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Cambridge City Manager Yi-An Huang ’05 will serve as the co-chair of the Metropolitan Mayors Coalition, a group made up of the leaders of 16 municipalities in the urban core of Boston's metro area.

Huang was elected alongside Medford Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn during a Metropolitan Area Planning Council meeting on Thursday, March 21.

The MAPC — the regional planning agency for Boston’s metropolitan area — established the Metropolitan Mayors Coalition in 2001 to promote regional collaboration in a variety of development efforts, including advocating for legislation, applying for state and federal grants, and pursuing cooperative projects.

The Coalition’s ongoing projects include a climate preparedness taskforce, opioid working group, and regional housing partnership.

Huang wrote in an emailed statement to the City Council, that he was “looking forward to building stronger relationships across municipalities and supporting coordination with the Healey administration.”

Huang is not the only city official calling for greater regional collaboration.

Councilor Burhan Azeem orchestrated a $5,000 April Fools’ prank last week advocating for the city to annex Boston — a yearly joke that Azeem said stemmed from his hope for greater cross-municipality cooperation in the future.

Though cities like Cambridge and Boston are attempting to improve housing and transportation within their city limits, officials in both have said that there is only so much individual cities can do to tackle what are fundamentally regional issues.

In an emailed statement to The Crimson, Huang said his role would be an opportunity for greater collaboration within the Boston metropolitan area on problems that “don’t stop at our city lines.”

“As municipal executives, we’re responsible for delivering results in our communities, but we need greater coordination across the region to make an impact,” he added.

—Staff writer Avani B. Rai can be reached at avani.rai@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @avaniiiirai.