By the time we finished the final interview at our pop-up Monocle Radio booth at the Abu Dhabi Infrastructure Summit and recorded a special edition of The Urbanist (you can listen in here), it was still only 16.30. So, displaying a distinct lack of team spirit, I left my colleagues Carlota and Steph to pack up all the kit – what a gentleman – and ordered a Careem to take me to the Abrahamic Family House.

You might have visited, many have, including president Trump when he came to town, but I hadn’t and had yearned to ever since it opened in 2023. And I am so happy that I did. Whether it was induced by the enveloping heat or the sky beginning to blush evening pink, or perhaps the gossiping minor birds playing in the white-blossomed frangipani trees, the Abrahamic Family House proved to be a moment of staggering, overwhelming, soaring-to-the-heavens beauty.

Designed by Ghanaian-British architect David Adjaye, the site contains a mosque oriented towards Mecca, a church that faces east to the rising sun and a synagogue that looks towards Jerusalem. No one place of worship dominates, they are all made from the same materials and share, of course, a design language. They are also surrounded by a raised-platform garden that – when it’s not 35C – acts as a realm where all faiths can congregate.

You navigate between the buildings via a cool central hallway. I began in the church where a vast starburst made from thousands of wood pieces shoots from the epic heights of the ceiling. A security guard on his break came in and found a place among the pews to kneel and pray, occasionally looking up at the ceiling, to God. In the synagogue, entered via a simple, perfect corridor, two Jewish men sat talking. But the mosque was perhaps most breathtaking because the dipping sun was at that very moment filtering through the mashrabiya screen and creating heavenly beams of light. A lone worshipper stood in one corner, his face patterned with lace-like shadows.

But what was also moving were the tiny and often incidental signs of generosity and kindness at play. A feral tabby cat was curled up asleep in the air-conditioned lobby. I bent down to take its picture and a security guard caught my eye and smiled – clearly, he’d taken the executive decision to allow an animal respite from the heat. In an internal garden, hanging from one of those frangipani trees, a bird feeder. There were pools of water where doves were quenching desert thirsts. Even the gift shop was a moment of gentle perfection.

The UAE commissioned the Abrahamic Family House – named after Abraham, who plays a key role in all three of these religions – to bring people of different faiths together, to focus on a shared humanity. To celebrate diversity and peaceful coexistence. Good on them. That’s also what made the Abrahamic Family House feel so enlightened, so special, because across the Persian Gulf rockets were screeching through the evening’s delicate skies, destined to kill and destroy.

But aside from faith and spirituality, the Abrahamic Family House is also testament to the power of architecture to move us, change us. While we were at the summit, I got talking to an architect who said that one of his professors had told him that his work would carry the potential to make people fall in love – or divorce (he joked that he might have been responsible for more of the latter). And it does have that power.

This is also why a summit about infrastructure turned out to be so interesting, because Abu Dhabi is trying to use architecture to create communities, to make the emirate not just liveable but loveable. They see and understand its potential to improve people’s health, its ability to help people live full lives in the face of physical challenges and to deliver the sublime.

PS. Team Monocle regrouped at Louvre Abu Dhabi, then headed to the 421 Arts Campus and ended up having pizza at Marmellata. So, I think my ungentlemanly behaviour was forgiven. Almost.

Upbeat, optimistic and creative – that’s the mood in Hong Kong’s hospitality sector, according to the general managers (GMs) of some of the city’s top luxury hotels. Crisis mode is over, they say, and Asia’s favourite business hub is primed for a strong second half of the decade with new openings and new infrastructure in the pipeline. There’s still plenty of work to do to win back long-haul travellers and nudge room rates back to where they were before the coronavirus pandemic but, as ever in Hong Kong, the private sector is leading from the front. Hotel owners and bosses are putting competition aside and working together to co-ordinate marketing efforts and shift the narrative. Monocle took the opportunity to join one of these friendly get-togethers for a conversation about technology and talent at one of the best tables in the city.

Our panel:

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This is a convivial after-work drink, but aren’t you supposed to be competitors? 
Kristina Snaith-Lense: We see each other most frequently at international trade shows. At ILTM in Cannes last December we talked about the need to promote Hong Kong as a group. When we returned, we began organising monthly lunches to discuss how we’re selling the city to the international market.

Christian Poda: We’re competitors but we all love Hong Kong. So we want it to do well. For a while the city had a very bad narrative but it’s much better this year.

Michel Chertouh: Overcoming that narrative has been a sacred journey, not just for the government and the tourism board but also for us in the hotel industry.

What are occupancy rates like?
Anas Bencheqroun: We are all at above 70 per cent. The first quarter was quite strong, markedly better than last year.

KSL: With the Kai Tak stadium now open, we finally have a world-class venue. Having Coldplay as the first international act there was huge. But it’s crucial to keep that momentum going.

Who hasn’t come back yet?
KSL: The US market hasn’t fully recovered. But new ones have emerged, such as the Middle East and Russia.

AB: India is strong for us.

MC: Southeast Asia is back but Europe and Japan are still a challenge.

What more could Hong Kong be doing? 
MC: It’s all about telling Hong Kong’s story from fresh angles and new perspectives. It’s less about infrastructure and more about branding. That’s where the private sector comes in. We can’t rely solely on the government. It’s up to us to reimagine the city and present it in a compelling light.

Kristina, your guests can now find a dry bag in their room’s closet, alongside the usual shopping bag and umbrella. What does that say about the type of luxury traveller coming to Hong Kong?
KSL: We’re seeing more people wanting to explore the hiking trails and the outlying islands. We need to be showcasing experiences that go beyond just dining and shopping. 

MC: We are noticing a shift in demographics. There’s a younger clientele coming in from mainland China, whereas before the pandemic, the crowd was older. With that shift, you see changes in behaviour too.

Could you give us an example? 
MC: Drinking habits have shifted quite noticeably. People are opting for quality over quantity. There’s also a broader trend away from alcohol.

CP: We see the biggest shift in our Michelin-starred restaurants. Guests are still eager to dine there but their preferences have evolved. Instead of a three-hour tasting menu, they prefer a 90-minute meal and they want to eat less.

What are your guests telling you about technology? Are they saying that they want more – or that they want a break?
AB: They want more but also to be given a choice about it. Luxury is all about having the choice, so we need to provide the technology for people to use.

MC: And make it simple.

CP: Sometimes give more, sometimes give less. It really depends on the occasion.

How is your role as GM changing?
CP: Today we run serious, complex businesses. I oversee 900 employees and a multi-million dollar-per-year operation. That marks a real shift from the past. The romantic notion of simply being a hotelier is increasingly giving way to the demands of a CEO. 

How much face time do you tend to have with guests?
CP: Probably about an hour a day – not as much as before because there’s a lot that can’t be managed from the lobby.

AB: I shouldn’t be spending more time at the desk than in the lobby but the balance has shifted. GMs from 10 to 15 years ago didn’t have the data that we have today. Whether it’s guest satisfaction or KPIs, the data helps us to manage our businesses better but it’s also taking us away from the operation.

MC: But it’s still an industry that requires you to give a lot of yourself and to invest your heart into it. I believe that you need to spend time with the guests and we’re not spending enough.

Hong Kong’s most recent big openings were the Rosewood in 2019 and the Regent in 2023. What do you think will be next? 
MC: When you compare Hong Kong pre- and post-pandemic, the evolution is remarkable. With all the launches this decade – West Kowloon Cultural District, the stadium, the airport expansion – the city has never been static. It’s incredible to see that, against all the odds, Hong Kong has continued to invest and progress, and evolve to where it is today.

