As Question of Cities steps into its fifth year this week, we begin by simply saying ‘Thank you’.

Thank you for being on this journey with us which began officially with the first edition in May 2022 and has continued to drop a cracking thematic edition every other Friday evening and a newsletter every week on a range of subjects from natural environment, built environment, sustainability, climate change, open spaces, housing, gender, work and workers and more. QoC has a rich and valuable archive of more than 550 ground reports, think pieces, interviews, voices of the people, fact sheets and compendiums from over 50 cities with an enviable network of contributors and writers ranging from respected academics to activists and journalists.

Thank you for not only reading our researched longform work – which in itself can be a revolutionary act in this age of 40-second reels and shorts – but also engaging with the work enough to recommend it to others, use it in your purpose, put it on reading lists for students in your colleges and universities, share it in your campaign and advocacy groups, and to make it more visible or viral on social media platforms and more.

Thank you for applauding us when QoC’s work was selected for awards and recognition, for supporting us by contributing your own research and work to be published on our website, and giving your valuable time and energy to speak to us when we were researching-and-writing an essay. In these four years, QoC’s work has picked up seven awards – several of them being Laadli Media awards for gender sensitivity that our writers, including founding journalist Jashvitha Dhagey, received. The award-winning stories are ‘Saving Rani Bagh with women’s power and collaborative campaigns‘ ‘For five pots of water a day, women of Vyasarpadi mortgage lives and health‘ ‘Micro-mapping streets and footpaths in a neighbourhood, as a woman‘ ‘Wanted: Safe and affordable housing for working women in cities‘ ‘The rural in the urban: Warli women of Mumbai’s National Park‘ and ‘How the lack of rights worsens climate events for Delhi’s informal workers‘.

In the months running up to May 2022, as QoC went from an idea to discussions, creation and publication, the core team was always certain that there was space in the crowded media for a journal on cities that focused on stories of ecology and social equity, that it can be simultaneously a publication and a forum for anyone invested in these issues, and, importantly, that it was possible to sustain it through donations and goodwill without dipping into corporate or other funding.

The last bit is significant because this independence has meant that QoC is not beholden to any conditions or agendas of any funder, corporate or philanthropic, which has allowed us to evolve a robust, no-nonsense and independent voice on issues of ecology and social equity in India’s cities. We guard our independence as much as the space we have developed and made our own. We have collaborated with organisations, Climate Action Network South Asia and The Nature of Cities exhibition in Berlin being two examples, to deepen our work and have sat on panels and platforms to discuss urban issues with a slew of others, but never compromising our voice.

This could not have happened without the support or the engagement of people like you, our readers and followers. The engagement is what keeps the small but committed team of QoC on its toes from one edition to the next, rigorously checking facts and grammar while designing and producing an edition. This, it is important to state, is done without the use of LLMs or AI. On the cusp of our fifth year, we promise you – our readers, subscribers, engagers, debaters and, of course, our contributors – that we are committed to making the voice for ecologically-sound and socially-just cities stronger – and louder.

Stay with us, talk about us, share our work and get us more readers. This is what we ask of you.

Thank You,
Smruti Koppikar
May 23, 2026