Dive Brief:

• Because of political and economic disruption at the state and federal level and expanding use of AI and other technologies, cities will need to augment traditional, vertical silo operations with more horizontal, mesh-oriented models, a panel of experts said during a Jan. 7 Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University panel about how successful cities will operate in the 2030s.
• To achieve this, the experts said, cities will need to invest in training employees to develop new mindsets and skills.
• “Cities are playing an increasingly important role all over the world … perhaps as national governments are going a bit crazy sometimes,” said Geoff Mulgan, professor of collective intelligence, public policy and social innovation at University College London. “Mayors are filling the space and are highly active on everything from housing to climate change to poverty.”