Sharon Dijksma
Mayor of Utrecht, the Netherlands
President of VNG – Association of Dutch Municipalities
Former UN/ICLEI Special Envoy on Cities and Climate
“I have had the chance to work alongside Neila in spaces where cities fight to be heard, at the United Nations in New York, in the networks where local governments advocate for their rightful place. What I saw was not a theorist but a practitioner: someone with a deep, genuine commitment to the cause of inclusive, resilient, and prosperous cities. That commitment is what this book is made of. It does not tell city leaders what to think. It gives them a language for what they already know, and the conviction to act on it.
To every mayor and urban practitioner who opens these pages: you deserve a framework worthy of your work. This is it.”
Clare Hart
Vice-President, Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole, France
Acting President, MedCities
“This book arrives at the right moment. It challenges, inspires, and equips those committed to building cities that are prosperous, resilient, inclusive, and just. It deserves a wide readership among everyone who believes that the future of our communities will be determined not only by policies and plans, but by the quality of leadership that guides them.
May this work encourage a new generation of city leaders to practice their craft with wisdom, courage, and care.”
Nicholas You
Executive Director, Guangzhou Institute for Urban Innovation
Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation, China
Former Advisor, UN-Habitat
“ Neila Akrimi has done something I have wished for, for decades. She has given city leaders a framework that matches the reality of their work. Not abstract theory. Not a one-size-fits-all manual. But a set of capacities: Clarity, Care, Coalition, Courage, Conscience, Craftsmanship that any leader, in any city or community, can recognise and cultivate.
… This book is not just a quick read. It is a companion-in-arms. Keep it on your desk. Mark the pages. Come back to it when you are stuck. And share it with your team – because CityCraft is not a solo act.
Neila has written a guide for the mayors, planners, and community builders who show up every day to do the hard, quiet work of making our cities and communities livable. She has been in the room with them. She has listened. And she has given back something genuinely useful.
If you lead a city or community – or aspire to – read this book. Then hit the streets and practice!”
Carles Llorens
Secretary General, ORU Fogar – United Regions Organization
Former Director General of International Cooperation, Government of Catalonia, Spain
“To every mayor, every regional president, every governor, every municipal council member who opens this book: CityCraft is written for you. It does not matter whether you govern a city of ten million or a rural department of two hundred thousand. The craft is the same. The conviction that territory deserves leadership of the highest quality – that the people who live there deserve clarity, care, coalition, courage, conscience, and craftsmanship from those who govern them – that conviction is what this book is made of. Read it as a practitioner. Read it as an ally. And carry it into your territory.”
Laura Hagg
International Local Governance Expert
Advisor, International City/County Management Association (ICMA), USA
Former City Manager, Frankfort, Kentucky
“CityCraft advocates on the importance of conscience, courage, care, and leading with heart and reminds us that a city is not just a place, but a promise to the residents it serves. Neila distills her vast experience and her love of leadership in this framework for local leaders around the world.
I have known Neila since our work intersected in Tunis many years ago when we both worked on good governance and citizen engagement. I have been fortunate enough to continue to work with her and follow her many accomplishments. With CityCraft, Neila reminds us all that what we know is true: leading with empathy, ensuring equity, listening deeply and acting consistently with our core values will lead to positive transformation and a more connected community with us and succeeding generations.”
Dr Ali Qassim Jawad
President, Royal Academy of Management, Oman
Executive in Residence, University of Oxford
Author of Leadership Intelligence: The 5Qs
“Dr Akrimi’s leadership model chimes perfectly with one I developed about a decade ago, which spells out the attributes that make high-level leaders stand out, namely the 5Qs of cognitive intelligence (IQ), emotional intelligence (EQ), political intelligence (PQ), Resilience Quotient (RQ), and moral intelligence (MQ). The C6s framework builds a perfect bridge between my state-level model of leadership and the urban type of leadership that Dr Akrimi deems necessary to make cities into the key elements of an inclusive, ethical, human-centred society in nations across the globe.
Both our models, in fact, share a core conviction: that great leadership is ultimately a people-oriented practice, not a technical one. Whether you cultivate the 5Qs or 6Cs or a combination of both, the result is the same: a leader who combines vision, empathy, resilience, equity, humility and self-awareness, to the benefit of society as a whole.”
Luca Gatti
Founder and Chair of the Management Board, CHÔRA Foundation, Netherlands
Former Fellow, Harvard University. Associate, Copenhagen Business School
Researcher, Collège de France and Scuola Normale Superiore
Strategic advisor to the Metropolitan Area of Milan, Generali Group.
“Neila’s contribution is especially valuable because it restores the human dimension of governance while strengthening its strategic seriousness. Care, listening, inclusion, empathy, coalition, and moral courage are among the highest forms of public capability. They shape whether cities can generate trust, absorb pressure, and renew themselves without losing sight of the people they exist to serve.
Her emphasis on women’s leadership is therefore central to the argument. Women leaders have too often carried, practiced, and refined precisely those capacities that cities now urgently require: relational intelligence, ethical steadiness, long-term care, and the ability to hold communities together under pressure.
CityCraft is a language of practice. It helps city leaders name the complexity they already inhabit. It reconnects the technical with the ethical, the strategic with the relational, and the future of the city with the dignity of those who live in it.
For that reason, this book arrives at the right time.”