Urges reform of cities around North (7)
I believe the answer is:
incites
'urges reform' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with communicating as well as being verbs in their -s form.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'of cities around north' is the wordplay.
'of' indicates an anagram (the answer comes from or 'of' the letters).
'around' indicates putting letters inside.
'north' becomes 'N' (abbreviation).
'cities' anagrammed gives 'icites'.
'icites' enclosing 'n' is 'INCITES'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for incites that I've seen before include "Eggs on" , "Encourages" , "Provokes or stirs up" , "Provokes to action" .)