Inaugural Issue: Philosophies of the City: Editors’ Note

Abstract

The Philosophy of the City Research Group celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2023. It was founded asa forum to bring together scholars from different philosophical traditions—as well as those workingon inter- or trans-disciplinary topics—who take the city as a topic of inquiry.Over the last 10 years, this group has organised an annual series of conferences and summer col-loquia, in addition to a variety of special issues and edited volumes, all of which have furnished newconceptual foundations, methodological approaches, and practical case studies. And yet, despitethe volume and vigour of our scholarly cut and thrust, the Research Group and its community havethus far been without a common venue to have these conversations. A dedicated journal was longoverdue. ThePhilosophy of the City Journalis thus born of the need to build on and consolidate thisnew philosophical tradition, offering a venue for original research into the philosophy of the city.We conceive of the philosophy of the city as a set of problems without a canon: problems about(but by no means restricted to) the ontology of cities, urban aesthetics, urban technologies, inclu-sivity, public space, justice, and political expression. In seeking to help answer these problems,philosophers of the city contribute analyses of urbanism, city life, urban planning, urban design,infrastructures, and lots of other things besides. These analyses themselves contribute to our properunderstanding and evaluation of cities in their myriad of forms.These analyses are vital for all kinds of good reasons. Cities are not only places where philosophyhappens. They are also, increasingly, the place where most human life happens. As the world con-tinues to urbanise, cities now function as the loci for the social, political, and ecological challengesof the 21st century. There is a need to apply the tools and approaches of philosophical inquiry tothe city as both a real and imagined phenomenon, to processes of urbanisation, and to the specificdynamics and challenges of different cities in particular.As philosophy of the city has become a vibrant and relevant area of study, we envision thePhi-losophy of the City Journalas a space to address these questions. As the editorial team, we hope thatcontributions will help improve the basic ideas and methods in this field, promote useful conver-sations among different disciplines and sub-disciplines—not just philosophy!—and see how philo-sophical ideas can be useful in planning and designing cities. Show more