KSL: Kimpton is opening later this year and Andaz is opening in the next few years.

MC: That lifestyle element was probably missing from Hong Kong.

AB: Yeah, we only had the W. Now I will have some competition.

KSL: Aman is also looking for a site.

AB: Bulgari too. Everybody is looking.

CP: Think of the quality of hotels here, at a price point that is, frankly, much lower than in pretty much any other key gateway city. Compared to London, Paris and New York, Hong Kong is a bargain.

Which city is Hong Kong’s biggest competitor in Asia these days: Singapore or Shenzhen?
KSL: Shenzhen. We have seen it, especially over the Easter break this year when about two million people left Hong Kong. We know that a huge number went to the Greater Bay Area.

AB: Neither. It’s Tokyo. Because a large part of our business is coming from mainland China and their spending in Tokyo has tripled. That increased spending would usually have come to Hong Kong.

MC: Tokyo and also Bangkok, which has evolved as a dining destination. Hospitality there has improved too. 

CP: If you want to do business with China you have to be in Hong Kong, not Singapore or Tokyo. Shenzhen is so cool but that’s good for Hong Kong. I know it’s a competition, in a way, but Hong Kong has a prime role to play in the Greater Bay Area. We just need to figure out how to coexist. Short-term pain, long-term gain. 

AB: With more synergies between the cities around us, such as Shenzhen and Guangzhou, we could easily become the Silicon Valley of Asia. Business travel is still lagging but we see the demand coming back. And with what’s happening in the world right now, Asia will definitely be a destination for new businesses.

What’s your single biggest challenge – or perhaps headache – for the second half of the year?
AB: Finding and holding onto people. The numbers in hospitality education have dropped by 30 per cent compared to before the pandemic. And there is a good 20 per cent of the workforce moving out, so we have to be careful. 

KSL: One challenge for us is rates. We need guests who are willing to book premium room categories to achieve those pre-pandemic rates.

MC: Visibility is an issue too. Last-minute bookings have become a trend, adding complexity to staffing and making it harder to plan investments in activities.

CP: We need less volatility and an easing of global tensions. I was really scared after “Liberation Day” [in April, when Donald Trump announced sweeping new tariffs] but now I feel a lot better again. If the world’s number one and two economies can get on better, it would be amazing for us.

Parisians have the palatial expanses of the Louvre. New Yorkers have the Met’s wings, partially extending into Central Park. Londoners have the halls of the National Gallery. Yet, in comparison with their French and American counterparts, the buildings that house Britain’s primary collection of European paintings are comparatively diminutive. 

In 2018, New York-based Selldorf Architects was appointed to redesign the National Gallery’s Sainsbury Wing. The remodel was heavily criticised when it was publicly announced in 2022, particularly regarding the removal of the building’s non-structural columns. Despite the controversy, the project has proven a success: its emollient results are exactly the salve the gallery needed.

The Sainsbury Wing is perhaps best remembered for King Charles III’s infamous “monstrous carbuncle” comment, which single-handedly scuppered its unrealised predecessor. But even the “much-loved friend”, the original building by William Wilkins that the wing extended from, was derided for its dowdy neoclassicism when it was built in 1838. This latest reworking was not only to mark the gallery’s bicentennial but also an overdue fix of what other national museums take for granted: instead of having to climb the stairs from Trafalgar Square, visitors now have a clear, accessible main entrance via the Sainsbury Wing.

The Sainsbury Wing extension was originally designed by American postmodernist architecture duo Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown in 1991. It was given Grade I listed status in 2018 – Britain’s highest heritage conservation protections – at the tender age of 27. What’s being protected feels like a compromise: as you enter, an eclectic jumble of self-referential jokes play out the tensions between architects and clients in built form. “It’s like having an argument with the building,” says the project’s heritage architect Alasdair Travers. And not only with the building but also with its defenders. The new redesign by Selldorf Architects was vociferously resisted by critics, eight former presidents of the Royal Institute of British Architects and even Scott Brown herself.

Despite the noise, Selldorf has hit the right tone. The Venturi-Scott Brown’s masterful façade – a mannerist remix of Wilkins’s classical elements – remains as one of the cheekiest exteriors in the city albeit with new signage that is more mannerist than legible. Within the structure, double-height spaces carve room to breathe out of the previously crypt-like ceilings. The smoked glass and puce-tinted hangover from the 1980s has been banished. And yes, the cutesy Egyptian columns remain.

The upper level of galleries, which was described by its director Gabriele Finaldi as “practically perfect”, remain unchanged. Instead, we are treated with a resplendent rehang, where the original enfilades of sandstone archways boast newly-placed works.

But the unsung heroes are the state-of-the-art metal security measures at the entrance. There has been a despicable spate of attacks on irreplaceable artworks, from Potsdam to Rome, Canberra to the National Gallery itself, where vandals masquerade as revolutionaries. Museums have been beefing up bag checks, banning liquids and putting yet more glass barriers and plainclothes officers between the public and what is supposed to be their collection. The new, nearly invisible metal detectors are a welcome return to a museum experience based, on the surface at least, on trust. I can feel free to enjoy the Old Masters without being searched like I’m about to throw a can of soup. 

This year’s edition of the Parcours sector of Art Basel in Basel has been developed by Stefanie Hessler. Directed by the German curator for the second consecutive year, Parcours transforms unexpected areas across the city into exhibition spaces for artworks ranging from video installation, sculpture and large-scale collage. Churches, shopping centres and underpasses will provide viewers a chance to engage with these diverse works, whether you’re a well-heeled collector or simply a passer-by. Here, Hessler discusses this year’s Parcours theme, highlights from throughout the city and the importance of public art. 

Tell us about the theme of this year’s Parcours. 
I chose the concept of “Second Nature”, which I see as having multiple layers. The first layer considers the way humans have changed the world, blurring the boundaries between nature and artifice. The second layer illuminates the ways that gestures and habits form our behaviour and change our behaviour. Our movements and our gestures can become second nature to ourselves. The third layer explores the way that information flows – through algorithms and the circulation of images – and how that will continue to change who we are. 

I invited artists whose projects specifically engage with these thematic layers. I’m particularly interested in the dialogue between the artist and the site, and many of the featured creatives work site responsively. For example, Shanghai-based artist Yu Ji has made something resembling a dinner scene for humans and non-humans to be shown specifically in the banquet hall of Hotel Rheinelderhof. Collaborating with both the artists and the owners of all the various sites that we’re using has been an organic process – we’re truly integrating these projects into the local fabric of Basel.

What’s the most unusual venue you’re using this year?
The underpass, where we’re showing a video by Sturtevant, is perhaps the most unconventional venue but I was happy that we were able to make it work. The project is a 21-metre-long projection of a running dog, with the image repeating every nine seconds in an endless loop. While Sturtevant was known for recreating works by other artists, later in her life, she became interested in the endless proliferation of images and information on the internet. The running dog is one of her most iconic works and I wanted Parcours to feel more intergenerational this year. Sturtevant’s work was key to my concept and the selection of artists. The installation is in an underpass right by the river – a place frequented by people walking their dogs — which makes it a great intervention in public space.

How important is it that Parcours is a public event?
Parcours is a free and open invitation to both visitors of the fair as well as local audiences. There’s a beautiful dialogue that unfolds between the international art world and the residents of Basel. I love how art can interject in everyday life and create moments of surprise throughout your day. We have moved Parcours closer to the fair, which brings more attention to this part of the city. There are a lot of shops in Klarastrasse and it’s not as picturesque as other parts of the city visited by tourists, but that is what’s great about it. It highlights everyday life in Basel, which I – and the artists that I’ve worked with – find really inspiring. 

