Mayor Miszalski joined the inaugural class of prestigious Bloomberg LSE European City Leadership Initative

Mayor Aleksander Miszalski is one of 30 mayors from 17 countries, serving over 21 million residents.

Established and led by Bloomberg Philanthropies together with the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), the Bloomberg LSE European City Leadership Initiative will be delivered by LSE Cities in collaboration with the Hertie School in Berlin. The program will provide Kraków with pioneering expertise to tackle problems, modernize services, strengthen operations, and improve people’s lives – advancing progress on the issues—from housing to transit to youth outcomes—residents care most about. It unites expertise from the London School of Economics and Political Science, the Hertie School in Berlin, and more than a decade of work by Bloomberg Philanthropies to strengthen city hall capacity worldwide.

– I want Kraków to be a place where modern solutions are born – in the areas of mobility, green transformation, and public services alike. Taking part in the Bloomberg LSE European City Leadership Initiative is an opportunity to learn from the best and to respond even more effectively to the needs of Kraków’s residents. Cooperation and knowledge exchange with leaders from across Europe will help us implement changes that will genuinely improve the quality of life in our city," said the Mayor of Kraków, Aleksander Miszalski.

“We continue to expand our municipal leadership programs globally, because we've seen how well they work – and we want more cities to benefit,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Philanthropies and 108th mayor of New York City. “As Europe increasingly looks to local governments to lead, we’re glad to join forces with the London School of Economics and Political Science and the Hertie School on this new initiative. Together, we can bring mayors and senior officials the tools, training, and peer networks they need to take on their biggest challenges – and succeed.”

National and global policies increasingly require local progress – and in recent years, Europe’s municipalities have served as intermediaries for infrastructure, resilience, and more. Still, they face a confluence of challenges. While attending to the fundamentals, they must also mitigate climate shocks, stem building shortages, manage rising costs, and meet growing resident demands alongside navigating complex central government rules and slow bureaucracies with strained budgets and stretched capacity.

The data underscores the need: 86% of mayors surveyed by Eurocities report that their city will have to innovate to overcome a lack of resources to deliver on their priorities—and two thirds rank leadership and commitment from mayors and senior municipal officers as the most important factors to achieve this.

The Bloomberg LSE European City Leadership Initiative will equip Kraków with the strategies, skills, and networks to meet the moment. Through the nine-month intensive classroom, field-based, and capacity-building training, Kraków team will learn evidence-backed strategies from world-class faculty, researchers, and policy leaders on how to drive performance, work across departments, mobilize collaborations, and marshal solutions that deliver tangible results for citizens.

“Cities are where our most complex, urgent challenges show up first, and so where real solutions often start,” said Professor Larry Kramer, President and Vice Chancellor of LSE. “Mayors across Europe are looking to lead—but to address the unique problems they face and deliver on new opportunities that emerge, they need sharp management, strong teams, and the skills to innovate. This is precisely what the Bloomberg LSE European City Leadership Initiative will help provide. I am deeply grateful to Mike Bloomberg and Bloomberg Philanthropies for their steadfast commitment to strengthening local governments here in the UK and across the globe. This Initiative is a testament to their visionary thinking—and to the enduring partnership between our two organizations to help the continent’s mayors push further and do more.”

“Mayors are democracy’s frontline, grappling with today’s most pressing challenges - from climate change to migration, from housing to mobility,” said Professor Dr. Cornelia Woll, President of the Hertie School. “The Bloomberg LSE European City Leadership Initiative comes at exactly the right moment to strengthen the skills, networks, and capacity of city leaders across Europe. By uniting the Hertie School’s expertise with that of our partners at Bloomberg Philanthropies and the London School of Economics and Political Science, this program will provide mayors and their teams with the knowledge and support they need to innovate, govern effectively, and deliver for their citizens, and we are proud to contribute to this transformative Initiative.”

