Leading Cities is a global review of the state of city leadership and urban governance today. Drawing on research into more than two hundred cities in one hundred countries, the book provides broad, international evidence grounded in the experiences of all types of cities. It offers a scholarly, but also a practical, assessment of how cities are led, what challenges their leaders face, and the ways in which this leadership is increasingly connected to global affairs.

Arguing that effective leadership is not just something created by an individual, Elizabeth Rapoport, Michele Acuto, and Leonora Grcheva focus on three elements of city leadership: leaders, the structures and institutions that underpin them, and the tools used to drive change. Each of these elements is examined in turn, as are the major urban policy issues that leaders confront today. The book also takes a deep dive into one particular example of a tool or instrument of city leadership: the strategic urban plan.