Global Crises, Local Impacts: Key Findings & Recommendations to Date (September 2025)

Last updated:

08/07/2026

Publication Date:

30/09/2025

Content Type:

Policy Briefs

Issues:

Global Crises, Local Impacts

The Strong Cities Network’s Global Crises, Local Impacts Initiative continues to provide a much-needed platform for local government officials to share and learn from city-led approaches and innovations that address the impacts of successive external crises on social cohesion, ranging from climate change to rising levels of online mis/disinformation and international or regional conflicts. The Initiative’s webinar series, which launched in December 2023, has engaged representatives from more than 60 cities for peer-learning, with key findings and recommendations captured here (December 2023 – March 2024) and here (April 2024 – September 2024).

Since September 2024, several additional webinars have been held, facilitating city panel discussions with officials from Atlanta (Georgia, United States); Blantyre (South Lanarkshire, Scotland); Colorado Springs (Colorado, United States); Columbus (Ohio, United States); Dabrowa Gornicza (Poland); Fochabers Lhanbryde Ward (Moray, Scotland); London (United Kingdom); Masaka City (Uganda); Skokie (Illinois, United States); Stockholm (Sweden); Tempe (Arizona, United States); Strasbourg (France); Zomba City (Malawi) and briefings from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD); Canadian Centre for Safer Communitie s, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities; Cornell University; InterAct International and the International Organisation for Migration.

This policy brief presents five key findings and recommendations from the webinars held between September 2024 and July 2025.

Key Findings & Recommendations

1. Information integrity and digital resilience are central to an effective city-led response to cascading global, regional and national crises

Local governments are not only first responders to digital harms but also key actors in shaping the broader information landscape. By promoting factual communication, investing in inclusive engagement and countering harmful narratives, cities can foster digital environments that support resilience, trust and social cohesion.

Across the six webinars covered by this brief, local officials highlighted the role of the digital information environment in shaping public responses to crises. Social media was frequently described as both a source of harm and a potential tool for building cohesion. Several cities pointed to a rise in online hate and misinformation targeting migrants and other vulnerable communities as well as women in leadership, with tangible consequences for public safety and democratic trust.

Cities shared how anti-migrant rhetoric and conspiracy narratives have led to offline threats in their cities, including protests, vigilante activity and harassment. In some cases, false narratives circulated on social media created panic and confusion, ultimately fuelling hate against vulnerable communities. Participants emphasised how women in public leadership are often targeted with harassment, smear campaigns and reputational attacks that undermine both personal safety and institutional legitimacy. They spoke of the emotional toll and the urgency of safeguarding women in local office, with not only elected officials being targeted: as local elected leaders from Scotland shared, “now it’s their families too”.

Speakers stressed the importance of local coordination and trusted community relationships in countering misinformation and maintaining cohesion during moments of heightened tension and how social media can be used to reinforce inclusion and transparency. For example, speakers shared how the Scottish Refugee Council successfully countered false narratives about asylum seekers following anti-migrant protest activity, while the City of Boise used its digital platforms to affirm the city’s commitment to being a place for everyone.

Throughout the series, speakers emphasised the value of proactive digital resilience strategies. These include media literacy efforts, investments in multilingual communication and strong relationships with trusted messengers. The March 2025 webinar on restarting dialogue emphasised the responsibility of local leaders to maintain open lines of communication, even when national discourse becomes divisive or unproductive. Officials noted that city governments can help build infrastructure for dialogue by modelling transparency and creating safe, credible spaces — both online and offline — for residents to engage.

2. Leadership, trust, dialogue and compassion are foundations for cohesion

Public trust must be continually earned through visible, inclusive leadership and sustained community engagement and consistent efforts to bridge divides before they harden. Local officials have a unique ability to convene diverse voices, lend legitimacy to difficult conversations and set a constructive tone for public discourse. Cities need to create and protect spaces for honest, inclusive conversation. Dialogue may not always lead to consensus, but it can help mitigate division by building trust, encouraging empathy and creating opportunities for connection.

City leaders and institutions are often the first to feel the local impacts of global instability. When national institutions are perceived as unresponsive or divisive, residents look to local government for reassurance, guidance and action. Across the webinars covered by this policy brief, speakers repeatedly emphasised the importance of proactive leadership and relationship-building in fostering trust and preventing division.

