernance #Legitimacy https://lnkd.in/dwVQygj2