Ivan Carvalho
50 things to improve your life
Our 2009 global round-up of the people, pursuits, places and pets to improve the way you live, work, rest, commute and communicate.
The world’s top 25 most liveable cities – 2009
Monocle’s researchers tested the world’s leading cities to find the best places to make your base. While Copenhagen won last year, the 2009 award for most liveable city goes to Zürich.
Shop idols
It can take just one retailer to unite a neighbourhood and restore a sense of old-fashioned community. Monocle has found 10 independent shops doing just that, from Barcelona to Tokyo.
Talk of the town
From a Beijing air-quality expert to an Italian architect, these urban planning visionaries have ideas with the potential to transform our urban world – and soon.
Who needs the agro?
From Europe's grocery aisles to Beirut's farmers' markets, consumers are flocking to authentic brands rooted in agriculture. Monocle explores why farmers and their four-legged friends have become the new faces of desirable brands.
The X-tractor
We visit a 90-year-old tractor firm in northern Italy. Through innovation and careful brand acquisition, it has quietly remained an engineering powerhouse, proving the DNA of its enduring success.
Royal privilege
Escape Bairro Alto for Príncipe Real, a neighbourhood where shops on Rua Dom Pedro V sell specialist Portuguese products. A park hosts a weekly farmers’ market, and new businesses are always arriving.
Time warp
As timepiece sales fall, watchmakers look to their archives, relaunching or emphasising classic, sober designs that represent long-term investments for customers and promoting consistency over crisis in a nervous market.