For example, during the November 2024 webinar on contested elections, speakers stressed that strong relationships between local officials and community partners should be built before a crisis hits. Mayors and city staff spoke about the value of ongoing partnerships with civil society, youth leaders and religious institutions that could be drawn upon during tense or uncertain moments. These relationships enable cities to maintain open lines of communication and respond quickly to misinformation, public anger and other threats to social cohesion.

Speakers also emphasised the importance of tracking hate incidents along with hate crimes and ensuring community leaders know how to respond to and report hate before it escalates. Particularly at a time when political partisanship and heated political rhetoric are increasingly finding their way into local settings, such as school board and city council meetings, city officials stressed the need to employ de-escalation strategies to “lower the temperature”. This includes prioritising efforts of elected local leaders and other city officials to model civility and compassion in the midst of heightened polarisation.

The May 2025 session brought added focus to the risks and responsibilities that come with public leadership. Participants discussed how women in office are often the targets of gendered disinformation and online abuse. Some cities are now providing digital safety training and other forms of support for women leaders and are working to ensure that people from underrepresented groups have safe, supported pathways into civic leadership.

Trust is also shaped by how city decisions are made and experienced in the physical environment. The January 2025 webinar on urban design emphasised that a city’s built environment can either reinforce inclusion or exacerbate division. Speakers highlighted the need for planning processes that are participatory, transparent and responsive to community needs. When residents feel heard and see their input reflected in how spaces are designed, trust in government grows.

The September 2024 webinar on migration offered a similar insight. City leaders described how their efforts to welcome newcomers were bolstered by strong coordination across city departments, visible mayoral support and consistent engagement with long-term residents. Public trust is enhanced not only by inclusive rhetoric but also by concrete investments in outreach, interpretation, housing support and economic opportunity.

3. Public spaces as sites of both risk and cohesion

Cohesion depends not only on who occupies a space, but also on how that space is shaped, shared and protected. Whether online or offline, intentional design, clear communication and inclusive engagement are essential to transforming places of risk into places of resilience.

Crises often unfold in shared spaces, both physical and digital. Cities across the webinar series reflected on how streets, parks, civic buildings and online platforms can serve as flashpoints for violence or as foundations for healing. Whether triggered by protests, extremist violence or viral misinformation, the places where residents gather can quickly become politicised and unsafe. How cities manage and design these spaces plays a critical role in shaping public trust and cohesion.

The July 2025 session on vehicle-ramming attacks highlighted how cities are reassessing the safety of public gatherings. Speakers described investments in protective infrastructure, such as bollards and traffic barriers and efforts to coordinate security planning across departments. At the same time, they emphasised the importance of preserving democratic access to public space and avoiding overly securitised responses that might alienate communities or restrict expression.

This tension between security and inclusion was a central theme in the January 2025 webinar on urban design. Participants explored how cities can use the built environment not only to reduce risk but also to foster belonging and resilience. Planning decisions, such as where housing is located, how to structure parks and plazas or which community centres receive investment, shape residents’ sense of visibility and inclusion. Speakers underscored the value of participatory design processes that reflect community priorities and ensure that all groups have safe, welcoming spaces to gather.

Several webinars also emphasised that online spaces are extensions of public life and must be managed with equal care. The September 2024 session on migration surfaced how digital platforms have become vehicles for conspiracy narratives and coordinated hate. Officials from different cities described how false claims spread online have led to offline consequences, including protests, threats and violence targeting migrant communities. To help mitigate these threats, local governments are increasingly investing in official communication channels, rapid response strategies and partnerships with trusted community messengers to combat misinformation and restore public confidence.

Efforts to promote dialogue in digital spaces have included encouraging student voices and increasing the diversity of perspectives on social media. In Columbus, city leaders prioritise language accessibility, inclusive programming and diverse representation in public institutions, all of which contribute to a stronger, more welcoming city.

4. Recognising and responding to early warning signs

Identifying early indicators of risk (whether hate incidents, misinformation, or infrastructure vulnerabilities) before they escalate into broader crises is essential. While responses may vary by city, proactive detection and coordinated action are key to maintaining public safety and social cohesion in times of global and other crises.

In the webinar on contested elections, speakers highlighted the need for cities to track a broader range of hate incidents, beyond hate crimes. Participants emphasised that community leaders must be equipped to recognise and report early signs of bias, particularly in periods of heightened polarisation. These efforts help ensure that tensions do not go unnoticed and that local authorities can respond with timely, targeted outreach before incidents escalate.

