Affairs Report: Urban manifesto - The world

Urban life can be perfect: here's how

Affairs Report: Top 20 liveable cities - 01 Munich

Munich emerged as Monocle's most liveable city in the world.

Affairs Report: Top 20 liveable cities - 02 Copenhagen

There's no shame coming second.

Affairs Report: Top 20 liveable cities - 03 Zürich

In Zürich, small and perfectly formed has turned out to be both a blessing and a curse.

Affairs Report: Top 20 liveable cities - 04 Tokyo

Integrated transport, breathtaking technology, great service and the best bars make this our top big city.

Affairs Report: Top 20 liveable cities - 05 Vienna

Vienna is back at the heart of Europe - its well-connected airline helped put it in fifth place.

Affairs Report: Top 20 liveable cities - 06 Helsinki

The fastest flying times from Europe to Asia's hubs make Helsinki more than Nokia-town.

Affairs Report: Top 20 liveable cities - 07 Sydney

The city has some environmental issues and an antiquated transport system. But then there's the beach...

Affairs Report: Top 20 liveable cities - 08 Stockholm

An eye for detail, good street style and strong public services make this a pleasant place to build a nest.

Affairs Report: Top 20 liveable cities - 09 Honolulu

The city has the luxury of sitting on Asia's doorstep. This is great news but it needs to put it to use.

Affairs Report: Top 20 liveable cities - 10 Madrid

Red tape and poor infrastructure are counterbalanced by cultural vibrancy and a 24-hour lifestyle.

Affairs Report: Top 20 liveable cities - 11 Melbourne

The city scores every time for sport and culture. Just pack an umbrella.

Affairs Report: Top 20 liveable cities - 12 Montreal

A laid-back bilingual city where the good life comes at a bargain price.

Affairs Report: Top 20 liveable cities - 13 Barcelona

Cradled by the sea and mountains and rocked by crime and grime.

Affairs Report: Top 20 liveable cities - 14 Kyoto

Low-rise, high style: the city mixes the best of modernity and tradition.

Affairs Report: Top 20 liveable cities - 15 Vancouver

Well-connected and wealthy - just make sure you like talking sport.

Affairs Report: Top 20 liveable cities - 16 Auckland

Great setting, Polynesian culture and an improved transport system.

Affairs Report: Top 20 liveable cities - 17 Singapore

It's still conservative, but this city state is enjoying a cultural boom.

Affairs Report: Top 20 liveable cities - 18 Hamburg

The ship's come in for this port city with ambitious growth plans.

Affairs Report: Top 20 liveable cities - 19 Paris

It rains, dogs foul the street, there's little green space, but the city works.

Affairs Report: Top 20 liveable cities - 20 Geneva

It may have a Latin beat but what really makes Geneva tick is cash.

Europe Briefing: Vive les blogueurs - France

To blog, or not to blog?

Europe Briefing: Q&A - Klaus Wowereit, Mayor of Berlin

The Mayor of Berlin answers our quality of life questions.

Europe Briefing: Vitoria's secrets - Spain

Vitoria-Gasteiz was named the most sustainable city in Spain.

Africa/Middle East Briefing: Ghost town - Lebanon

In Lebanon, you can never predict what will happen next.

Africa/Middle East Briefing: Stormy waters - Somalia

Somalia's 3,000km coastline - the longest in Africa - has become one of the world's most dangerous waterways.

Africa/Middle East Briefing: Q&A - Bernard Khoury, Beirut

Bernard Khoury, architect, answers our quality of life questions.

Asia Briefing: Q&A - Kengo Kuma, Tokyo

Architect Kengo Kuma answers our quality of life questions.

Asia Briefing: Eastern promises - Singapore

Across Singapore, apartment blocks are being replaced with taller towers by developers eager for prime plots.

Asia Briefing: Courtly love - Japan

A curious Japanese tribe called the "trial observation maniacs" reports on the slowly grinding wheels of Japanese justice.

