Into the Woods: Meiji Jingu and the Hunger for Modernity

November 25, 2025.Reading time 38 minutes.

Editor’s note: This is our final entry in The Metropole theme for November 2025, Metropolitan Consumption. To see additional posts on the theme from November, see here. By Emi Higashiyama Tokyo epitomizes hunger. A metropolis spanning 2,195 square kilometers and home to 14 million people, the city operates less like an organism and more like […]

Call for Papers: Metropole Theme Months 2025

December 3, 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.

With 2024 just about in the rear view mirror, The Metropole’s editorial staff wanted to let our readers know that we have three theme months planned for the first half of 2025. Check out our calls below and drop us a line at themetropole@urbanhistory.org if you have a pitch for us! The City and Film […]

Connecting the City to the Sea: The Development of the National Aquarium in Baltimore

October 1, 2024.Reading time 31 minutes.

This piece is an entry in our Eighth Annual Graduate Student Blogging Contest, “Connections.” by Weilan Ge American ecologist Loren Eiseley once said, “If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in the water.”[1] The National Aquarium in Baltimore (NAIB) puts this message at the entrance for all visitors to see, illustrating that […]

San Diego—A Green(er) City: Six Decades of Environmental Activism in a Biodiversity Hotspot

February 13, 2024.Reading time 37 minutes.

By Andrew Wiese Editor’s note: In anticipation of the Society for American City and Regional Planning History’s (SACRPH) 2024 conference to be held in San Diego on the campus of the University of California San Diego, The Metropole’s theme for February is San Diego. This is the second of four entries for the month. For […]

Social Movements, Communities, and Campaigns in Pittsburgh

January 25, 2023.Reading time 19 minutes.

Editor’s note: In anticipation of the Urban History Association’s 2023 conference being held in Pittsburgh from October 26 – October 29, The Metropole is making the Steel City its Metropolis of the Month for January 2023. The CFP remains open until February 20, 2023. See here for details. By Suzanne Staggenborg Social movements, such as […]