Local administrations that integrate communication into their emergency response strategies tend to be more successful in managing crises. This is the conclusion reached by the Chair’s researchers, Santiago Castelo and Carles Pont, in an article recently published in Cuadernos de Derecho Local.

Entitled Institutional Communication of Local Governments in Critical Situations, the paper analyzes the main challenges of crisis communication in institutions at the local level. The authors also propose several effective practices to improve communication in this type of critical situation.

Among other elements, Castelo and Pont highlight four strategic pillars of crisis communication: the preparation of anticipation and response protocols; filling information gaps while avoiding silence; the struggle over the narrative of the crisis; and the importance of appropriate spokespersonship.

Throughout the article, the authors review several key concepts in emergency communication, such as the role of the media, social networks, and influencers in the current media ecosystem. In the context of local administrations, they explain that these institutions have a particular communicative reality, “in which the use of traditional communication channels such as public address systems, the local radio station, or municipal notices can be highly effective during a crisis,” they note.

The paper includes several examples of recent crisis cases in the Americas and Europe, which help illustrate the good practices and communication mistakes mentioned by the authors. It examines the successful actions of Gavin Newsom during the California wildfires in 2025, those of the mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson, during the immigration raids carried out by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement service (ICE), and those of Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto during the hurricane that struck San Juan, Puerto Rico. It also analyzes the effective response given by the government of Emmanuel Macron in a case that involved debunking a false rumor.

At the same time, the article reviews some of the communication mistakes made during the 2024 Valencia DANA floods, errors that increased the chaos of the situation.

The authors conclude that crisis communication in local administrations requires a different perspective from that applied at the national or regional level. In this context, it faces greater improvisation, fewer resources, and particularities related to the population’s patterns of news consumption.