Asia Briefing: On the rails - Malaysia & Singapore

It's been talked about for over a decade, but now plans for a high-speed rail link between Malaysia and Singapore are gathering speed once again.

Asia Briefing: Green route - China

China is now employing some old-fashioned revolutionary fervour in order to boost its environmental credentials.

Asia Briefing: Drop-ov - Tajikistan

Tajikistan found itself with a new president recently - even though the same man is still in charge.

Oceania Briefing: Q&A - John So, Melbourne

The Mayor of Melbourne answers our quality of life questions.

Oceania Briefing: Tasmanian rebel - Australia

Bob Brown's 35-year career as the trailblazer of green politics in Australia has been edgy and probably lonely.

Oceania Briefing: Village people - Australia

Australian shoppers are turning to their local "village" stores as they seek more than just a good price on their produce.

Americas Briefing: Making a killing - Caribbean

The island of Mayaguana is on the up, yet the Caribbean suffers the world's highest murder rate.

Americas Briefing: Chopper change - USA

Each G8 leader's choice of aircraft broadcasts the occupant's power, taste and politics.

Americas Briefing: Motown to hoe-town - USA

Urban farms grow food 'Made in Detroit'

Americas Briefing: Q&A - Rocky Anderson, Salt Lake City

The Mayor of Salt Lake City answers our quality of life questions.

Affairs Report: Jonathan Raban - Security is killing our cities

Novelist Jonathan Raban looks at why security risks threaten the city's traditional great promise: the chance of anonymity.

Affairs Report: Q&A - Professor Richard Sennett. London

Professor of sociology and chair of the Cities Programme at the London School of Economics answers our quality of life questions.

Affairs Report: Q&A - Terunobu Fujimori, Tokyo

The architect and professor at Tokyo University answers our quality of life questions.

Affairs Report: Q&A - Steve Hanson & Todd Kohli, San Francisco

Hanson and Kohli of EDAW answer our quality of life questions.

Affairs Report: Charles Landry - How to build a metropolis

Urban strategist Charles Landry helps cities to change their thinking and look at their potential imaginatively.

Affairs Report: Ole Scheeren - Judge Beijing by its skyline

Architect Ole Scheeren writes about the future of Beijing.

Affairs Report: Q&A - Ezio Manzini, Milan

Ezio Manzini, Professor of industrial design at Milan Polytechnic and pioneer of slow design, answers our quality of life questions.

Affairs Report: Q&A - Edward Tuttle, Paris

The Paris-based architect and designer answers our questions.

Affairs Report: Julia Peyton-Jones - Art delivers every time

Director of the Serpentine Gallery Julia Peyton-Jones reveals how art can deliver quality of life in our cities.

Affairs Report: William Menking - Welcome to New York 2030

Architecture professor William Menking writes about New York in 2030.

Affairs Report: Q&A - Teresa Sapey, Madrid

Madrileño architect Sapey answers our quality of life questions.

Q&A: The Ritt parade - Copenhagen

As mayor of Copenhagen, Ritt Bjerregaard wants everyone to enjoy the good life.

Business Report: Boulder and wiser - Colorado

The Colorado towns of Boulder and Fort Collins provide the perfect breeding ground for entrepreneurs who want to tap into the great outdoors and up-and-coming trends.

Business Briefing: Wall smart - USA

There's a bull run on high-design luxury flats on Wall Street.

Business Briefing: Green wing - Greenland

Air Greenland, the official carrier to the most sparsely populated place on earth, had a bumper year in 2006.

Business Briefing: Q&A - Bill Granger, Sydney

The chef and founder of Bills answers our quality of life questions.

Brands Explained: Net profit - Hamburg

We look at the companies and brands involved in a premier tennis match.

Q&A: Back on track - Berlin

We meet president of Bombardier, Walter Grawenhoff, to discover the future of urban travel.

Fairplay: Fishy business - Singapore

At the heart of the €10bn international trade in ornamental fish is the Aquarama trade fair in Singapore.

