Mayor Duggan announces City of Detroit selected as a Global Finalist of Bloomberg Philanthropies 2025 Mayors Challenge to reimage an essential municipal service
- City of Detroit is one of 50 finalists to receive $50,000 to test breakthrough ideas
- City of Detroit aims for automated 360-degree parcel view technology
Today, Mayor Duggan announced that the City of Detroit has been selected as one of the 50 finalists of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ sixth Mayors Challenge, a competition to spur local government innovation that improves lives in cities around the world. The sixth Challenge elevates municipalities that have proposed the boldest ideas to strengthen essential municipal services. The 50 finalists, selected from more than 630 applications, 33 countries and represent over 80 million residents.
City of Detroit will receive $50,000 to prototype their idea, which will allow the City of Detroit to improve our property information systems.
City officials will also participate in Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Ideas Camp in July to hone and test their concepts with feedback from experts and fellow peers. In January 2026, the 25 city halls with the most promising ideas will each be awarded $1 million and operational assistance to bring their proposals to life
“Bloomberg Philanthropies has provided invaluable support for cities to develop and implement innovative solutions that improve the lives of residents in ways they can feel,” said Mayor Mike Duggan. “Detroit is honored to be among the 50 municipalities selected from over 630 applications for the organization’s Mayors Challenge. As a finalist, we will work with renowned experts and peers to advance our proposal to create a powerful, single entry that connects currently scattered information – such as inspection dates, taxes, and utilities – on all 400,000 Detroit properties to revolutionize how owners can access this vital information, as well as how our city plans and provides its most essential services.
The 630 ideas submitted to the Mayors Challenge reflect some of the greatest public service challenges facing cities today—as well as the creativity that animates local governments across the globe. A third of U.S. and Canada applicants, for example, devised solutions addressing housing and shelter. Nearly half of the applicants from Africa proposed upgrades to waste collection and management. One out of five applicants from the Asia-Pacific region focused on cleaner water, air, and infrastructure, and 22 percent of European applicants sought ways to reduce poverty or enhance social inclusion.
The 50 finalist ideas were selected for their originality, potential for impact, and credible vision for delivery. The City of Detroit proposed technology for an automated 360-degree view of every property in the city to allow for stronger, more precise property information systems. It will allow for one centralized location for all 400,000 individual parcels inside the city.
This would include up-to-date imagery for each property, show building permits, occupancy, Register of Deed information, utility information, assessment and sales data, tax information and more. The system would automatically update every time any department enters new information. Meaning, obtaining current property taxes, unpaid blight violations or water bills would be streamlined into one accessible location.
“Local government is where people meet policy—and where government improves lives and builds trust,” said James Anderson, who leads the Government Innovation program at Bloomberg Philanthropies. “That’s why municipal innovation isn’t about grand gestures—it’s about solving hard problems under pressure, often with imperfect tools and finite resources. These Mayors Challenge finalists stand out because they’re not just thinking creatively—they’re designing solutions that reckon with the complexity of implementation and the urgency of their residents’ needs. Their proposals reflect a new standard for public sector achievement: ambitious, yes, but also grounded, disciplined, and ripe for real impact.”
The 50 finalist cities are:
- Abha, Saudi Arabia
- Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Ansan, South Korea
- As-Salt, Jordan
- Barcelona, Spain
- Beaverton, U.S
- Beira, Mozambique
- Belfast, United Kingdom
- Benin City, Nigeria
- Boise, U.S.
- Boston, U.S.
- Budapest, Hungary
- Cap-Haïtien, Haiti
- Cape Town, South Africa
- Cartagena, Colombia
- Cauayan, Philippines
- Choma, Zambia
- Cuenca, Ecuador
- Detroit, U.S.
- Fez, Morocco
- Fukuoka, Japan
- Ghaziabad, India
- Ghent, Belgium
- Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, India
- Helsinki, Finland
- Honolulu, U.S.
- Kanifing, Gambia
- Kyiv, Ukraine
- Lafayette, U.S.
- Lower Hutt, New Zealand
- Maceió, Brazil
- Marseille, France
- Medellín, Colombia
- Mexico City, Mexico
- Naga, Philippines
- Ndola, Zambia
- Netanya, Israel
- Nouakchott, Mauritania
- Pasig, Philippines
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- San Francisco, U.S.
- Seattle, U.S.
- Seoul, South Korea
- Sialkot, Pakistan
- South Bend, U.S.
- Surabaya, Indonesia
- Taipei, Taiwan
- Toronto, Canada
- Turku, Finland
- Yonkers, U.S.
In this round of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge, more funding will be distributed and more cities will be assisted than in the previous five Challenges which each selected between five to 15 winners.
The new Mayors Challenge builds on more than 10 years of work led by Bloomberg Philanthropies to discover, nurture, and drive innovation in cities. The awards to date across five previous rounds of competition have provided 38 winning cities with funding and technical assistance to realize their ideas for addressing civic issues. By supporting the replication of the most successful winning ideas, Bloomberg Philanthropies has expanded the impact of the Mayors Challenge to 337 other cities globally, reaching over 100 million residents around the world.
With the expansion of the Bloomberg Cities Idea Exchange, future Mayors Challenge-winning ideas and other locally led solutions supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies will have new potential to scale—serving as models and catalysts for how governments solve problems across the globe.
To learn more about the 50 finalist proposals, visit mayorschallenge.bloomberg.org.