The webinar on migration-related flashpoints pointed to the urgent need for cities to detect digital threats before they escalate offline and cause real-world harm. City officials described how conspiracy theories and anti-migrant narratives often circulate online long before visible unrest occurs. Without early monitoring and intervention, these narratives can quickly evolve into harassment, protests or public safety threats. It is vital to build early warning systems that track harmful content online in order to respond before tensions escalate.

The session on vehicle-ramming attacks brought attention to a different type of early warning: risks in the physical environment. Officials described how subtle vulnerabilities in public infrastructure, such as unsecured pedestrian zones or major events, can create conditions for violence if left unaddressed. In response, some cities are now taking a proactive approach by assessing risk in shared spaces and implementing protective measures as much as possible without compromising public access.

Together, these webinars highlight a shared commitment among city leaders to move from reactive crisis response toward a preventative model. By investing in local data collection, strengthening communication networks and building trust before a crisis occurs, cities can more effectively recognise warning signs and protect the safety and cohesion of their communities.

5. Building resilience through coordination and cross-sector partnerships

Strong coordination across city departments, civil society partners and community leaders is key to building resilience. These cross-sector relationships allow a city to respond quickly to moments of crisis while laying a foundation for long-term inclusion and trust.

A recurring theme across the webinar series was that no single actor can effectively address the complex, overlapping crises facing cities today alone. Instead, sustained collaboration within government, across departments and with civil society partners emerged as a cornerstone of effective local resilience.

In the webinar on migration-related flashpoints, city leaders described how coordinated strategies enabled them to meet the needs of new arrivals while also addressing concerns from long-term residents. Such strategies might include partnerships with community-based organisations to deliver wraparound services, such as housing, food and healthcare, to migrants who might otherwise fall through the cracks; city-organised events that bring together police, fire and rescue services, parks and recreation teams and community partners to build trust at the neighbourhood level.

The July 2025 webinar on vehicle-ramming attacks offered another example of how integrated responses can enhance both safety and cohesion. Cities discussed how coordinated planning between national and local police, emergency management, public health officials and urban planners was essential to securing public events without resorting to overly securitised approaches that risk alienating communities. This type of collaboration allows cities to preserve public spaces as sites of belonging while addressing evolving security threats.

The March 2025 webinar on restarting dialogue also reinforced the importance of cross-sector cooperation. This webinar spoke to the capacity of local government to create inclusive spaces for open conversations, reinforcing the idea that trusted and honest dialogue can be foundational for rebuilding social cohesion.

In every case, speakers emphasised that coordination cannot be improvised in the moment. It must be built over time, through shared goals, sustained relationships and regular opportunities for joint action. When that groundwork is in place, cities are better able to weather shocks, respond to emerging risks and build lasting resilience.

Further Support for Mayors, Other Local Leaders and Cities

To further support cities as they navigate these challenges, Strong Cities has been sharing with participants a curated Resource List, updated monthly with relevant tools and articles from a range of international, regional, national and local organisations. While inclusion in this list does not indicate endorsement, Strong Cities is committed to providing cities with a living resource to support their response to these local impacts.

In addition to the Strong Cities’ Global Crises, Local Impacts policy briefs, event reports and the Resource List, our series of guides are a crucial resource to inspire and guide mayoral and city-led action against the evolving hate, extremism and polarisation threat landscape. Developed through consultations with mayors and city officials in different contexts globally, the guides draw on experiences, good practices and advice from leaders and city officials around the world, and a diversity of examples of city-led approaches on prevention and response. The guides are available in Arabic, English, French and Spanish, and housed in the Strong Cities Network Resource Hub as PDFs and interactive multimedia tools. Explore our Guides:

A Guide for Mayors: Key questions, decision points, good practices and lessons learned to help mayors prevent and respond to hate, extremism and polarisation.
A Guide for Cities: Support for local government officials, practitioners and staff on their role and that of local government, in preventing hate, extremism and polarisation.
A Guide for City-Led Response: Support for mayors and cities in formulating a sensitive and effective response in the wake of a hate- or violent extremism-motivated attack, incident or crisis.

Strong Cities Network A Guide For Cities

Explore the Resource Hub

Contact

For more information on the Strong Cities Network, our Global Crises, Local Impacts Initiative, or other Network activities, please contact [email protected].

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