In the third part of our circumpolar tour, we visit Murmansk. Following the break-up of the USSR, the city and its strategic naval base went into decline. But the promise of Arctic riches is reviving the city once again.

New flights from Tokyo to Yangon, why the French are lighting up Cambodia, and Japan gets creative.

Iraq has plans to build a shipping route that’s a cheaper alternative to the Suez Canal, starting with a port just south of Basra. It’s the biggest project ever undertaken by Iraq but will the war-ravaged city’s residents…

On the Turkish border with Syria, an international Nato force sits quietly awaiting a conflict that may never come. But the heavy-duty weaponry on show says half the battle is about coming prepared.

Monocle's third annual Soft Power Survey is an attempt to push the debate on where soft power comes from and how to use it. With current shifts in the global power balance, never has it been more relevant.

Great cities adapt and change like their residents. The process of finding a favourite has been a global undertaking that confirmed and renewed our love of exciting urban centres. The following make up Monocle’s top 25.

Months of good-natured, frequently late-night and occasionally jetlagged debate have resulted in this: our definitive (and a little subjective) guide to the world’s most liveable cities. Here’s how we came to our conclus…

Alain de Botton, Richard Florida, Jonathan Raban, Ricky Burdett, Roope Mokka and Richard Alston – six leading writers, thinkers and academics give their view on the state of today’s cities, and their vision of the urban…

Monocle’s researchers have spent the past months putting the world’s leading cities to the test to find the best places for you to make your base. Last year Copenhagen was the winner of our survey but in 2009 the award goes…

We've been doing our homework and crunching the numbers for our survey of the top 25 liveable cities, but we know it's not just about statistics.