Like a magic mirror in a children’s novel, the dappled waters of the Reflecting Pool on Washington’s National Mall seem to echo back the beliefs of the person gazing into it (writes Charlotte McDonald-Gibson). Ken Kolibas, visiting from New Jersey, is a big fan of president Donald Trump’s decision to splash out $14m (€12m) to drain the pool, paint it a vibrant shade of “American Flag Blue”, and refill it ahead of the 250th anniversary of independence on 4 July. So as he surveyed the scene at the pool on Monday, where at least four different law enforcement agencies patrolled the perimeter and television crews trained their cameras on the “nanobubblers” battling the green algae, he remained fully behind the project.

“[It reflects] our nation’s pride and where we came from in 250 years, where other countries are much older than us, and they haven’t done 10 per cent of what we’ve done,” the 71-year-old told Monocle. “I hope it cleans up and everything will look fine for the Fourth of July.”

A short walk along the banks, however, and Mark Reil, a 34-year-old who was visiting from Massachusetts for the Capital Pride Parade, had a different view. “It’s reflecting a troubling time for America,” Reil said. “It’s a waste of money. It’s just sad what’s happening. It’s frustrating and the American public is smart enough to recognise that it’s just wool being pulled over our eyes.”

Of the many controversies besetting the Trump administration, the debacle at the Reflecting Pool is one of the most farcical. In April, Trump announced that he was renovating the 103-year-old shallow pool, which reflects the elegant needle of the Washington Monument at one end and the Lincoln Memorial at the other. It has long been blighted by leaks and algae, and Trump promised to have it spick and span again in time for the semiquincentennial celebrations. He handpicked the resort-style blue for the new coating and posted an AI photo on Truth Social of himself and members of his cabinet in swimsuits and floaties relaxing in the waters. 

Trump bypassed the normal competitive bidding for a government contract and gave the job to a company that had done work at one of his golf clubs. Trump promised that it would cost $1.8m (€1.57m) but the total ballooned to more than $14m (€12m). 

Within days of it being unveiled after the renovations in early June, the naysayers descended, claiming that it looked black rather than blue. Then came the algae: a massive bloom swiftly turned the pool a vibrant green. Some speculated that the darker colour of the coating made the water warmer and exacerbated the algae problem. Others muttered darkly about Trump’s claims of sabotage and something thrown in the water. 

Next, large chunks of the new lining started to detach and float up to the surface. Anyone who was curious enough to reach in and grab a piece found themselves hauled off into custody, including an Olympic canoeist who was one of five people arrested for alleged vandalism at the pool, despite insisting that they had just fished the paint chips out of the water. 

A dead duckling was also found floating in the pool, though when Monocle visited on Monday afternoon, there were plenty of healthy wildfowl enjoying the placid waters.

Trump, however, is taking it all personally. In his mind, the problems have been created by his political enemies in a campaign to embarrass him. On Monday, he claimed that someone put fertiliser in the water to encourage the algae, and that a person with “a box cutter or knife of some kind” had waded into the pool and cut a “350-foot slit from one end to the other”. He offered no proof of either allegation. 

So the Reflecting Pool now looks like a warzone, with National Guard troops, armed US Marshals, Park Police on horseback and personnel from various sheriffs’ offices patrolling the perimeter. Visitors peer nervously into the water, scared to get too close. Less than a month since its grand unveiling, the pool is again slated to be drained, repaired and refilled, though it’s not clear whether that will happen before 4 July.

Ed Filardi, 60, is just a bit downbeat that the celebrations are being overshadowed by what he calls “much ado about nothing”, reflecting the state of politics in the US today. “We’re all looking for something small to squabble about,” he said with a shrug, before wandering off to check out the algae bloom for himself.

Featuring Monocle’s annual Quality of Life Survey, postcards from the past and co-living developments that are bringing generations together. Discover the new EV gearing up to change how we drive, America’s millennial mayors, and evening walks across Spain, Italy and Greece.

Plus: spend an entire day on an Ibiza beach, find our top-10 books to holiday with this summer, and have one last meal at a classic New York City diner.

It used to be that if you won the Fifa World Cup three times, you would get to keep the Jules Rimet Trophy. Brazil achieved this in 1970 and I don’t think there would be much argument if Monocle similarly awarded the Quality of Life trophy to Copenhagen in perpetuity. After all, no city has topped our list of the best places to live more often. Only occasionally – like this year – there’s a terrible clerical error and it ends up placing second.
 
Leaving aside my attempts to have the so-called winner, Tokyo, excluded on the grounds that it’s not actually a single city but more than 20 stuck together, why has Copenhagen been such a solid performer ever since our first ranking (in which, of course, the Danish capital came first place)? A well-educated labour force adds value to the things that it produces so the Danes are rich, yes, but the Saudis are too. Democracy and equality are key foundation stones, especially when it comes to education. Denmark tops most global rankings of economic and gender equality, as well as transparency. 

