In this introduction, the guest editors set out the contextual and theoretical rationale for the Special Issue: Vertigo in the City. It begins with some basic definitions and uses of the term vertigo, before tracing the relationship between vertigo and the environmental, emotional and representational landscape of the high-rise, high-density modern city. Drawn from a multidisciplinary collaboration which culminated in 2015, the six papers selected for the SI are then briefly described, highlighting contributions and intersections between the different papers. The introduction ends with a call for the development of an interdisciplinary approach to the study of vertigo, with a view to further opening up ‘vertigology’ research avenues in the future.