Philosophy and Urban Affairs
Calls for Papers
Philosophical Perspectives on Coastal and Island Cities
Cities across the globe face increasing threats from climate change: sea-level rise, intensified storms, floods, hurricanes, typhoons, and shifting environmental conditions. However, coastal and island cities are not merely sites of future concern. Many are already living with these realities and will continue to confront them indefinitely.
Yet, these experiences are far from uniform. For instance, the challenges New York City faces differ significantly from those in Manila, Taipei, or Miami, where variations in topography, history, infrastructure, international relations, governance, and culture shape how vulnerability is experienced and how resilience is conceptualized, planned, and carried out.
Scholars across disciplines have generated extensive research addressing these situations. While this work provides invaluable empirical and technical insight, philosophical investigation can complement it by examining the conceptual, ethical, existential, ontological, social, and political dimensions of life in coastal and island cities.
The purpose of this call is to encourage philosophers to contribute perspectives that deepen collective efforts to understand and confront these realities. Submissions may approach the topic from any philosophical perspective or tradition, provided they engage substantively with the distinctive conditions and experiences of coastal and island cities.
Articles should be 6,000 words or fewer, excluding references and notes.
Submission Deadline: August 15, 2026
The City Is Too Hot!
Extreme temperature increases and fluctuations are increasingly challenging urban life, creating conditions that can result in deaths, economic hardship, widespread discomfort, increased energy demand, and numerous other problems. While many disciplines have contributed to understanding and mitigating urban heat, philosophy can make a distinctive contribution by addressing questions specific to its methods and concerns.
This special issue brings together philosophical perspectives on urban heat, highlighting how the love of wisdom can help illuminate and respond to these pressing conditions. The list of topics is open, but the suggestions below indicate the kinds of papers that may generate further insight and inquiry.
Possible Topics
- Heat and perceiving the city
- Environmental justice and resource distribution (energy, water, infrastructure, and beyond)
- Urban heat, morality, and nonhuman considerations
- Heat and the ethical dimensions of urban sustainability
- The experience of urban heat
- Extreme temperatures and community coherence
- Heat and the aesthetic experience of the city and its elements
- What does it mean to be a “hot city”?
- Municipal governance and heat mitigation strategies
- Extreme heat and intergenerational justice
- The epistemology of urban heat
- Mental life in the hot city
- Heat and the urban condition
- Extreme case studies (e.g., Manila, Las Vegas, and beyond)
Submissions
Submissions will be accepted and published on a rolling basis. The final deadline for new submissions is September 23, 2027. Articles should be 5,000–6,000 words, excluding references.