So where’s the country’s second city, Aarhus, on our list? What makes the capital so special? Obviously it has more of the icing-and-cherry stuff: culture, retail, dining and vibes. But one of the most significant long-term factors is what I call its “iterative urbanism”: the people who plan and build Copenhagen genuinely seem to learn from their mistakes, listen to the inhabitants and constantly seek to refine how they do things. 

In the early 2000s, Copenhagen got it very wrong with Ørestad, an office and residential area near the airport that it had built high and wide with long, open thoroughfares and characterless offices and apartment blocks. Much of it felt as though it had been designed by accountants applying some pan-European template. It was the antithesis of Danish architect Jan Gehl’s “cities for people” approach. I once took a tour of the city with Gehl. We started at the desolate, windswept Ørestad, before driving to a place that, for him, epitomised the best of what an urban environment could be. The fishing village of Dragør was only 20 minutes away but a world apart, with its low-rise, closely built housing, welcoming squares, cobbles and plentiful greenery.
 
Lessons from Gehl’s approach were applied in the next district to emerge, Nordhavn. With a few exceptions, the buildings here aren’t so high, they are more closely built and there’s life at street level. There are great transport links and cars command less street space. The harbour waters are better integrated too, which brings light and air. The city granted some of the country’s best architects more freedom here, so there are more creative moments – take, for example, studio JaJa Architect’s Konditaget Lüders car park, which has a recycling centre on the ground floor and a public park on the roof. Next came the Sydhavn harbour area, which, though architecturally still rather one-note, is still a far nicer place to live and visit than Ørestad. 

Soon the city will start transforming Refshaleøen into a place where 25,000 people will live, work, shop and go to school. This former industrial zone is quite raw and many want it to stay that way. But, once again, Copenhagen is iterating its approach. Transport links will be key, so a Metro will be built, along with a 460-metre cycle bridge across the harbour. A big question is what to do with private cars. Some want to exclude them completely, while others wonder how this might affect its appeal to visitors and potential residents. I’m hoping that the city will achieve a pragmatic balance – because iteration, consultation and good old-fashioned Danish moderation are what have always raised quality of life in this all-time number-one city.
 
Michael Booth is Monocle’s Copenhagen correspondent. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

Architecture and design firm HKS is well known for its stadium projects, especially in North America. Two of its American football venues, SoFi Stadium in California and the AT&T Stadium in Texas, are currently hosting Fifa World Cup games. Alex Thomas, the regional design director for sports and entertainment at HKS London, recently joined The Urbanist to discuss the finer points of stadium design in the modern age. 

“One of the big shifts has been in the recognition that these buildings should really be tied to their context, whether that’s the climate, the city or the culture,” said Thomas. “That’s why, when you look at any of our sports projects, they all look so different. They are unique pieces of architecture, designed to respond to their various contexts.” 

When it comes to stadiums, there’s more to consider than just exterior façades and capacities. These are buildings steeped in memory and emotion that carry the weight of communities and fanbases. Because of this, they must ensure that the atmosphere can thrive without forsaking accessibility. Every fan will no doubt have a different view on which ground is the world’s best but here is Thomas’s list of his 10 favourite sports venues. 

1.
SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, Los Angeles, USA
“The best stadium in the world. The roof canopy has a low, elegant profile but, inside, the spectacular arena is filled with daylight. The bowl sinks below ground level, making the entry experience akin to discovering a colossal crater in the ground. The Oculus, a Samsung-designed screen suspended from the ceiling, makes the experience digitally immersive at a scale that I haven’t seen elsewhere. The ground is also genuinely multifunctional. Be it the Super Bowl, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, the Fifa World Cup or the LA28 Olympic Games, the SoFi can host it. It shows what a modern stadium can be.”

2.
Lord’s Cricket Ground, London, UK
“A friend recently described Lord’s as “the largest pub in London”, which captures the atmosphere nicely. There’s something magical about the way that the ground comes alive over the course of a day. The focus and energy move organically between the action on the field and the life around it. The Pavilion is also one of sport’s most storied buildings. Long before modern stadiums developed commercial ideas such as field clubs and tunnel clubs, Lord’s created a powerful relationship between players, members, the dressing rooms and the field of play.”

3.
Carrow Road, Norwich, UK
“Few would have imagined seeing this one on the list but, having grown up in rural Norfolk, I am a lifelong Norwich City fan and Carrow Road is my home stadium. As a boy, I went there with my dad before the all-seater era. In those early years, I couldn’t see much but I vividly remember the mass of people swaying on the terraces. When I was a teenager, my mates and I would throw ourselves into the match-day experience in the Barclay End. Now my kids enjoy the same day out. For me, Carrow Road is about emotional connection to family, culture and place.”

