The Metropole is pleased to solicit pitches for our upcoming theme month: Selling the City. We welcome submissions focused on efforts to brand and market cities, build infrastructure supporting urban commerce, and drive urban tourism, as well as posts on financialization and real estate as factors shaping cities. Present-day examples that make appeals to the historical image and legacy of a city are welcome, as are examples from the past of people trying to “sell” a given city or the idea of a city. Please send pitches to themetropole@urbanhistory.org by Friday, June 26th. Full length drafts of accepted posts will be due July 31st, with publication on the blog occurring in October.

Pitches should:

• Be 1–2 paragraphs long.
• Explain your topic, emphasizing its connection to the theme of “selling the city.”
• Name relevant secondary sources and how they will inform your blog post.
• Name the primary sources you intend to use in your blog post, if applicable. While this is not a requirement, many of The Metropole’s blog posts are rooted in primary source research.
• Be accompanied by an author bio and/or resume.

Complete drafts require:

• Title
• 1000–1500 words, excluding citations
• Citations in the form of Chicago-style footnotes
• A high-resolution header image and at least 2-3 captioned, cited images, with any needed permission secured by the author.
• A 2–3-line author bio

Authors of accepted posts will be paid $200.

Featured Image (at top): The Great Market, Nijmegen, Holland. ca. 1890-1910. Library of Congress.