A Whole New Where

As promised, today marks the kickoff of a new phase in the life of this particular urbanism blog. After a great first year, I found it increasingly difficult to keep up the momentum required to put out five to six long-format posts a week. I noticed that collaborative blogs in the field (and outside of it) were consistently good reads, while seeing several great blogs peter out or die off entirely. It seemed that my problem was not unique.

And yet, Where had built a small but solid following that I had no intention of squandering. After a bit of thought, I decided that the best way to keep Where on as a contributing member in the urblogosphere was to upgrade: to go collaborative. Currently, there are group blogs on sustainability, architecture, design, regional urbanism -- but none that focus on urbanism at a global level, which is something that is vitally important to understanding how contemporary cities work. Domestic discussions are important, but we can learn much more from looking past international borders. To live in a city in a globalizing world is, inevitably, to live in a globalizing city. There is no escaping the outside world in today's metropolis.

The new Where is made up of bloggers -- eleven, at relaunch -- that live in cities not just around the United States, but around the world: in Spain, India, Australia, and the UK. The places where we have lived cast an even wider international net: Paris, London, Kuala Lumpur, Sydney, New York, San Francisco, Santiago, Chicago, Brighton, Mexico City, Boston, Kiev. This is a group that loves cities. We hope that, through this blog, we can come to know them better.

To start off with a bang, today all of us will post as part of Blog Action Day, approaching the topic of Poverty from eleven unique perspectives. Where's original stated goal, which you can still read in the sidebar until the new blog format launches next Monday, was to engage readers in a conversation about cities. I hope that, as this blog opens up, on the production end, to new and diverse voices, that you will join us in discussing urbanism, and all of its many facets, by sharing your thoughts in the comments area. Blogging is nothing without an engaged audience. I invite you to engage with us on this topic today, and on anything and everything as we move forward.

Welcome to the new Where.