Cyburbia welcomes original unpublished essays and interviews on topics related to planning, urbanism, and the built environment.

Query first

If you have an idea for an opinion or column, send an email with a brief abstract: the topic, why it's important, and how it's relevant to our audience. Also, include a brief biography; your present position and background. If you are not a planner, tell us about your exposure to the field.

Opinion

Editorial essays and "opinion pieces" should be original, unpublished works related to urban/town planning or the shaping of the built environment. Editorials should be between 600 and 1,500 words. NO ADVERTORIALS, PUBLICITY ADVERTISEMENTS, RECYCLED ARTICLES OR ARTICLES THAT HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED ELSEWHERE.

Columns

Anyone that is intereted in writing regularly about planning-related topics is encouraged to become a columnist for Cyburbia. Columns should range between 500 and 1,000 words.

Feature articles

Feature articles should be on a topic of interest to planners and urbanophiles. Features can have a news angle, but their greater length allows more comprehensive coverage of the issues surrounding a certain event.

Features can include case studies of particular places or planning programs, analysis of trends, profiles of notable planners, and descriptions and evaluations of planning techniques and procedures. Features should range between 2,000 and 4,000 words.

Writing guidelines

Cyburbia users tend to eschew obfuscation. Editorials, columns and articles should be written in nontechnical, jargon-free English. (Examples: use "access" instead of "ingress-egress", "cellular tower" instead of "commercial mobile radio service facility," and so on.) National dialects (American English, British English, Canadian English, etc.) are acceptable.

Features must be accurate, with facts double-checked. Features should include references; relevant books, reports, conferences, and contacts.

Cyburbia Forums connections

New editorials, columns and articles will be linked to a discussion thread on the Cyburbia Forums, so others can comment, and authors may respond.

Copyright

Copyright arrangements for Voices are flexible.

Normally, all authors will retain the copyright for articles submitted to Voices. Cyburbia will only retain compilation copyright for this web site, and the right to reuse any portion of the work with attribution, but without fee.

As an alternative, authors may also choose to publish their work under a Creative Commons license of their choice. The Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd) license is recommended.

Please understand that portions of an article may be disseminated by Cyburbia's RSS feed.

Payment

Cyburbia is operated by poor planners like yourself. As with newspaper editorial letters, peer-reviewed journals and commercial planning news sites, Cyburbia does not pay for articles.

Write to us

If you are interested in having your voice heard on Cyburbia, please write to