The Metropole Editors’ Favorites 2023: Film & Television

December 13, 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

Another year is coming to a close, and here at The Metropole, we editors are once again sharing some recommendations for things to read, listen to, view, or experience in your “off” time in the coming year. This installment: the movies and television shows that we think should go on a “must watch” list. Movies […]

Local Logics and Urban Exorcisms for Better Neighborhoods—A Review of “Urban Specters: The Everyday Harm of Racial Capitalism”

November 30, 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.

Mayorga, Sarah. Urban Specters: The Everyday Harm of Racial Capitalism. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2023. Reviewed by Minh Q. Nguyen Sarah Mayorga’s Urban Specters: The Everyday Harms of Racial Capitalism provides an in-depth analysis of material life within two neighborhoods in Cincinnati, a Midwestern Rust Belt city, from the perspective of […]

“Who’s Going to Own Adams Morgan?” The Battle Against “Reverse Blockbusting” in 1970s Washington, DC

November 20, 2023.Reading time 31 minutes.

This is the fourth entry in our Metropolis of the Month for November 2023, Washington, DC. By Timothy Kumfer Standing on the sidewalk with a loudspeaker, Walter Pierce addressed the crowd assembled on the 1700 block of Willard Street, NW. “We’re here today to make clear to the rest of the real estate vultures and […]

Hope and Community in the Capital: Salvadorans in the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Area

November 15, 2023.Reading time 29 minutes.

This is the third entry for our November 2023 Metropolis of the Month, Washington, DC. By Edwin A. Rodriguez In an interview with news media outlet Bloomberg, science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson reflected on his book Green Earth (2015), inspired by his time living in Washington, DC. He noted that when he lived in […]

The Travails of Urban Redevelopment in post-1968 Washington, DC

November 8, 2023.Reading time 21 minutes.

This is the second entry in our Metropolis of the Month for November 2023, Washington D.C. By Kyla Sommers In response to the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, African Americans took to the streets in more than one hundred American cities. The rebellions in Washington, DC, resulted in […]

UHA 2023 Pittsburgh, the Past; UHA 2025 Los Angeles, the Future

November 6, 2023.Reading time 3 minutes.

Over the long weekend of October 26-29, urban historians gathered in Pittsburgh for the 10th biennial Urban History Association conference. The first UHA gathering since the pandemic, it was a resounding success, as evidenced by some of the tweets below. Special thanks to the planning arrangements committee, UHA President Joe Trotter, and UHA Executive Director […]

Dream City Skepticism? A 20th-Century Bibliography of the Nation’s Capital

November 1, 2023.Reading time 40 minutes.

This is the first post in our Metropolis of the Month for November 2023: Washington, DC, in the Twentieth Century. “If any city in the United States has borne the burden of serving as a symbol of American aspirations and has simultaneously been the place. . .where the issues of civilization have been focused, it […]

Swiss Paraplegic Athletes: How Para-Athletics in Switzerland Addresses Urban Disability.

October 31, 2023.Reading time 35 minutes.

This is the fifth installment to our theme for October 2023, Urban Disability, an exploration of the role cities and their residents have played in the expansions of disability rights. See here for a listing of all the posts published on this topic. By Dan Holland Sport has long been the leading edge of social […]

The UK, UPIAS, and Transatlantic Disability Rights

October 24, 2023.Reading time 15 minutes.

This is the fourth installment to our theme for October 2023, Urban Disability, an exploration of the role cities and their residents have played in the expansions of disability rights. See here for a listing of all the posts published on this topic. By Lisa Varty As a disabled person myself, I have an interest […]

The History of Disability Rights in Washington, DC

October 17, 2023.Reading time 32 minutes.

This is the third installment of our theme for October 2023, Urban Disability, an exploration of the role cities and their residents have played in the expansion of disability rights. See here for a listing of all the posts published on this topic. By Patricia Chadwick Disability history is woven throughout the history of civil […]