# The Thursday mayor Author: Fernando Nieto Lobato Original publication: 2026-07-08 Spanish original: https://estrategiabyaleph.substack.com/p/estrategia-145-historias-veraniegas English URL: https://elcontemplador.github.io/estrategia-english/essays/145/ Status: Published translation This is a translation of the original Spanish essay published on 8 July 2026. Its claims, examples and forecasts retain that historical context. English publication: 2026-09-29 *Our summer historIAs of 2026 continue as we return to Spain in 2032, where Ágora is already part of everyday life in many public administrations. This week we visit Valdearenas, a small municipality where AI seems to have solved almost everything… until a decision arises that efficiency alone cannot resolve.* [![Illustration of a mayor and an adviser weighing a nursery school against a day centre for older people.](https://elcontemplador.github.io/estrategia-english/assets/images/ae177c6e-89ee-4404-b359-aacfdf469915_1672x941.png)](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0pBs!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fae177c6e-89ee-4404-b359-aacfdf469915_1672x941.png) *Original story illustration, titled “The Thursday mayor”. Two panels on the desk show children and older people as competing uses for the same building. No additional substantive text is visible.* “This week we only need you to come in on Thursday,” Clara said. Julián Sanz looked at the diary Ágora had projected onto the table. At ten, the opening of the vertical garden. At eleven, signing the sports agreement. At twelve, a photograph with the women who had won the shop-window competition. Then lunch with the business association and two thirty-second videos. “And the rest of the week?” “Taken care of.” Before Ágora, Julián had been a mayor of corridors: he knew who was not speaking to whom, which association would agree to wait six months, and which councillor needed to lose a vote before being able to support it later. Since Valdearenas had joined the Ágora Local Network, straightforward permits arrived before applicants phoned to ask about them. The agents detected faults, drafted replies to the opposition and had secured several grants the council had not even known it could apply for. Even the speech for the vertical garden was written. Julián began to be known as the Thursday mayor. At first it annoyed him. Then he discovered that it left four days free for calls without minutes, visits without the press and “strategic thinking”, an expression he used for a wide variety of activities. On Mondays he received a summary of problems already solved. On Tuesdays he approved proposals from his phone, accompanied by arguments for and against and a recommendation highlighted in green. On Wednesdays he rehearsed the names of Thursday's prize-winners. On Fridays, Ágora published the weekly report before he had finished congratulating the team. The municipal government's approval rating had risen, and Julián reached the reasonable conclusion that delegating well was also a way of governing. Clara slid another file towards him. She maintained that governing a small council was mostly about designing good procedures and following them even when the mayor would prefer a conversation. FORMER MUNICIPAL SCHOOL. POLITICAL PRIORITY REQUIRED. “What does that mean?” “That you have to decide.” The building had been closed for five years. Older people's associations wanted it converted into a day centre and a refuge from extreme heat. Young families were calling for a nursery school and space to help them balance work and care. There was enough money to renovate it once, not twice. Julián opened the simulations. “Ágora, select the option with the greatest social benefit.” “Define ‘social benefit’,” the neutral voice replied. “Reducing health risks, supporting work–life balance, retaining young residents, meeting immediate needs or impact over fifteen years.” “All of them.” “The objectives produce incompatible outcomes.” Julián asked it to maximise the number of beneficiaries. The nursery school won. He asked it to prioritise vulnerability. The day centre won. He extended the time horizon, and the nursery won again. He shortened it, and the older people returned. “You're making the machine dizzy,” Clara said. “I'm refining the question.” They called a consultation. Ágora prepared explanatory videos, translated the documents and enabled mobile, telephone and in-person voting. The result was almost a tie. Most families voted while putting their children to bed; most older people came to the council chamber and turned every speaking slot into a small autobiography. Ágora warned that comparing the two kinds of participation required a choice between counting individuals, strength of preference, the population affected or future representativeness. Julián asked which method was more democratic. The system replied with a twenty-seven-page document on theories of democracy. “Reports used to be a way of putting decisions off,” Julián said. “It generated this one in nine seconds,” Clara replied. “Progress is indisputable.” Julián asked for a mixed solution. “Shared use reduces the capacity of both services below recommended levels,” Ágora reported. “And which would generate fewer complaints?” “That is not listed as a valid programme objective.” On Thursday, the hall was full. Mercedes, a former teacher, reminded Julián that he had learnt to read there. Ana, a nurse with a two-year-old son, explained that she was thinking of leaving because she could not get a nursery place or reduce her working hours. Julián knew them both. He also knew those waiting outside and those who had sent messages that Ágora summarised with impeccable neutrality. Clara showed him the two prepared statements. Both began: “Following rigorous technical analysis and a process of public participation…” “They sound as though they're written so that nobody has decided anything.” “That was the usual instruction.” Julián closed the documents. He chose the nursery school. Not because the simulation had found a correct answer, but because Valdearenas was losing families every year, and he had decided that this was the loss he would try to stop. The old first-year classroom would retain the photographs and exercise books Mercedes had collected, but nobody pretended that one room made up for a day centre. He went up to the lectern without the statement. “The decision is mine,” he began. “So is the mistake, if I am wrong.” There was applause, there were protests, and one woman announced with admirable clarity what she intended to do at the next election. Mercedes asked for the microphone to launch a petition. She said she had taught half the town to read and could still count up to an absolute majority. When he returned to his office, Ágora had updated his diary. Thursday, 17.00: residents' meeting about the former school. Estimated duration: indefinite. Julián looked at Clara, then at the monitoring panel. His remark about the mistake was already the most widely shared clip from the appearance. “At last, an accurate political forecast.” ## After the fiction *AI agents are already beginning to help organisations and public administrations coordinate tasks, analyse information, prepare documents and automate processes. In a small council, they can save time, improve services and make provision possible that once required resources beyond its reach. Ágora projects that development towards much more integrated municipal management.* *But administering is not the same as governing. A system can calculate costs, simulate consequences and show who gains or loses under each alternative. What it cannot do, without first being given a political priority, is decide which loss should be accepted. Even a public consultation requires choices about how participation is interpreted, what time horizon matters and which degree of need carries more weight.* *The story does not turn Julián into a useless mayor. On the contrary, it gives him back precisely what he cannot delegate. When machines manage things better, the representative function does not disappear; it becomes more exposed. Governing means choosing between legitimate goods, explaining what must be forgone and bearing the cost. AI can improve a political decision. It cannot confer legitimacy on it by itself.* *[Fernando Nieto Lobato](https://www.fernandonieto.es/)* *Director of Digital Innovation at ALEPH Educational Institution and editor of the estrategIA newsletter.*