Stories

Photo credit: Courtesy International Observatory of Participatory Democracy
SAN LUIS POTOSI
AWARDS Our 3 Local Governments of the Year
San Luis Potosi, Mexico; Setagaya District, Tokyo; and Gothenburg, Sweden Share Inaugural Prize
Photo credit: by Janak Bhatta, via Wikimedia Commons, CC 4.0
KATHMANDU
AWARDS Meet Democracy Local's Mayor of the Year
''The World Cannot Come Between Us'
BANGALORE
VIDEO: Democracy From the Ground Up: Participation in Big Cities
An Event, With Reports From Chennai, Bangalore, Mexico City, Kaduna, Los Angeles—And the World
Image created by Joe Mathews with Google Gemini
LOS ANGELES
COLUMN: Dear UN, Send Election Observers to California
When international intervention is necessary in sub-national voting.
FLORES ISLAND
ASIA DEMOCRACY CHRONICLES A Murky Shade of Green
Geothermal ambitions clash with the indignenous peoples of an Indonesian village.
BARISHAL
ASIA DEMOCRACY CHRONICLES: Floating People, Floating Lives
Manta Fisherfolk Spend Lives on Boats Along the Bukhainagar River, a front line of climate crisis
photo via Wikimedia Common, CC 4.0
NEW YORK
POLL Which City Should Be the New Home of the UN Headquarters?
With the U.S. Falling Into Autocracy, the U.N. Needs a New City to Call Home. What's Your Choice?
ALICANTE
LOCAL SNAPSHOT: Mayor Luis Barcala
'We apply AI to make urban governance more people-centered'
via X
VITORIA GASTEIZ
LOCAL SNAPSHOT: ALDA's Antonella Valmorbida
'The Local Space Is the Space Of Innovation'
Photo by Joe Mathews
BRAMPTON, ONTARIO
LOCAL SNAPSHOT: Deputy Mayor Harkirat Singh
'It's A Three-Year Roadmap. We'll See How Effective These AI Public Projects Are'
Photo credit CC 4.0 by Tehran Picture Agency
TEHRAN
LOCAL SNAPSHOT Mayor Alireza Zakani
'Small Steps at Local Scale Can Be a Starting Point to Huge Transformation'
Photos by Bruno Kaufmann
GOTHENBURG
WHERE IN THE WORLD IS BRUNO KAUFMANN? Gothenburg
The World's Biggest Local Democracy Unit, on the Swedish West Coast