Has working on Parcours changed how you view the city?
The first time that I curated Parcours, I visited about 70 different sites and there are many more locations that I hope we can use for future editions. Like any city, Basel offers so much if you pay attention. It’s fantastic when artists create art with specific locations in mind because it directs our attention differently. There’s also a whole world underneath our feet where I’m hoping to stage projects during the next editions. 

Read next: Five booths not to be missed at this year’s Art Basel in Basel

It’s all about context and working together at 3 Days of Design. That’s the message that was hammered home at this year’s event, which functions as Copenhagen’s de facto design week. Designers and brands presented work in galleries and studios across the city and the fair was billed by many as the biggest competitor to industry behemoth Salone del Mobile – and for good reason. It has grown year-on-year since its establishment in 2013 and is now drawing an international cohort, with Spain’s Santa & Cole and Italian firms such as Flos and Alpi all taking part.

In truth, the two events are quite different: Salone del Mobile is focused on trade and the industry’s commercial side. Copenhagen, meanwhile, seems intent on putting the practice into context. “It’s rooted in the Danish way of thinking about design,” says Marie-Louise Høstbo (pictured above left), a Copenhagen-based creative director and curator. “Design is presented not as an event but as a lived, integrated part of daily life.” For proof, one only has to look at the showcase that Høstbo curated with Mycoworks, the company responsible for developing Reishi, a leather-like material created from mycelium (the root structure of fungi). Under Høstbo’s eye, the Californian brand worked with five Danish firms, including OEO Studio and Atelier Axo, to develop products that show Reishi’s practical applications. “We wanted to explore the potential of a new material – Reishi – while drawing inspiration from the historic principles of making functional, durable and beautiful designs,” says Høstbo. “OEO Studio’s glowing floor light, for example, invites us to see our interiors in a new way.”

OEO Studio’s Thomas Lykke (see Words With… below) agrees that the success of 3 Days of Design – and the Mycoworks showcase – lies in its ability to contextualise the industry. “Design is not only about aesthetics and chairs,” says Lykke. “It has its own vernacular and is a bridge to other cultures, understanding, sharing and questioning.”

So, is this what’s drawing people from across the world to 3 Days of Design? Gabriel Tan certainly thinks so. The Porto-based, Singaporean designer presented wares by his brand, Origin Made, in an apartment curated by Japanese furniture specialists Ariake and Spanish lighting manufacturer Parachilna (pictured above). In addition are rugs by Sera Helsinki and sculptures by Gen Taniguchi, master craftsman of the 300-year-old Nao Washi mill. “What is particularly striking is the open and collaborative spirit that is evident at 3 Days of Design, with brands regularly joining forces for showings because they understand that great interiors require lighting, furniture, textiles and objects working in harmony,” says Tan. “Why compete when you can create something more compelling together?” It’s a question those presenting – and attending – 3 Days of Design seem intent on answering.

Monisse is Monocle’s design editor.

To enjoy Monocle’s full city guide to Copenhagen, click here.

1.
Paris
Best all-rounder
Our city of the year. The French capital’s strengths are multitude.

“I can honestly say that there’s no city in the world in which I would rather live,” says Charles-Antoine Depardon, an architect and advisor on urban development to Paris’s city council, as he strolls through the Tuileries on his way to work at the Hôtel de Ville. “It is an extraordinary cocktail.”

Depardon might be biased but on a spring morning, as the French capital’s avenues resound to the click-clack of hard leather shoes on spruce concrete, it’s hard to argue with him. Last year’s Olympics provided Paris with the platform to showcase its chic 21st-century self. The city delivered a rousing performance that also served as a fitting coda to a decade of revival under mayor Anne Hidalgo, whose ambitious (and, sometimes, controversial) urbanism interventions have made it cleaner, greener and safer, while maintaining and protecting the things that give it its inimitable charm. Paris in the 21st century looks a lot like it did in the 20th century but that’s a large part of the appeal. And today it is also a more international, outward-looking city than it has ever been.

One of the most notable changes has been the huge expansion of the cycle-lane network, which led to bike usage doubling between 2023 and 2024, and the overhaul of the once-creaking Métro, the backbone of which is the speedy new Line 14. This takes passengers from Paris-Orly Airport in the south to the new Saint-Denis Pleyel station in the north in just 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, in its bid to become the greenest major city in Europe, Paris has embarked on a gargantuan effort to plant 170,000 trees by 2026. At the time of writing, more than 120,000 are in the ground, many of which will be used to cultivate new urban forests, such as the one inaugurated in June 2024 at the Place de Catalogne. “Paris is a far more pleasant place to live today,” says Lindsey Tramuta, a journalist who hosts a podcast called The New Paris and has called the 11th arrondissement home for 19 years. “It was always a beautiful city to walk in but that’s even more the case now.”

When Baron Haussmann reimagined Paris in the 19th century, he made its streets more spacious and airy, and therefore less susceptible to disease and crime. Today there remains a steadfast commitment to prioritising quality over quantity when it comes to designing the urban environment. The draw of the city’s cultural behemoths – such as the recently renovated Tadao Ando-designed Bourse de Commerce – remains world-beating, as does its retail prowess.

All of this, combined with the policies of the country’s most pro-business president in a long time, has helped Paris to draw and foster enough talent to snatch London’s double crown as Europe’s top venture-capital city and its leading technology hub. “Paris lends itself far more to an office-based culture than cities such as San Francisco or London,” says Jordane Giuly, the founder of fintech company Defacto. He points out that the French capital’s gentle density is conducive to cross-pollination between start-ups and preferable to the vast distances that one needs to traverse in its rivals.

That said, even with the recent business boom, property prices in Paris have fallen over the past two years. Though some areas remain pricey, the city has largely kept its soul, in large part due to housing policies that have helped to keep low-income residents and their businesses in the heart of the city. More than a quarter of Paris’s inhabitants live in social housing, while small businesses, such as neighbourhood butchers and the city’s famous independent bookshops, have benefited from measures protecting their existence. This idea of mixité sociale (socially and economically diverse districts) has also helped to inject new life and dynamism into a gastronomic scene that had begun to feel threatened by rivals – and now some waiters, like many of the new business owners, are even happy to speak English. C’est la vie!

Click here to enjoy the full Monocle city guide to Paris

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2.
Madrid
Best for health
A favourable work/life balance and delicious food are a winning formula in the Spanish capital.

On a sunny Friday morning in late May, Madrileños of all ages roam the counters at Mercado de la Paz, browsing fresh fish caught that morning, glowing red tomatoes and cheese from all four corners of the country. This Salamanca institution is one of dozens of mercados in the Spanish capital – food markets found in almost every neighbourhood that hint at why Madrid’s citizens are such a healthy bunch. The city has the highest life expectancy (86.1 years) of any metropolis in Europe.

These figures are down to a unique combination of assets – meteorological, economic and social. Excellent weather and food, strong intergenerational bonds and a natural gregariousness mean that residents work to live rather than live to work. “Socialising is very Madrileño,” Manuel Martínez-Sellés, the president of the city’s Official College of Physicians, tells Monocle. “Keeping physically and intellectually active benefits both the quantity and the quality of life.”

Then there’s the city’s excellent healthcare. Spain is renowned for its public hospitals, which combine the best in training with an almost unparalleled (in Europe, at least) system of data-gathering. As a result of decades of centre-right dominance, the Madrid region now has the highest private health-insurance coverage in Spain about 37.5 per cent. “Good public-private collaboration often allows for more efficient and decisive medicine,” says Martínez-Sellés. “In Madrid we have the best hospitals in Spain, 11 medical schools (more than many European countries), the nation’s leading biomedical research centres, strong and responsive primary care, shorter waiting lists for surgery than in other regions, very active prevention and early diagnosis programmes, and exemplary out-of-hospital emergency services.”

