Alex Smith
Alex Smith is a writer and Associate Teaching Professor in the English department at Seattle University. Her writing explores the intersections of race, gender, and class in urban spaces.
See more...We independently cover the world’s biggest challenges through the lens of local action. We highlight the power of city people to create social change — and to exercise influence globally.
While journalism bears the responsibility of informing the public and holding power to account, The Urban Activist centers its reporting on people engaged in battles with solutions to the issues that affect us all, fostering a narrative of coexistence.
OUR EDITORIAL INDEPENDENCE POLICY
A letter from the founder:
Why I started The Urban Activist
I never harbored a desire to write, yet at some point I felt the urgency. After almost 15 years working in the corporate finance world, I understood one thing: companies operate based on business strategies that affect a global citizenry, and yet do not act in the public’s best interest. And I was not (and am still not) convinced that even governments can fully compensate for that hard truth and solve the world’s most pressing issues. It is us — each of us — who must act. We all have agency, which bears gifts only if we use it.
Cities have always been magnets for immensely talented people whose humanity outshines even their ambitions. Many fascinating individuals in the most unexpected places have been waging battles on countless issues that affect us all. They have engaged in struggles as diverse as human rights and the environment.
Often, these people do not fall into the profile of the advocate or the protester; rather, they come up with concrete solutions to the challenges on their doorstep — and they fight for them. These are the people the public needs to know about.
While there is extensive reporting on CEOs’ strategies, businesses’ solutions, governments’ decisions and politics, there is little reporting on these important actors in our midst.
I founded The Urban Activist to fill this void.
We are a media project taking a fresh approach to journalism. While it’s up to journalists to inform the general public and hold those in power to account, our journalism project centers its reporting on the world’s biggest challenges through the lens of local action and the power of city people to create social change – and exercise influence globally. I believe that a story out of New York can inspire action in Nairobi. What is effective in Buenos Aires could also work in Berlin.
Reporting on local movements, grassroots organizations, activists, and advocates provides valuable insights for researchers, urban practitioners, decision-makers, policymakers, government officials, and the local citizens they serve. This type of journalism narrows the disconnect between these groups. Society needs journalism committed to reducing polarization and bringing back dialogue. One that dares to abandon the profitability of shouting and simplified and extreme discourse. We need journalism that invests in coexistence.
I am also aware that Rome was not built in a day, and it takes time to build this new kind of journalism that leads to solution-driven action beyond the media stories it produces. I am honored that some of our articles have contributed to many positive changes: activists’ work being supported by nonprofit organizations, harmful city decisions being reversed, and activists and organizations uniting to exercise more power with their causes, to name a few.
As a publisher, I do my best to avoid any power imbalance between the journalist and the storyteller being interviewed. We want to do justice to any story we print, always with journalistic independence.
Also, shifting the narrative of what Western cities are and can be, is an important part of our publication. Local writers report on the boldness and innovation of people in far flung places, who are facing multifarious issues and taking them head on, in often remarkable ways.
As the world gets increasingly urbanized, I believe using journalism to encourage public engagement and dialog in cities is crucial. It puts much of the power to make change in the hands of the people; it strengthens democracies.
Funding has been made possible by The Puffin Foundation, Ltd.
