Mayors are uniquely aware of the innovations needed to make their cities run more efficiently.

And when it comes to improving city life, from housing to public safety and city services,

cost and limited resources can be major obstacles to realizing

those innovations. In February, Bloomberg Philanthropies announced the winners of this year's

mayor's challenge. A $1 million prize was awarded to 24 winners from 20 countries, representing 35 million

people. They were selected from 630 entries.

I'm Jen White.

You're listening to the 1A podcast.

Today we're sharing our exclusive conversation

with some of the winners of Bloomberg's

City Lab Summit in Madrid, Spain.

The summit was held in April

and convened mayors from across the globe

to talk about the latest in city planning.

I sat down with Fico Soto, mayor of Pasic in the Philippines, Lauren McLean, the Democratic mayor of Boise, Idaho,

and Jordan Hill Lewis, the mayor of Cape Town, South Africa. When we come back from this short

break, you'll hear that conversation. Stay with us. Welcome back to the 1A podcast. We talked to

some of the winners of Bloomberg Philanthropies' 2025 mayors challenge. The winners were chosen for

the approaches they took to solving specific problems in their cities. I began by asking each mayor what the

support of the program means for them and the cities they represent. Here's what they said, starting

with Mayor Soto. Well, it really means a lot, and first and foremost, it helps to push us innovate a

little bit more than to think outside the box. I mean, we could, our project is floating

...