Perfect Company: Power plant - New York

Diana Balmori's landscaping projects can also change cities, make people happier and healthier and battle climate change.

Business Report: Good hood - Ideal world

We believe in urban villages so much that we created our own. Pay a visit (but leave your car at home).

Culture Report: Basque in the glory - Bilbao

Has the Guggenheim improved the lives of the locals or just entertained art-loving tourists?

For the record: New romantics - Barcelona

Jazz Messengers has become a place of pilgrimage for Catalan jazz lovers.

On the shelf: Serve chilled - Munich

Successful Soda Books has moved to much larger premises in a different part of Gärtnerplatzviertel.

Culture Briefing: Monocle music - Sounds out for summer

Music for July/August, featuring Crowded House, New Young Pony Cliub, Pájaro Sunrise and Tiny Dancers.

Culture Briefing: Transports of delight - Slim pickings for summer travel

Two publishers address the problem of bags bulging with books this summer.

Culture Briefing: Weird science - Painlevé's nature films

Jean Painlevé's half-century of mesmerising Surrealist natural history films are required viewing.

Culture Briefing: Sónic boom - Barcelona's Sónar goes global

Barcelona's Sónar Festival has become a byword for electro-pyrotechnics and musical discovery since its inception in 1994.

My Working Life: Waxing lyrical - Rio de Janeiro

The Brazilian publisher of Piaui magazine on how he scored a hit with stories of football-playing priests, limbo and cigarettes.

Culture Report: Arts cool - Annandale-on-Hudson

The fame academy that's home to America's next generation of artists, writers and thinkers.

Design Report: City slickers - Top 25 urban design

Tokyo police boxes, London parks and Athens cinemas: we celebrate the best in urban design.

Design Briefing: Chair necessities - Denmark

The raft of launches at the Copenhagen International Furniture Fair in May proves it is still one of the most important showcases for Danish design.

Design Briefing: X box - Taiwan

A traditional Taiwanese stone house has been transformed by local practice Xrange.

Design Briefing: Drama class - Japan

Monocle loves this idiosyncratic take on the classical concert hall in Nagoya.

Design Briefing: Q&A - Luca De Padova, Milan

Luca De Padova, Head of Product Research and Development at De Padova, answers our quality of life questions.

Design Briefing: American in Paris - Tapia's transatlantic tailoring

Michael Tapia's clothes are produced in a carefully limited number and are only stocked in key stores in the fashion capitals of the world.

Design Briefing: If looks could Kilgour - How Brandelli slayed Savile Row

Owning a Kilgour suit has become every wise man's sartorial goal and wearing one is the ultimate stamp of style.

Design Briefing: One for the girls - Loro Piana's canvas creation

If a lady is going to purchase a handbag then the obvious choice for craftsmanship and style is one with a Made in Italy label.

Design Briefing: Jean therapy - The explosion of Acne

Lauded by the fashion brigade for its flattering skinny jeans, Swedish brand Acne Jeans sport an understated elegance.

Design Briefing: Q&A - Tomas Maier, Milan

Tomas Maier, Creative director at Bottega Veneta, answers our quality of life questions.

Design Briefing: Bag lady - Ilaria Fendi's surprising eco-sac

The Italian fashion industry proves it has a conscience with Carmina Campus, a collection of limited-edition bags made from recycled materials.

Design Briefing: One for the boys - A shoe-in for summer by Loro Piana

What shoes can a man wear when off-duty this summer without forsaking his sense of style?

Design Briefing: Big mac - Aquascutum's classic ladies' trench

This ladies' trench coat from Aquascutum has been sold since 1909 and will ensure you'll stay dry in surprise summer showers.

The Firm: Street smart - Berlin

Daniel Wall is the poster boy for sleek street furniture

Fashion: Desk to deck - Zürich

In Zürich, you might need to pack your trunks when you head to the office.

Fashion: Stockists, issue 05

Stockists details for issue 05 of Monocle magazine.