What’s the one problem city leaders can’t stop thinking about?

Added: 2026-05-20

[00:00:04][music] >> I would say housing.

[00:00:07]Climate change.

[00:00:09]Traffic congestion. Bring more jobs and investment.

[00:00:14]As cities continue to grow, their challenges keep evolving.

[00:00:19]So, in [music] 2026, what's keeping mayors around the world awake at night?

[00:00:23]And what solutions [music] are they looking for? The 2026 Global Mayors Dialogue Chengdu takes place from May 13th to 15th. Delegations from 32 cities across 26 countries, together with representatives [music] of five international organizations, have gathered in Sichuan to discuss solutions for the future of cities.

[00:00:45]Today, I brought a city health checkup to the event to uncover the real headaches cities are dealing with.

[00:00:55]>> [music] >> I would say housing. We don't have enough. We've virtually built up every single area we can build on, but still people are coming in. It is more and more difficult for youngsters [music] to find, to buy, or even to rent the housing. When it comes to waste management and water management, we have had very fierce [music] rains in the last couple of years. We had big flooding. We have a lot of problems in the environmental area because we are a city which [music] is below the sea level. We have a lot of rain because we are close to the equator line. We need to find solutions to have better environmental policies and also to foster economic [music] development based on these green solutions. We want more jobs, more prosperity, more opportunities for people to live. That means [music] bringing in high-quality jobs, investment, connecting people through better transport.

[00:01:51]Environment and safety.

[00:01:54]We can always improve [music] on environment and safety. There's There's a lot of There's a lot of work.

[00:01:59]Industry and development also.

[00:02:03]When rating their own cities, many mayors were notably cautious. There may be no perfect score in urban governance, but their commitment to building better [music] cities and their willingness to learn from one another have never been absent. [music] A good mayor should be like a good mother or a good father, taking care of her children, taking care of her home, offering opportunities to the children and to the visitors that come to [music] us. So, that's what I want to see for my town. So, what does your ideal or dream city look like?

[00:02:37]Shall I say like Chengdu?

[00:02:42]So, I would go five on that one.

[00:02:44]>> Wow.

[00:02:44]>> The biggest uh exporter of drone technology in China. So, something like that is a really uh unique [music] thing that I think people need to learn about.

[00:02:52]Three five stars and I'm very impressed with what is really destroying is the scale. You know, to hear that in in a reasonably [music] short space of time going from a population 16 million to 21 million. [music] We were asking questions about the help they managed to to do that growth in a in a sustainable way.

[00:03:11]>> [music] >> We need to incorporate um more elements of of nature in our road system like you have [music] here with the flyovers. I think that would be a great means of managing the heat in the city. [music] I really like that here.

[00:03:26]That's something we need to do as well.

[00:03:28]So, we would like to uh learn with Chengdu uh experience of urban planning and high-tech investments.

[00:03:38]Maybe I'll take the massage [music] back, too.

[00:03:42]So, one idea you want to share from your city? From my city, uh the city has an area called Porto Digital, >> [music] >> uh which we took old part of the town and transformed in a tech park. And I think there's like [music] great interchange of ideas. We can learn from each other. So, culture [music] is always something that we can exchange cuz Bonn is the city of Beethoven.

[00:04:12]And we're cooperating on a very secret, but very great project for next year, which is going to be the 200th anniversary [music] of Beethoven's death.

[00:04:21]There's a lot of collaboration ongoing between the universities as well. You know, and we want to see that grow. You know, that that's really positive and that's cultural engagement as well as educational. The possibilities are almost limitless, you know.

[00:04:36]Different cities face different challenges. Some are focused on technological innovation. Some are rethinking environmental governance.

[00:04:44]Others are searching for a new balance between industry and culture.

[00:04:49]But across continents and cultures, their goal remains the same: building cities where people can live better lives.

[00:04:56]There is a Chinese saying that wisdom lies in seeking harmony without uniformity.

[00:05:01]This idea reflects precisely what ecological civilization represents.

[00:05:06]Different paths, but a shared directions.

[00:05:09]And if we move forward with this mindset, we can create something that goes beyond this moment. Something that lasts.

[00:05:20]That's cool. I like this. Well done. Can we take a picture with this?