This fifth issue of the Writingplace Journal examines different narrative methods, understood as procedures, techniques or ways of relating or recounting events, and how they can be used to appraise and imagine the city. The editorial process of the issue has been developed within the context of the EU-funded COST Action ‘Writing Urban Places’, a multidisciplinary network of researchers who are interested in developing new narratives for the European city. By recognizing the value of urban narratives – stories rich in information regarding citizens’ sociospatial practices, perceptions, hopes and ambitions – the network seeks to foster and preserve the democratic, and therefore inclusive, nature of the modern European city.

The topic of the journal’s first issue, Literary Methods in Architectural Education, derived from our observation that many of the contributors to the 2013 Writingplace conference shared a particular practice: that of architectural education. Realizing that many scholars interested in the crossovers between architecture and literature find room to experiment, particularly in the environment of seminars and studios, we decided to dedicate the first issue of the Writingplace journal to this topic, in the hope of creating an international dialogue upon the topic of architecture and literature within the space of architectural education.