Urbanism
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Site seeing
Tokyo's Marunouchi district is in the latest stage of a 20-year transformation. The next phase includes Mitsubishi’s Marunouchi Park Building, a 34-floor office tower, shops, a rose garden and an art gallery.
Asia
The empty schools of Japan, bridging Hong Kong and searching for a new Seoul in Yongsan.
Canal plus
Thousands of Venezuelans have fled to Panama, which is attracting everyone from US retirees to multinationals and emerging as Latin America’s most vibrant and strategic centre.
Prime mover
Mitsubishi built Tokyo’s first office block in Marunouchi 114 years ago and is now behind the area’s redevelopment into a major financial centre. Overleaf, we dissect a building site.
Observation
Leaders of the world’s major cities need to get out more to watch the competition and form alliances. With a thin field for its leadership race, is London up to the challenge?
Trade secret
Once a colonial trading hub, George Town on the Malaysian island of Penang lost out to Hong Kong and Singapore. Now its faded villas and relaxed pace are luring a new generation of entrepreneurs.
Expo 11: Olympic gold rush
As the world focuses on Beijing for the Olympics, a massive building boom transforms the city. Monocle visits the Olympic Park to see if it’s nation-branding folly or the start of the Chinese century.
Maltese crossing
Malta, the Mediterranean island with a population of 400,000, is booming thanks to EU membership and its adoption of the euro. It’s also perfectly poised to exploit renewed trade with Gaddafi’s Libya.