The 30 mayors of the inaugural class of the Bloomberg LSE European City Leadership Initiative include: Mayor Emiriana Sako of Durrës, Albania; Prime Minister Nihad Uk of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Mayor Tomislav Tomašević of Zagreb, Croatia; Mayor Charalambos Prountzos of Nicosia, Cyprus; Mayor Daniel Sazonov of Helsinki, Finland; Mayor Niko Kyynäräinen of Lahti, Finland; Mayor Piia Elo of Turku, Finland; Lord Mayor Alexander Vogt of Halle, Germany; Lord Mayor Sven Schoeller of Kassel, Germany; Lord Mayor Martin Ansbacher of Ulm, Germany; Mayor Stelios Angeloudis of Thessaloniki, Greece; Chief Executive Richard Shakespeare of Dublin, Ireland; Mayor John Moran of Limerick, Ireland; Mayor Stefano Lo Russo of Turin, Italy; Mayor Giacomo Possamai of Vicenza, Italy; Mayor Roelof Bleker of Enschede, Netherlands; Mayor Wim Hillenaar of Maastricht, Netherlands; Governing Mayor Eirik Lae Solberg of Oslo, Norway; Mayor Aleksandra Kosiorek of Gdynia, Poland; Mayor Aleksander Miszalski of Krakow, Poland; Mayor Konrad Fijołek of Rzeszów, Poland; Mayor Dominic Fritz of Timișoara, Romania; Mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida of Madrid, Spain; Mayor Cemil Tugay of Izmir, Turkey; Council Leader Lynn Williams of Blackpool, UK; Council Leader Dimitri Batrouni of Newport, UK; Mayor Oliver Coppard of South Yorkshire, UK; Mayor Richard Parker of West Midlands, UK; Mayor Tracy Brabin of West Yorkshire, UK; and Mayor Ihor Sapozhko of Brovary, Ukraine.

In London, Aleksander Miszalski received keynote instruction and engaged with global experts from Bloomberg Philanthropies, LSE, the Hertie School, UCL IIPP, and fellow peers including: Michael R. Bloomberg, 108th mayor of New York City and founder of Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Philanthropies; Mayor Sadiq Khan of London, UK; Professor Ricky Burdett, Director of LSE Cities and the Bloomberg LSE European City Leadership Initiative; Professor Dr. Andrea Römmele, Dean of Executive Education and Professor of Communication in Politics and Civil Society at the Hertie School; and more.

The Bloomberg LSE European City Leadership Initiative builds on more than 10 years of work led by Bloomberg Philanthropies to advance mayoral leadership and local government innovation across the globe. The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, housed at the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University, has to date trained 387 mayors and over 2,400 senior city officials—including 8 in 10 of America’s big city mayors and 9 of England’s mayoral combined authorities. With initiatives that operate today in over 900 city halls, tens of thousands of mayors and municipal officials receive support from these efforts to better the lives of the hundreds of millions of residents they collectively serve.

Kraków, alongside the local governments joining the Initiative, will benefit from this global community of practice, and learnings from peers in city halls across the region and around the world.

About Bloomberg Philanthropies:

Bloomberg Philanthropies invests in 700 cities and 150 countries around the world to ensure better, longer lives for the greatest number of people. The organization focuses on creating lasting change in five key areas: the Arts, Education, Environment, Government Innovation, and Public Health. Bloomberg Philanthropies encompasses all of Michael R. Bloomberg’s giving, including his foundation, corporate, and personal philanthropy as well as Bloomberg Associates, a philanthropic consultancy that advises cities around the world. In 2024, Bloomberg Philanthropies distributed $3.7 billion. For more information, visit bloomberg.org, sign up for newsletter, or follow Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Threads, Facebook i X.

About the London School of Economics and Political Science:

The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is an internationally renowned university specializing in the social sciences. As one of the most international universities in the world, the School’s diversity of people, ideas, and interests make it a thriving center for research, education, and public engagement. Established in 1895, the original vision of LSE as “a community of people and ideas, founded to know the causes of things, for the betterment of society” remains true to this day. It continues to use its research-led expertise to influence policy and help tackle the planet’s most pressing problems. For more information, please visit lse.ac.uk.

About LSE Cities:

LSE Cities is an international center that investigates the complexities of the contemporary city. It carries out research, graduate and executive education, advisory and engagement activities in London and abroad. Extending LSE’s century-old commitment to the understanding of urban society, LSE Cities investigates how complex urban systems are responding to the pressures of growth, change, and globalization with new infrastructures of design and governance that both complement and threaten social equity and environmental sustainability. For more information, please visit lse.ac.uk/cities.

About the Hertie School:

The Hertie School is a private university based in Berlin, Germany, accredited by the state and the German Science Council. It prepares exceptional students for leadership positions in government, business, and civil society. Interdisciplinary and practice-oriented teaching, first-class research, and an extensive international network set the Hertie School apart and position it as an ambassador of good governance, characterized by public debate and engagement shape tomorrow. For more information, please visit hertie-school.org.