But Madrileños know that health is about more than medicine. Their wellbeing is rooted in socialising and outdoor activity, and this includes, for many, a regular glass of wine and slice of jamón ibérico. Walk Madrid’s plentiful plazas on any night of the week and you will see children kicking a ball around while the adults enjoy el paseo, the traditional twilight stroll, or knock back a crisp glass of beer. A quarter of Spaniards smoke and alcohol remains a part of daily life but an acceptance of the importance of these things at a social level is part of what makes the people of this city such an outgoing – and therefore longer-living – bunch.

Spanish urban planning has helped communities to flourish and loneliness is less common than elsewhere. “Healthy ageing is about enabling people to continue doing what they value as they grow older,” says Vânia de la Fuente-Núñez, a doctor, anthropologist and expert in ageing. “It shifts the focus away from simply having or not having a disease and instead looks at how well a person functions and feels in their environment.” De la Fuente-Núñez serves on the board of Grandes Amigos, a Madrid-based non-profit that promotes intergenerational relationships and addresses social isolation among older people. The organisation runs a volunteer network that promotes interaction between people of all ages and support for the elderly.

Of course, all of this jollity is more than helped by the weather. With as many as 3,000 hours of sunshine a year, Madrileños are often to be found exercising, jogging or cycling around the city’s 60 sq km of green space, swimming in one of its 25 public pools or playing tennis or padel at one of the 698 public courts. For less sporty residents, simply wandering the city’s streets on a sun-soaked evening is a life-enhancing, and possibly extending, experience.

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3.
Athens
Best for nightlife
The Greek capital is never boring and one of Europe’s few truly 24-hour cities.

More than 15 years since a debilitating debt crisis, the Greek capital has become the discerning night owl’s stamping ground. The country’s economy grew by 2.3 per cent in 2024, which, while not exactly stratospheric, is enough to elicit envious glances from its Western and Northern European counterparts. Athenians now speak of those dark days of high inflation and unemployment as being in the past and, in hindsight at least, it seems that this ancient city was able to turn adversity into opportunity, kick-starting a cultural renaissance that has transformed abandoned spaces and post-industrial areas into some of Europe’s most exciting nightlife spots.

At 02.00 on a Friday night, people fill Menaichmou Street in the buzzy Neos Kosmos neighbourhood, glasses in hand. Their laughter and chatter compete with a wall of sound emanating from the street’s many establishments, including natural wine bar Epta Martyres and spritzeria Bar Amore. It’s the same story on Meandrou Street in Ilisia, where Junior Does Wine rubs shoulders with Quinn’s; and Vissis Street, once known only for its hardware shops, which is now home to cocktail hub Kennedy among other excellent bars. All typify the way that an infusion of young, creative people from across the globe has invigorated a once slightly sleepy and rundown city. “In the summer, everyone spills out onto the street,” says Eleni Georgiou, a young jewellery designer. “The atmosphere is lively yet laidback. It’s like the whole city becomes one big open-air gathering.”

A relaxed attitude towards licensing laws might be assumed as a given in this part of the world but Athens’ laissez-faire approach is born more of political than geographical circumstances. After the fall of Greece’s military junta in 1974, a country that had been denied individual freedoms was fierce about protecting its hard-won rights.Twenty years later, in 1994, a stern-faced minister for public order, Stelios Papathemelis, introduced a law mandating nightclubs to close at 02.00 to rein-in a perceived air of permissiveness. Contravention of the “Papathemelis Law”, as it came to be known, became a badge of honour in Athens and today clubs, especially in areas such as Exarchia, stay open as long as there are people inside having fun.

A post-pandemic boom in tourism has transformed Athens from a stop-off en route to the islands into a destination city. In 2024, 7.9 million people visited the Greek capital, a 12 per cent increase on the year before. Many of these came to see the Acropolis but others were here to experience a place that is being explicitly marketed as a 24-hour city. The Athens Metro – which is being significantly expanded with the construction of the new Line 4 – runs from 05.00 until 02.00 on weekends. Anyone looking to travel between 02.00 and 05.00 will find that taxis are both cheap and plentiful.

Though an influx of affluent foreigners has led to a rise in prices, especially in the property market, Athens remains affordable compared to other European cities – a glass of wine costs, on average, less than €6. Starting a meal at 22.00 is not unusual for Greeks, especially during the hot summer months, and when you eat late, you drink, dance and go to bed late too. It’s not just the hardcore ravers who leave the clubs at 07.00 in July. Those coming out blinking into the dawn light might take a trip to Metaxourgeio for a restorative spanakopita (spinach pie) or gyro, while, for the more adventurous, there’s always the short metro ride to the beach.

Whereas many other cities, especially in Europe, have been on a trajectory of diminishing nightlife returns over the past 10 years, Athens is dancing to a different tune. As Nena Dimitriou, writer of the weekly “Café-Bar” nightlife column in the Athenian daily Kathimerini puts it, “No one is ever bored in Athens.”

Click here to enjoy the full Monocle city guide to Athens

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4.
Barcelona
Best for urban greening
The Catalan capital is proactive about enacting radical policies and its approach to the environment is achieving solid results.

After three years of drought, the return of rain to Barcelona this spring was more than just a meteorological relief: it marked a moment of renewal for a city that’s doing more than most to stay in step with nature. The Spanish phrase “En abril, aguas mil” (“In April, a thousand rains”) was uttered with smiles, as residents joked about living in London or Paris. And when the sun came back out, Barcelona looked greener than ever, in more ways than one.

Faced with issues such as increasingly regular water shortages, pollution and population density, the city adopted a strategy to green its streets and public spaces. The flagship Superilles (Superblocks) initiative – first proposed by environmental researcher Salvador Rueda and trialled by city hall in 1993 – has rethought car-dominated intersections in favour of people-first places lined with trees, shaded areas and space for community life to blossom.

On a recent morning, the intersection of Girona and Consell de Cent streets, now a bustling square, was busy with people chatting on benches, tourists sipping coffee on the terrace of Bar Betlem and older folks pausing for respite from the sun under a plane tree. In Barcelona, life happens on the street. If you offer residents space to socialise, they’ll use it. The shift away from cars brought less visible but real benefits, including a 22 per cent reduction in co2 emissions, preventing hundreds of deaths each year. Small businesses on newly pedestrianised streets also had an increase in footfall as people chose to walk these greener, cooler, calmer routes. Bird life has benefited too. There are now more than 80 species nesting across city parks.

Alongside the broader Pla Natura scheme for planting is the new Parc de les Glòries, a 4.3-hectare green space with broad promenades and more than 9,000 sq m of vegetation. The redevelopment brought swaths of land into community use, planted more than 1,000 trees and stitched together a new green corridor in the heart of the city. But the strength of Barcelona’s approach is in smaller, more targeted solutions. Participatory digital tools for citizen feedback, such as Decidim, have helped residents to have a bigger voice in shaping their city. “Barcelona also shows how micro-greening solutions, such as pocket parks and green roofs, can offer access to nature even in compact areas,” says Amalia Calderón Argelich, a post-doctoral researcher at the Barcelona Lab for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability. “Inclusive design practices – such as improved lighting, accessibility and safe park layouts – are adaptable models for dense cities.”

