Melting Metropolis 2026

For the past three summers, we’ve partnered with Melting Metropolis to collect photographs and personal histories that illustrate how New Yorkers have weathered the summer season. This year, we’re building a living archive of how the city experiences rising temperatures, and we need your help! We’re calling on you to share your photos of the last decade or so showing how you’ve managed the heat. Historical images are always welcome, but we’re focusing on the current problems heat causes and how we’re all dealing with it. Our goal is to document the everyday history of summer in the city. In 2020, New York City was reclassified as a humid subtropical climate with summer temperatures averaging around 80°F. Last year, we had five heat emergencies, where heat and humidity brought the real feel up to over 100°F. We’re asking you to show us how you keep cool on days like this. Are you taking advantage of the early morning or nighttime hours to go outside? Do you have a special method of cooling your apartment? Do you camp out somewhere else with more reliable air conditioning to cool down? Help us tell the story of heat in the city. The call is open to anyone with a story to share, but we are most interested in photographs that were taken in NYC within the five boroughs. Each photo must include at least one human subject and a brief description.