Urbanism
Page 112
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.
Saggen
Beyond being an ideal event city, Innsbruck’s year-round vibrancy makes it perfect for second, or even first home status. Prices may be high, but then so is the quality of life.
Yubari: Ghost town
Featuring the haunting photographs of Shinichi Ito, our Asia bureau chief, Fiona Wilson, reports from Yubari, the Japanese coal city that lost 90 per cent of its residents after its mines closed and the…
The coast is cleared
Is your country too small? Make it bigger. Monocle reports from Singapore and the Netherlands, where nations are reclaiming record amounts of land from the sea to expand their territory and house growing populations.