Liveability is the aspiration but, as in many great cities, there is a tension between plans and outcomes. In the Poblenou neighbourhood, where the 22@ project transformed an industrial zone into a gleaming district of green avenues and modern infrastructure, property prices have soared by almost €3,000 per square metre in just 10 years. With this shift has come accusations of gentrification with the loss of the neighbourhood’s former identity and the displacement of its residents. “Though greening plans are ambitious, gaps persist,” says Calderón Argelich. Gentrification and “touristification” remain hot topics as every new park can trigger a rise in house prices. Without some protective policies and civic oversight, says Calderón Argelich, well-meaning projects risk undermining the equity that they aim to promote. “Resilience depends on protecting these frameworks from political volatility.”

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5.
Vienna
Best for housing
The Austrian capital’s architecture and social housing stock are the envy of the world.

In October 1930, Vienna’s socialist mayor, Karl Seitz, gave a speech at the opening of a new housing block, the Karl-Marx-Hof. “When we are no longer here, these stones will speak for us,” he said. Today the building that he was inaugurating is probably the best known of Vienna’s Gemeindebauten, social housing that has become emblematic of the city’s high quality of life. Nearly a century on, some 6,000 Gemeindebau flats are still built every year, in a continent where many cities have given up on the principle of social housing. The new ones are less monumental than their forebears but the tradition of naming them after eminent public figures remains. Karl-Seitz-Hof opened in 1931.

Housing authorities have also stuck to the principle of distributing council flats across all districts to prevent economic segregation. Another key plank of urban cohesion is the comparatively generous income cap for applicants: €59,320 a year for a single person and €88,400 for a couple at the time of writing. The upshot is that more than half of Vienna’s two million residents live in some form of subsidised housing, whether in Gemeindebauten or state-supported co-operatives. One of the better-known examples of the latter is the sprawling Alterlaa complex (pictured) in the city’s south, home to about 10,000 people and an architectural pilgrimage site for many visitors to the Austrian capital.

Freelance journalist Susanne Jäger has lived in her 43 sq m council flat in the heart of old Vienna since 2014. She also spent part of her childhood in municipal housing. “The Gemeindebau programme has always been part of my life,” she tells Monocle in her Fischerstiege apartment, which is across the road from Vienna’s old city hall. On the ground floor is an office of the Social Democrats – the party of Seitz and the current mayor, Michael Ludwig – alongside a bookshop and an after-school care centre for residents. Jäger hadn’t planned to stay long but the low rent – about €370 a month without utilities a decade ago, now €420 – persuaded her otherwise. “I was never offered a better deal,” she says. She is also struck by the city’s efforts to support tenants who are in difficulty. In her hallway, a poster from city hall reassures residents that they won’t be left in the lurch if they fall behind on payments. “Vienna is the only landlord that tries to keep you in rather than kick you out,” says Jäger.

Of course, social housing is only one strand of Vienna’s mixed housing stock. Roughly a third of the population lives in privately rented flats, with one in five of those in buildings constructed before 1945 – the so-called Altbauten (“old builds”). Most are solidly built, with thick walls, high ceilings, grand tiled entrances and fabulous façades (especially the Jugendstil buildings from the 1890s and 1900s). Balconies or terraces are rarer but there’s often a large courtyard, or Hof, and sometimes a private back garden. The Altbauten are highly sought after, with prices per square metre ranging from about €6,200 in the eighth district to €19,000 in the first. Rents, however, are far more manageable, hovering between €14 and €20 per square metre for both old and new.

Vienna is still very much a city of renters and their rights are staunchly defended, especially in older properties. Homeownership is fairly modest compared to other European capitals, accounting for less than 20 per cent of the population – though that might soon change. Though construction has slowed somewhat, attractive new developments are springing up citywide: in the Nordbahnviertel, near the Danube, on the site of an old railway station, and in Aspern Seestadt on the northeastern fringe. The latter is one of Europe’s largest urban development schemes. In a city where housing is treated as a right rather than an asset, these particular Neuebauten attract less local ire than they might elsewhere.

Click here to enjoy Monocle’s full city guide to Vienna

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6.
Zürich
Best for mobility
The city that spawned its own transport model isn’t resting on its haunches.

In 2024, Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich (VBZ), the body that owns and operates Zürich’s transport network, recorded approximately 304 million annual passengers across its buses and trams – a 2.1 per cent increase on the previous year. For Switzerland’s largest city, which has spawned a set of much-imitated but never bettered mobility policies known collectively as the Zürich Model, it was further proof that superiority need not induce complacency. The most appealing cities reflect the best things about their nations (as most of this line-up can attest) but perhaps nowhere is that more in evidence than on Zürich’s transport network, which exudes a Swiss air of efficiency. “Where else do passengers greet you when they’re getting on and off?” asks Sinan Yigitler, a bus driver who moved to Zürich from Germany with his family. Could it be that a calm, clean and cheap transport experience makes passengers more cheerful?

An enduring symbol of Zürich is its tram network. Pale blue and white, these sleek road trains glide through leafy boulevards and along lakefront promenades, the doleful clang of their bells and the soft whoosh as they pass providing the city’s muted soundtrack. Since 2002, Zürich’s buses have run for 24 hours on weekends, ferrying home the stragglers from bars and clubs as the city settles into silence.The Zürich model grew out of a realisation on the part of the city’s government in the 1960s and 1970s that it had to offer public transport of a high-enough standard to tempt commuters out of their cars and so avoid gridlock on its streets (nearly 280,000 people commute into Zürich every day a number not far off the city’s population of 360,000).Today, 327 intersections are equipped with sensors that detect approaching vehicles and adjust signals to prioritise the transit of trams and buses over cars.

But the city’s ambitions go well beyond trams and buses. The Zürich Model places great value on modal split, meaning that all facets of the network must be constantly improved to ensure the vitality of the whole. Under the government’s 2030 bike plan, the number of cycle lanes and cyclist-first traffic lights are due to be expanded, while its 2040 mobility strategy focuses on connecting the fast-growing northern and western suburbs to the rest of the city. Projects such as the Tramtangente Nord, a planned orbital tram line that binds outer districts without passing through the city centre, aims to improve capacity where it’s needed most.

“We need to redistribute street space to give more room to pedestrians and cyclists,” says Simone Brander, the head of Zürich’s civil engineering and mobility department. This ethos is deeply felt by the people who operate the system too. “It’s an important part of my life and the people here are like my second family,” says Astro Ajvazi, a VBZ instructor who trains the next generation of tram operators.

Click here to enjoy Monocle’s full city guide to Zürich

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7.
Mexico City
Best for conviviality
Mexico City is attracting those seeking quality over quantity.

For many people in Mexico City, the weekend officially kicks off at about 14.00 on a Friday. In the leafy neighbourhoods of Condesa and Roma, streetside cafés and restaurants fill with residents and visitors alike, seated at tables spilling onto the pavements. Food has always been an important part of Mexican culture and people here have access to a good bite no matter their budget, whether it’s tacos from a street vendor or silver service. A long lunch is more than just eating: it’s an opportunity to savour time with friends and family, embracing the tradition of sobremesa – an unhurried meal in which diners linger around the table for hours.

Mexico City’s laid-back attitude, which extends far beyond the dining table and into everyday life, is luring many from afar. The city’s population grew by 600,000 between 2019 and 2023 – much of that influx from the US and Canada, countries to where Mexicans have traditionally emigrated. It’s proof that the city’s way of life is catching on. “The people here value quality of life above many things,” says Adolfo López-Serrano, a resident and founder of communications company Base Agency.

