Do too many diplomats and NGOs spoil a city? Brussels, Ottawa, Canberra and even DC have a lot to answer for in the dull stakes, but what’s a capital city to do? Become both an economic and administrative hub? Or simply…
Friday 14 January
From their status as financial hubs to their dense populations, Hong Kong and Singapore have much in common. When Art Stage Singapore 2011 opened to the public yesterday the latter city hopes to add one more facet to the…
Thanks to its excellent universities, international transport links and super bright, skilled workforce, this former mining city in Germany’s Ruhr valley has been transformed into a hive for hi-tech firms.
Friday 14 December
Cities are in competition over many things, whether it’s attracting business or edging into the top spot of a quality of life ranking. It’s the urban age, where cities rather than countries face-off for investment, tourism…
From Portugal's telecoms giants to a Brazilian flip-flop maker, we pick 15 companies making waves in Portuguese-speaking world and beyond.
An oil boom is driving Santos’s remarkable transformation and, as the cash flows in, the port city’s coastal cache and ambitious regeneration means it’s giving drizzly São Paulo a run for its money.
There’s a link between quality of life and the money in your pocket but nobody quite understands this complicated marriage. One thing we do know for sure, whatever the question, the answer should not be Luanda.
The city of Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan is considerably more relaxed than the capital Taipei. But behind city hall doors, a formidable team is seeing through some ambitious plans.
This Tennessee city used to be known for its smog and stench. However, Chattanooga has cleaned up its act, establishing itself as an emerging technology hub and the home of Volkswagen’s only US factory. How did that happen…
Five years ago, one of Khabarovsk’s main exports was its women, who went to work as prostitutes in Japan. Today, the Russian city is booming, thanks to its natural resources. But can this city, closer to Beijing than Moscow…
Starbucks opened its first café in Russia in September, after a decade of trying. Last year, the company won a court case that finally gave it the right to use its trademark, which was bought up by a crafty Moscow lawyer…
On millionaires’ row in Herat, elaborate palaces are being built by businessmen who have made fortunes from exploiting the needs of the new Afghanistan – or selling heroin. A heady mix of Iranian, Italian and Gulf influe…
Russia’s boom years raised the profiles of its ‘second cities’, nowhere more so than in Ekaterinburg. But even as the cranes fall silent, the city’s entrepreneurs say the good times are not over yet.
Kunming is an unpolluted, diverse city that offers a high quality of life. Infrastructure projects, including new train routes and an international airport, are providing links with south Asia, boosting trade. It’s even…
Thursday 16 December
Well, they seemed like good ideas at the time.
Brunei prepares to cash in on the global halal food market, the world's largest wind turbine arrives, and an Italian ice cream maker goes green.
The people of Yogyakarta are a contented lot and they have good reason. The city is not only the cultural heart of Java but thanks to leaders who have stamped out corruption, it’s a vibrant business centre too.
The once-neglected southern isle of Hainan is China’s newest and biggest tourism hub, thanks to a €381bn revamp with new palatial hotels, airports, a highway and rail links. But could this be a front for covert military…
Offering an alternative lifestyle to Shanghai and Beijing, Dalian is a vibrant student city with an easier pace of life. You might not have heard of it but this is one of the world’s biggest outsourcing centres.
In the developed world, the service industry is a fast-growing driver of the economy, so it pays to have well-trained, highly skilled staff. While the MBA can boost your credentials in the business arena, Monocle asks…
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