City Focus
4 years, 2 months, 18 hours, 12 minutes
27 April 2025
The rise of the power and influence of municipalities.
When we think of global politics, of the public sector’s role in tackling climate change, of the healthcare needs of citizens, or of education, mostly we think of national governments (or perhaps regional governments / states in larger countries). Yet something that has been observed and commented on for more than a decade is the rise of the power and influence of municipalities.
Why are cities growing in clout? Partly just scale, in a world where there are now almost 40 cities of more than 10 million population (the counting of this is more art than science, but the general drift towards urbanisation and larger cities is evident everywhere). Partly that cities in theory can be more effective, because usually less siloed than central Government, so able to look holistically across inter-related challenges, like poverty, housing, schooling and healthcare. And partly because of growing awareness of the ability, where permitted, to raise their own finance.
A few weeks ago further evidence of these trends was provided by the European Investment Bank’s Municipalities Survey 2024-2025, which draws on responses from just over 1,000 cities. For those who just wish the headlines, these are the ones that stand out:
Two-thirds of the increase in EU public investment (in 2023) was accounted for by sub-sovereign entities
56% of municipalities plan to significantly increase investment in climate change mitigation and 53% plan to raise investment in social infrastructure
83% of municipalities say EU grants will provide most of their funding. Only 15% of cities currently access private capital for their infrastructure investment
Digitisation is still seen as a major opportunity by the majority of cities, and ageing populations present the biggest area of worry
Raising finance and onerous regulations are the main barriers to investment. A quarter of cities still struggle to access the necessary capability for their programmes.