How to Rewire City Hall

How to Rewire City Hall

From Statecraft by Santi Ruiz

February 13, 2026 · 1h 2m

About this episode

James Anderson discusses the Bloomberg model of city management and its implications for innovation in local government.

James Anderson leads the Government Innovation Program at Bloomberg Philanthropies , the umbrella for the charitable giving of billionaire and former three-term New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg . He was Mayor Bloomberg’s communications director, leading on the design of NYC Service and on public engagement for a number of Bloomberg reforms. James has paid more attention than almost anyone to how cities work, and how they learn from each other. But is the Bloomberg model for making cities better “technocratic”? What can it do, and what can’t it do? And should mayors be “innovative”? Or are the best practices, at the end of the day, pretty straightforward? We get into these questions and more. Read this conversation transcript at www.statecraft.pub . This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.statecraft.pub

People in this episode

Host: Santi Ruiz

Guest: James Anderson

Topics covered

  • government innovation
  • city management
  • public engagement
  • Bloomberg model
  • mayoral innovation

Keywords

  • city hall
  • government innovation
  • Bloomberg Philanthropies
  • public engagement
  • mayoral practices

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Bloomberg Philanthropies

Places: New York City

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