Metro diplomacy: cities as transatlantic changemakers

For the past four years, transatlantic relations have found an emerging voice in cities. To facilitate the debate on the role of cities within this context, New Urban Progress is launching a paper that details overarching challenges as well as opportunities for urban environments in Germany and the United States. In this paper, we look at how local governments are tackling common global and place-based challenges: inclusive innovation and growth, cultural divide, climate change, immigration, racial disparities. In an online discussion, we will present the new publication and debate multilateralism from the bottom up, with Almut Möller, State Secretary and Representative of the Free Hanseatic City of Hamburg to the Federal Government, the EU and for Foreign Affairs, and Stephen K. Benjamin, Mayor of Columbia, South Carolina and Vice-President of the Global Parliament of Mayors.

Creative metro leaders and partnerships have turned metropolises into laboratories of public innovation and responsive government. With our work in New Urban Progress, we want to encourage them to reach beyond national borders to compare notes with their peers in other countries. A new metro diplomacy would draw upon the deep traditions of German and U.S. federalism to engage city leaders in dialogues aimed at regenerating democracy from the ground up.

The event takes place on 16 November at 2 pm. If you would like to attend, please register here.

For any questions regarding the even please contact Alexandra Hunger.