Despite being one of the biggest and most hectic cities in Latin America, many neighbourhoods here, such as Condesa and Coyoacán, offer a small-town feel, with inhabitants waking to the sound of birdsong. “The urban fabric is very nice and there’s also great architecture,” says Rodrigo Rivero Borrell, founder of property developer Reurbano. He notes that neighbourhoods around the Paseo de la Reforma were developed consciously, with wide avenues.

“The city is designed for movement, with walkable streets and good public transportation in the central areas,” says López-Serrano. There are almost 400km of bike lanes, which is remarkable for Latin America, and the Metro, with 12 lines covering more than 226km, is the second largest on the continent. The city also has one of the best-connected airports in the region, with direct flights to more than 100 destinations, including London, Los Angeles, Madrid, New York, São Paulo and Tokyo.

Outsiders tend to find Mexico’s capital very inviting. “Being a Latin society, it’s a welcoming place,” says Rivero Borrell. “People want to engage.” It’s also ideal for those seeking to build a business. López-Serrano describes it as “a city where chaos and order happen at the same time, creating the perfect playground for creatives and entrepreneurs”. He adds that in Mexico City, “You can be scrappy and resourceful, and push boundaries. Yet the standards for design, culture and innovation are remarkably high.”

Certain neighbourhoods are astonishingly green. In an effort to improve air quality and mitigate the effects of climate change, more than 44.2 million trees, shrubs and ground covers have been planted throughout the city since 2019, according to Mexico City’s environment ministry. “The central areas are well serviced in terms of parks and public spaces to maintain a healthy lifestyle,” says Rivero Borrell. Being outdoors is woven into city life and you’ll always find people walking their dogs, exercising or dancing salsa in one of the 244 parks or plazas here. There are few better ways to foster a sense of community.

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8.
Lisbon
Best for safe streets
Crime rates continue to fall in this sunny metropolis by the sea.

Speak to one of the hundreds of thousands of Brazilians who call Lisbon home – the largest immigrant community in Portugal – and safety will almost certainly emerge as one of the reasons for their move. In this respect, Lisbon has become the gold standard for many. Europeans and Americans who have recently flocked to the city also cite security as an important factor in staying. “I can walk down any street at any time without having to look behind my back,” says George Dellinger, who moved here from New York in 2022. “I don’t feel vulnerable. There’s a sense that people look out for each other.”

Lisbon has evolved over the past decade from a somewhat sleepy town into a dynamic European capital and it has impressively done so without compromising on the safety of its residents. Crime in the capital is consistently low compared to other European cities; Portugal’s latest annual homeland security report indicates that in 2024 there was the steepest drop in the crime rate (excluding the anomalous pandemic years) in more than 10 years: a fall of 7.6 per cent in Lisbon’s metropolitan area. It also points to a 1.8 per cent decrease in violent crime, with even bigger drops in the city proper.

That said, statistics don’t always tell the full story. Safety is also a collective sentiment and, recently, a few widely publicised violent incidents have rattled some sectors of society and inflamed political rhetoric. Lisbon’s mayor, Carlos Moedas, has acknowledged the public’s unease and called on the government for increased policing in the city.

But, as ever in Lisbon, a lot of emphasis has been placed on community policing, a preventive and participative approach that has garnered attention from across the globe. In contrast to the stock response of cities faced with security issues – more CCTV or increasingly heavy-handed policing – Lisbon invests in more integrated forms of safety that put trust and a human presence at their centre. Police officers are assigned to neighbourhoods for the long term, fostering familiarity with citizens and partnerships with neighbourhood associations and social services. The constant dialogue between these groups means that the police are better equipped to address problems as they arise and deal sensitively with issues around drug use or homelessness through dialogue.

Like any city shaped by tourism, Lisbon has pockets where petty theft is common, especially in the historic downtown areas. But when it comes to the kind of ambient, everyday safety that allows one to move through public space without thinking too much about it, Lisbon continues to offer a rare kind of freedom. An intuitive way to grasp this is by noticing how schoolchildren make their way through the city. They’re often unaccompanied, navigating public transport and streets with an ease that recalls a different era. For parents it’s a powerful indicator. “The number of times I’ve left my purse on the pram while running after my boy in the park… I would never think of doing that in London,” says Perrine Velge, who moved from the UK capital to Lisbon in 2020.

Another indicator can be seen when going out at night. Like other Mediterranean cities, Lisbon has a late-night culture that is dominated not by heavy-drinking young people but a relaxed mix of ages. Eating out, strolling home or sharing a glass of chilled white port in a neighbourhood bar remain part of everyday life, unmarred by disorder. Feeling physically safe in some Western cities is no longer taken for granted, if indeed it ever was. Lisbon is a rare outlier.

Click here to enjoy Monocle’s full city guide to Lisbon

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9.
Tokyo
Best for cleanliness
Tokyo’s spruce streets and responsible citizens set the benchmark.

For a city of 10 million people – and that’s just the 23 central wards – Tokyo is bafflingly clean. (The population balloons to 44 million if you take in the greater Tokyo area.) To understand why, look at how the Japanese capital operates in the morning. Rubbish vans trundle along residential streets, with binmen jogging alongside their vehicle as they grab bags of meticulously separated household refuse. Meanwhile, an army of kanrinin, the caretakers who look after Tokyo’s apartment blocks, mop entrances and put out rubbish. Shopkeepers and café owners spruce up the area in front of their establishments, picking up any stray litter and cigarette ends (banning street smoking has improved that situation no end).

Volunteers are also out in force. In fashionable Omotesando, a band of hairstylists from some of the dozens of salons in the neighbourhood are in green bibs, picking up litter before opening time. Over by Shibuya station, another group of volunteer helpers – schoolchildren and pensioners – are tackling the detritus on one of the world’s busiest pedestrian crossings.

The lack of street bins is no surprise to anyone who lives here (most disappeared after the deadly sarin gas attack in 1995) and people expect to have to look after their own litter. The sticking point has come with the arrival of unprecedented numbers of tourists who are not necessarily on the same page garbage-wise. It’s not that visitors are looking to dump rubbish but they’re often unsure what to do with their plastic cups and bottles. Overflowing bins are never a good look so refuse-flattening smart bins are being introduced to busier streets and tourist sites.

Public toilets have had a major upgrade in Shibuya with the Tokyo Toilet project, in which 16 creators (including architectural A-listers such as Tadao Ando and streetwear legend Nigo) designed public conveniences that not only look good but come equipped with Toto Washlets and are kept spotlessly clean by a team of people who wear natty boilersuits (as seen in Wim Wenders’ film Perfect Days). Architect Kengo Kuma designed one comprising five wooden huts in Shoto Park. He called it a “public toilet village that is open, breezy and easy to pass through”. The project’s organisers consider clean, well-lit, fully accessible public toilets essential to any city and even “a symbol of Japan’s world-renowned hospitality culture”.

As in every city, there’s graffiti in Tokyo (though not in the same quantities as elsewhere). Clean & Art, a group led by artist Ken Sobajima, is on a mission to eradicate the blight. Passers-by applaud Sobajima and his team as they paint over unwanted scrawls and restore walls. “I used to think that nobody cared,” he says. “But once I talked to people, I discovered that everyone was bothered by it.”

As with most aspects of daily life in Japan, there are deeper philosophical reasons for this preoccupation with spotlessness. Shinto, Japan’s native religion, demarcates clean and unclean spaces, a division that affects everything from the sumo ring to the home. Children absorb this distinction between clean “inside” and unclean “outside” early.

