Matthew Glasser: The Architecture of City Finance

The Century of Cities welcomes Matthew Glasser, an Urban Law and Policy Analyst and Director for Urban Law and Municipal Finance at the Center for Urban Law and Finance in Africa. With over four decades of experience advising governments across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, Matthew offers a rare look inside the financial architecture that shapes our cities and why national governments so often resist handing over real power to the local level.

He shows how decentralization rose as a global policy ideal but often faltered in practice, blocked by political resistance to sharing tax and financial power. Yet when it works, he argues, local autonomy gives cities the tools to fund infrastructure, draw investment, and shape their futures. Glasser goes further, challenging the dominance of GDP-focused development models and making the case for a deeper commitment to equity, transparency, and citizen-led governance. As we design the next century of cities, he reminds us that the hardest work isn't technical, it's political. Building resilient, inclusive cities will require a fundamental shift in mindset, a rebalancing of power, and a clear-eyed understanding of who our urban systems are meant to serve.