Join the global debate on the world's cities.
The Global Urbanist publishes articles on a broad range of topics written by urban specialists and concerned community members from all sectors, including academia, NGOs, government and private enterprise. We are continuously seeking new contributions from writers interested in disseminating their views or their research to a wider professional audience.
What we are looking for
We publish three types of articles:
Short opinion pieces (minimum 200 words) are a chance to simply share off-the-cuff reactions to the issues of the day, for example your thoughts on a recent policy announcement, insights from recent work or research experiences, or brief anecdotes that tell us something curious about how we understand the world's cities. These will have a very quick turnaround time--if we think you have made a good, concise argument we will publish these almost immediately with minimal sub-editing.
Standard discussion articles (600 to 1200 words) offer the occasion to make a more sophisticated argument drawing upon organisational experience, case studies, historical analogies, recent research, etc. Drafts are reviewed by at least two of our editorial team who may request revisions or additional material before we publish them.
Longform magazine features (2,000 to 4,000 words) provide more talented communicators with the opportunity to develop a sustained narrative using interviews, journalistic techniques or literary reportage, ethnographic material, detailed personal perspectives, etc., but this more challenging format is reserved for experienced writers, not an occasion to disseminate policy reports and other documents unedited, and we ask you to discuss your ideas and your writing experience with us before attempting it.
Articles should be written in an engaging, conversational manner and directed towards an informed popular audience as befits an online magazine, rather than in the manner of an academic or policy paper directed only at fellow professionals, even if they comprise the bulk of our audience. Articles should be accompanied by one or more photos (the author's own or with an appropriate Creative Commons licence) and a byline for the author.
How to contribute
If you would like to be included in our database of potential writers, register for our Writers Bulletin via our subscribe page. This is an occasional newsletter that we send out to our community of writers to discuss upcoming issues, to call for contributions on specific topics or cities, and to share our thoughts as editors. You will be subscribed to our weekly email newsletter at the same time to follow what others are writing about.
If you have a story or topic in mind already, get in touch with us via editors@globurb.com with your proposed topic or story ideas, or feel free to send a text you have already written. We will contact you to discuss the proposal and offer further guidance.
We also welcome proposals to become a regular columnist.