All of this isn’t to say that there’s no rubbish in Tokyo but, overall, it’s much tidier than other cities of a comparable size. Tokyo spends a fortune on keeping things presentable. The Clean Authority of Tokyo’s waste management budget for the central wards is ¥105bn (€640m) this year, of which ¥83bn (€507m) is dedicated to cleaning. But the secret to the city’s sparkle is that it’s not simply the work of city employees: it’s a collective job.

Click here to enjoy Monocle’s full city guide to Tokyo

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10.
Tallinn
Best for start-ups
Estonia’s capital continues to attract entrepreneurs seeking Nordic-style living without the high price tag.

The Estonian capital is well known for its leafy streets, medieval architecture and raucous nightlife – but it’s increasingly gaining a reputation for its close-knit entrepreneurial network and world-leading digital infrastructure.This is aided by the fact that nearly everyone speaks English, rents are affordable and it’s a mere 10-minute drive from downtown to Tallinn airport, which has direct flights to 60 international destinations. Throw into the mix Europe’s highest number of unicorns per capita, a dense network of venture-capital firms and a steady pipeline of technology talent, and Monocle’s 2025 Best for Start-Ups award feels like a shoo-in.

“Estonia is particularly good for digital infrastructure,” says Martin Sahlen, who moved from New York to Tallinn to launch fintech business Alvin.ai. “It’s a very entrepreneurial country and there is less red tape.” He set up his company in the district of Telliskivi, the epicentre of Tallinn’s vibrant start-up scene, where co-working spaces such as Lift99 sit alongside excellent and affordable restaurants and bars, such as Pudel and Juniperium, and a growing number of museums and cultural venues, including Fotografiska.

Another draw for entrepreneurs is Estonia’s e-residency programme, through which non-nationals can open and manage an EU-based business entirely online, no Estonian address or presence required. Almost everything, from company registration to tax filings, is handled digitally, which means that the actual starting-up process can take just minutes. Taxes, meanwhile, are only applied when profits are distributed – a boon for early- stage reinvestment.

Yet Tallinn’s real draw is its people. “We are really like a community,” says Irina Tokareva, a hub administrator at Lift99, who moved to the city from Düsseldorf. “All foreigners are friends from the first minute.” According to Tokareva, approachability defines the culture here. “You don’t need to book a call through two assistants,” she says. “You can just write to them and say, ‘Hey, I’m building this and I’d love to show it to you,’ and they’ll answer.”

This openness extends to the top of government. Like his predecessors, Estonia’s prime minister, Kristen Michal, has hosted round tables with start-up founders to better understand their needs. Public support is structured too: Startup Estonia, a government-backed initiative based in Ülemiste (another business zone that’s home to dozens of start-ups), plays a central role in connecting newcomers to networks, resources and funding. “If you look at the people who are building new start-ups, they often have backgrounds in multibillion-euro businesses such as Skype, Wise, Pipedrive and Bolt,” says Mirjam Kert of Startup Estonia. “Since 2010, more than €4.5bn has been invested in Estonian start-ups, 92 per cent of it from foreign investors.”

“I chose Estonia because it’s in the same time zone as Kyiv and it was really cheap compared to, say, Berlin or London or New York,” Ukrainian founder Alexander Storozhuk, who relocated his media-technology firm PRnews.io here, tells Monocle in his office at Porto Franco, looking out at the dozens of boats bobbing in Tallinn’s sunny harbour. Safety and quality of life were decisive factors too. “My eight-year-old daughter walks home alone from school and I’m always confident of her safety,” says Storozhuk. Between the agile public services, a highly international founder base and the Nordic-style liveability (minus the price tag), Tallinn punches well above its weight. For founders looking for speed, support and a city where big ideas travel fast, Estonia’s capital is a smart place to start.

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One of Switzerland’s most charming cities has been bathed in bright sunshine this week as the art world arrived for Art Basel in Basel. Amid a testing time for the art market, the fair has returned with new sectors and initiatives that have revitalised the programme and re-engaged collectors old and new. Here are a few snippets from Monocle’s rundown of the booths and museum shows not to miss if you’re stopping by the Messeplatz or strolling around town. 

Hauser & Wirth 
One of the most expensive pieces at this year’s fair is a surprise addition to the booth of Swiss gallery Hauser & Wirth. Mark Rothko’s 1962 painting “No. 6/Sienna, Orange on Wine” is rarely seen and was missing from the gallery’s preview materials, which makes seeing it in person all the more dramatic. The painting is well worth seeking out if you’re feeling up for a blast of the abstract painter’s big blocky colours. And if it puts you in the mood to see more, head up the road to stop in at the Kuntsmuseum’s permanent exhibition to see “No. 16 (Red, White and Brown)”. 
Messeplatz, Gallery sector, C10 

Edel Assanti 
One of the new initiatives at this year’s fair is the Premiere sector, in which galleries present work created in the past five years. London-based gallery Edel Assanti has brought a colourful solo show by US artist Lonnie Holley. His paintings and unusual sculptures made from salvaged materials invite closer inspection. Head to the Unlimited sector for more Holley in the form of his 2019 film, I Snuck Off the Slave Ship. In it, Holley performs an improvised score, accompanied by a blend of real and re-enacted moments from his life. The combination of gorgeous music and moving visuals makes for a captivating, poignant work. 
Messeplatz, Premiere, P3 

‘Steve McQueen, Bass’, Laurenz Fondation Schaulager
The bustle and busyness of Art Basel in Basel makes for an energising but at times exhausting experience. Take a breather by hopping on the tram to Laurenz Fondation Schaulager for Steve McQueen’s Bass exhibition. The UK artist and filmmaker has taken over the cavernous space with an immersive light-and-sound experience. More than 1,000 LED tubes have been installed throughout Schaulager that slowly change colour over time. As they bathe the space in colourful hues, deep bass frequencies reverberate around it from subwoofers and speakers suspended in the air. The elements combine to create a mesmerising, calming experience. 
‘Steve McQueen, Bass’ is open at Laurenz Fondation Schaulager until 16 November 

Jahmek Contemporary Art
Sometimes the first thing that strikes you about a booth is the sign outside telling you where the gallery is based. So it will be for many visitors passing by Jahmek Contemporary Art, which hails from Angola’s capital, Luanda. Inside, heavy topics of conflict are brought to life in a haunting but beautiful exhibition. Zimbabwean artist Felix Shumba’s gentle soundscape and paintings of ethereal beings are not to be missed.   
Messeplatz, Statements sector, M4

Julian Charrière, ‘Midnight Zone’, Museum Tinguely 
At Museum Tinguely, French-Swiss artist Julian Charrière’s new exhibition Midnight Zone ponders the relationship between people and the earth – specifically as a world of water. Here, often in near-total darkness, visitors are invited to take a different perspective, whether that’s through lying down to watch films beamed onto the ceiling or by exploring parts of the ocean we’d never normally see. Many of the images of watery landscapes, both moving and still, are extraordinary and, on closer inspection, so too are the lengths to which Charrière has gone to capture them. Accompanied by a mesmeric soundscape, Midnight Zone is captivating, if at times unsettling. Dive in with an open mind. 
Julian Charrière. ‘Midnight Zone’ is open at Museum Tinguely until 2 November

The point is simple: a great city is one that doesn’t over-nanny its citizens – and may even let them get away with minor infractions, as long as they know how to take care of the serious stuff. It’s the sign of a city that isn’t too tightly buckled and lets its citizens get on and live.

As someone residing in the bel paese, who enjoys the national sport of rule-bending that takes place in Italy, I’m campaigning for “colouring outside the lines” to be given consideration in our next ranking of the world’s most liveable cities. Indeed, the city where I abide, Milan, may have been in Monocle’s Quality of Life listing last year but didn’t make the cut this year. Of course you can’t please every metropolis, and each year we get people writing in to us making a case for why their home warrants inclusion. The case I wish to make on the Lombard capital’s behalf? Milan warrants inclusion for one vital quality of life metric: the freedom that it gives people to, well, just be.

