Sixth Global Summit

Strong Cities Network
Sixth Global Summit

In December 2025, the Strong Cities Network held its Sixth Global Summit in Toronto (Canada). The Summit convened more than 350 participants, including 58 mayors, governors and other city leaders, as well as local officials, practitioners and partners from more than 83 cities and 42 countries to showcase how cities are preventing and responding to rising levels of hate, extremism and polarisation amid consecutive global crises.

Forging Safer, Connected, Thriving Cities
in a Changing World

Summit Highlights

Key Takeaways and Recommendations

Explore the Summit’s key takeaways and recommendations, which capture the collective insights of participating cities and translate shared lessons into practical guidance to strengthen efforts at the local level.

Mayoral Conversations & Plenary Sessions

The Role of Mayors and Local Governments in Countering Online Harms

A mayoral conversation on how local governments are responding to the growing impact of online harms on community safety, trust and social cohesion.

Spotlight on the Strong Cities Network Women’s Caucus

City-led innovations of women mayors and local government leaders working to prevent hate, extremism and polarisation while strengthening social cohesion.

The Glocalisation of Prevention

How cities are translating global prevention frameworks into meaningful, sustainable action at the local level, and the role local leaders can play in shaping and implementing these agendas.

Safeguarding Community-Safety and Wellbeing

A mayoral conversation on how cities are safeguarding community safety and wellbeing in the context of rising hate, misinformation and polarisation amidst overlapping local, national and global crises.

National-Local Cooperation as a Foundation for Sustainable and Effective City-Led Prevention and Response

Canadian national government and local government representatives sharing how NLC is facilitated in Canada. This session was complemented by a parallel session on NLC Good Practices, inviting participants from other contexts to share what works and what doesn’t to facilitate sustainable NLC on prevention and response.

Interactive Parallel Sessions

Youth–Local Government Engagement

Mayors and other local leaders from different cities around the world sharing how cities can meaningfully engage youth not just as beneficiaries but as co-designers of prevention policies and programmes through youth-led councils, participatory budgeting and safety audits and digital innovation.

Secondary Prevention through Whole-of-City Collaboration

A spotlight on FOCUS Toronto, showcasing how sustained, multi-sector collaboration can advance community safety and wellbeing.

How Foreign Information Operations Target States, Cities and Local Communities

A discussion led by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue on how foreign information operations target states, cities and local communities.

National-Local Cooperation Working Group Launch

The launch of a new National-Local Cooperation Working Group to provide a structured platform where national and local actors from select countries in Europe and North America in particular can work together to develop and advance new NLC approaches.

Climate Change, Social Cohesion and Local Resilience

How cities are responding to overlapping environmental, social and governance challenges, including the ways climate-related shocks are reshaping social cohesion at the local level.

Digital Resilience, Disinformation and Local Governance

A discussion on how misinformation, disinformation and online harassment are affecting local leaders and communities, and what digital resilience means in practice for municipalities of different sizes and capacities.

Building and Restoring Trust in Institutions

City-city sharing on the importance of promoting transparency and accountability, advancing communication with residents and partners, and building proactive partnerships with trusted community-facing organisations and service providers.

Whole-of-City Anti-Hate Campaigns

Sharing of actionable lessons learned and recommendations on how local governments can engage with underrepresented populations and can thoughtfully engage around anti-racism strategies and anti-hate campaigns.

National–Local Cooperation in Crisis Response

City leaders sharing case studies on how national and local authorities have collaborated, including with community-based partners, in response to hate-motivated or violent extremist attacks, as well as during public protests and mega-sporting events.

Addressing Gender-Based and Intimate Partner Violence, and Misogynistic Hate

An insight into how cities are responding to rising levels of violence, harassment and gendered hate, both offline and online, and the role local governments can play in supporting survivors and strengthening prevention efforts.

Safeguarding Human Rights in the Context of Mega-Sporting Events

Sharing of lessons learned and good practices for preventing and responding to human trafficking in the lead-up to the 2026 World Cup.

Cities and Tertiary Prevention

An opportunity to showcase the role of cities in the rehabilitation and reintegration of returnees from conflict zones, former terrorist offenders and individuals exiting hate or violent extremist groups.

City-Led Online Harm Prevention and Mitigation

A discussion to highlight how cities are working with local companies, universities and third-party tools to innovate grassroots-led approaches to promoting online safety in cities.

Hate and Harassment Against Elected Local Officials

Exploring hate and harassment as core risks to local governance and democracy, the role of social media in accelerating false narratives targeting city leaders and officials and practical security measures for local elected officials.

The Role of Community-Facing Institutions in Maintaining Social Cohesion in Times of Crisis and Division

Exploring the power of effective partnerships between cities and relevant community-facing institutions to build and maintain social cohesion.

Summit Co-hosts

Strong Cities is proud to be partnering with the City of Toronto and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, co-host of this year’s Summit

Summit Sponsors & Partners

The Summit is made possible with generous support from the Government of Canada, The Fourth Freedom Forum, The Toronto Foundation and Charities Aid Foundation.

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Copyright © Institute for Strategic Dialogue (2024). The Strong Cities Network is hosted by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), a company limited by guarantee, registered office address PO Box 75769, London, SW1P 9ER. ISD is registered in England with company registration number 06581421 and registered charity number 1141069. All Rights Reserved