Introducing CITY STATE

Seven writers exploring autonomous governance.

CITY STATE is an online essay series and print pamphlet featuring seven writers exploring autonomous governance.

This is the first cooperative media project The Elysian is publishing this year. I served as the editor and creative director for this project, with

Serena Eom

designing the cover and

Jason Arias

designing the interior. Six writers joined me to write the essays in this collection.

Together we’ll publish 10 articles over the next five weeks:

• US states should be autonomous (like EU countries) by

  Elle Griffin

• Multi-country civilizations are good, actually by

  Étienne Fortier-Dubois

• It’s time for Thomas Jefferson's “village-states” by

  Bryce Tolpen

• Should we create more US states? by

  Elle Griffin

• Why we should build new American cities by

  Jeff Fong

• This Italian ghost town created a “village-state” by

  Elle Griffin

• Grassroots movements are building garden cities by

  Stephen Mackintosh

• What if your side hustle is being in Congress? by

  J.K. Lund

• Digital nomads could create network states by

  Olivier Roland

• Borderless countries in Terra Ignota by

  Elle Griffin

As a subscriber of The Elysian, you’ll receive every article in the series over the next five weeks. If you’d like to support the project, you can also collect it as a digital edition for a suggested donation of $5 or purchase the print pamphlet for $10. Both options are available using Metalabel, a platform that allows artists to collaborate on projects and share the profits between them. Both editions will be available in May after the series finishes publishing online.

I paid two designers to create the pamphlet template—which I will use for all collaborative projects going forward—this cost does not come out of the revenues for CITY STATE, but out of The Elysian’s income. All profits from sales of this project (sales minus print costs) will be split between contributors. There are 10 total essays in the series plus the designer who laid it out, and thus profits will be split by eleven shares.

Thank you for supporting our collaborative project—we look forward to sharing our essays with you over the next five weeks!

Elle Griffin