Don’t get me wrong: I am a fan of the civic good-neighbourliness that exists in the UK and the rules-based order that the Nordics are best-in-class for. But as I come up on my fifth anniversary in Milan, I’m starting to appreciate the elasticity of rules (or rather, the interpretation of them) and the fact that you’re left to get on with things without too many people getting in your way – the police included. Milan manages to do all of this, while also being a design, fashion, business and finance powerhouse. In other words, it hasn’t descended into lawlessness in the process.

Take parking. When I first moved here I was horrified at the idea of briefly mounting a pavement in order to pack-up the car for the weekend, or double parking if you need to drop your child at school in the morning. But these things are generally deemed to be acceptable – and I have mellowed. On a recent trip to the park, I was forced (your honour) to leave my car in a temporarily questionable position which saw me following one of the the Italian rules that everyone can agree on: if someone else has done it before you, it’s fair game. I felt an odd, and slightly wrong, feeling of exhilaration that I had finally become a local – happily popping my car into a space that clearly wasn’t an official space at all, swerving to avoid a crowd of smokers flouting the “hardened-up ban” introduced earlier this year. 

And yet, despite having lived everywhere from Buenos Aires to New York, something continues to niggle at my northern European soul. Maybe I really should be raging against the small contraventions that happen here. But then I fear all that stress wouldn’t be good for my quality of life at all.

Monocle’s 2025 Quality of Life shortlist has been revealed – but which cities pipped Milan to the post? To enjoy Monocle’s full city guide to Milan, click here.

In the past few years, a new generation of creatives has been flocking to Athens to discover its rich heritage – but also hoping to add a more contemporary flavour to its cultural landscape. Every corner of the city now offers the promise of discovery: a newly opened gallery, an elegant boutique, a buzzy bar offering the best of Greek wine. But what does a perfect afternoon in Athens look like? 

To celebrate the launch of Konfekt’s new summer issue – a sunny edition that delves deep into travel, Greek craft and slow Mediterranean living – I recently experienced the city’s creative momentum first-hand with Lily Hanbury, co-founder of luxury footwear brand Le Monde Beryl. 

After a challenging climb up the steep marble steps of the Panathenaic stadium (Konfekt’s editor, Sophie Grove, and I were the only ones brave enough to ascend the staircase in the Athenian heat), we stopped for ice-cold freddo espressos at the Foyer Espresso Bar before moving onto the Cycladic Museum, where painter Marlene Dumas’s works were on display next to the permanent collection. The museum’s art historian, Deligina Prifti, explained that this was one of the first archaeological museums to develop such an ambitious contemporary-art programme; Louise Bourgeois and Ai Wei Wei are among those who have exhibited their works here over the years. Dumas was instantly drawn to the simple forms of the Cycladic figurines, as well as their lack of embellishment. By placing them next to her works, she sought to explore themes such as age, sexuality, the passage of time and the complexity of human relationships. “She believes in being part of a collective,” said Prifti.

A short walk away, the modernist work of Ron Nagle, one of Hanbury’s earliest sources of inspiration, was on display at the Melas Martinos Gallery. It felt as though there was a citywide conversation between the contemporary and the archaeological, the local and the international. This made Athens fertile ground for design inspiration.

“The colours and the stories behind these works become a huge reference point for each collection, season after season,” Hanbury told me between our gallery visits. “But it’s also this idea of living a life of travelling and learning as much as possible. We create shoes that accompany you on that journey.”

A pair of Le Monde Beryl’s buttery-soft leather shoes are currently on display at Mouki Mou Athens, another recent addition to the city’s creative scene. Thanks to Mouki Mou’s founder Maria Lemos, a wider array of independent fashion labels, including Niccolo Pasqualetti and Los Angeles-based Dosa, is now more readily available in Greece.

Aside from a beautifully curated shop floor, Mouki Mou also offers one of the city’s best roof terraces, with panoramic views of the Acropolis. This was where we finished our day, with golden-hour drinks from the nearby Wine Is Fine bar and restaurant.

As the sun set over Athens, we toasted the new issue of Konfekt and celebrated with readers and friends: hoteliers shared news of their next projects; fashion designers spoke of plans to host summer pop-ups (make sure to catch Harilaos Kourtinos’s artisanal designs at The Rooster in Antiparos); and foodies shared tips (Goldie restaurant is the new name to know).

It’s time for Greece to be celebrated for all that it has to offer but, as the country steps further into the international spotlight, it will be up to this generation of creatives to sustain the momentum and manage the pace of growth.

See the Le Monde Beryl summer collection and read more about Athens in the new summer issue of ‘Konfekt’. To read Monocle’s full City Guide to Athens, click here.

A wide-brim hat, forest-green pants and a short-sleeved khaki shirt with an arm patch featuring a bison and a sequoia tree. This ensemble is instantly recognisable around the US as the uniform of a National Park Service (NPS) ranger. High summer is their busy season – last year the national park system saw a record 331.9 million visits. Why tinker with something that unites Americans of all political stripes? Nevertheless, in keeping with its record so far, the current administration is looking to upset the apple cart.

In the name of cost savings, bean counters at the Department of the Interior are wondering whether states can oversee hundreds of lesser-known sites. Can Kentucky sweep the porch at Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park and California sound the foghorns at Golden Gate National Recreation Area? The Trump administration signalled that the NPS will retain crown jewels such as Mount Rainier, Glacier and Zion – essentially, those with “National Park” in the name. The optics of a closed visitor centre overlooking the Grand Canyon or a shuttered ranger station in the shadows of mountainous Grand Teton were ruled an unthinkable embarrassment.

While superficially not a boneheaded idea, there are two problems with this proposal. The first is a corrosion of national identity at a time of deep political division. Red-state Americans should feel as entitled to traipse down Boston’s Freedom Trail as blue-state Americans are to imagine the shots that started the Civil War at Fort Sumter in south Carolina. If their respective states managed these historic sites, some of their heft as vignettes in the country’s story would be lost.

The park service was hailed by documentary filmmaker Ken Burns as “America’s best idea,” long acting as a soft-power arm of the US government, internally and abroad. Visitors from around the world flock to natural wonders, including Yosemite and Yellowstone, while the service has sent staff on multiyear international missions to advise on park planning over its century-long history. 

The second issue, and more disconcerting aspect, is the uncomfortable heritage that will fade without imprimatur of the government. Last summer I visited the Minidoka National Historic Site in southern Idaho, a barren, windswept desert where thousands of Japanese citizens and US citizens of Japanese descent were incarcerated during the Second World War. My tour was led by the great-granddaughter of those who were imprisoned, and she narrated the concentration camp’s history with aplomb – all while wearing NPS insignia. It was a powerful testament to a mature country; one willing to invest its resources in memorialising shameful chapters. As the ranger explained on the tour of threadbare barracks, Idaho’s then-governor was none too keen on hosting Japanese wartime prisoners – and, given the state’s political complexion today, it’s hard to imagine that Boise legislators would spend a dime on upkeep. 

Throughout the summer, the parsimonious tenants of the Department of the Interior are requiring the NPS to post signage asking for public feedback on anything that visitors feel portrays US history in a damaging light. It will lead to a long winter of whittling away nuance and complexity in the extraordinary and checkered heritage of my country. Come next summer, I fear, national parks will be a tarnished shrine to American greatness. 

Scruggs is Monocle’s Seattle correspondent. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.