4.
St James’ Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
“From The Canaries [Norwich City] to The Magpies [Newcastle United]: I studied architecture in Newcastle and my first-year halls of residence looked out over Leazes Park towards the back of the stadium that towers above. St James’ Park sits right in the heart of town and dominates the city’s culture. On match days, Newcastle pulses along with the stadium. My gran was a Geordie and I have a fondness for this city where everything revolves around the football club.”

5.
Cosm Venues, Los Angeles and Dallas, USA
“Projects like this show how stadium typology is evolving. HKS was a key collaborator with Cosm in the creation of these venues, designing the first two locations in Los Angeles and Dallas. What’s fascinating is that they perform many of the same functions as a stadium in terms of user experience: people coming together with friends, fans, family or for business around a shared live event. The difference is that the action is brought into the room through extraordinary technology that makes you feel as though you are sitting there in the best seat in the house.”

6.
US Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, USA
“This is a textbook example of architecture as an art form. US Bank Stadium pulls everything together: climate, community, the team brand [Minnesota Vikings] and form, loosely inspired by Viking longhouses and shattered ice floes in the nearby Mississippi river. It feels specifically Minnesotan. The stadium is on the edge of downtown Minneapolis and the endzone doors create a deliberate connection with the city skyline. The arena seems to have helped to support wider investment and growth in that part of the city. The roof does a lot of work too. It deals with snow, brings daylight into the building and helps to reduce energy demand by holding a reservoir of air above the field.” 

7.
Optus Stadium, Perth, Australia
“This is a project that’s close to my heart because I was involved in its early stages, working with Cox Architecture and Hassell Studio. There’s a richness to its design narrative: the connection to Indigenous heritage, the spirit of the site and the stadium’s position on the bend of the Swan river. It has helped to extend the city centre eastward and created a new public destination that serves as both a park and a stadium. There are also strong stories around sustainable transport and energy use. Good architecture reveals itself over years of use and Optus Stadium seems to keep gathering more meaning.”

8.
Royal Arena, Copenhagen, Denmark
“OK, this isn’t technically a stadium but indulge me. Designed by 3XN in collaboration with HKS, Royal Arena shows how some considerate design – even when it comes to a large sports and entertainment venue – can help a building to become a good neighbour. Rather than being a closed box, it was designed to engage with the public, supporting the daily activity around it and catalysing growth and regeneration in Ørestad.”

9.
Munich Olympic Stadium, Munich, Germany
“This is a masterpiece of structural engineering and design. The lightweight roof structure by Frei Otto used revolutionary tensile cable techniques to create a form that still feels unexpected, pure and expressive today. It is one of the great examples of engineering becoming architecture.”

10.
Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain
“This list needed a great mid-century stadium. I could have chosen the Maracanã Stadium, Estadio Azteca, Dodger Stadium or San Siro but I chose Camp Nou. That’s partly because I worked on it in 2016, when we studied how the stadium had evolved from Francesc Mitjans i Miró’s original 1950s design. What I really like is the purity of the original idea: the clarity of the bowl, the elegant structural forms and the balance between the huge open volume of the stadium and the crisp cantilever of the marquesina roof. But the architecture is only part of it. Camp Nou’s relationship with Barcelona and the wider Catalonian neighbourhoods, food, climate and match-day traditions is what gives it real depth. It’s not just a big football ground – it’s one of the great civic rooms of European sport.”

To listen to Alex Thomas’s interview with Monocle’s editor in chief, Andrew Tuck, tune in to ‘The Urbanist’

You might have heard that it has been hot for a few days in much of Europe. Or did you miss this news in Perth, Chiang Mai, Phoenix and Nagasaki? If you did, it has been the only story on French, German and UK news outlets. It has had government agencies from Munich to Mulhouse in a sweaty flap. It has closed schools and brought about alcohol bans. And these record-breaking temperatures in some cities have caused all manner of heat-related deaths – drowning being one of the key causes in France. As heat-related news events go, this couldn’t be happening at a better time as it coincides with the end of the first half of a – so far – economically challenging year in Europe and the start of summer holidays for many millions. Is it not the perfect moment for policymakers, union bosses, mayors and anti-air-conditioning ninnies across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the UK, France and beyond to gather in an airless convention centre and finally agree that keeping windows closed and curtains drawn during stifling days is neither a national health strategy nor a path to revitalising saggy economies?

Among the tens of thousands who read our daily dispatches, I hope that one of you can do some simple analysis that reveals strong links between Europe’s economic decline, warmer summers and too little air conditioning. If things weren’t bad enough already, the health and safety high-vis brigade were out in force closing schools, curbing factory hours, preventing rosé quaffing and creating a nannying atmosphere that felt dangerously close to covid policy overreach. All of which is somewhat curious because many of these ninny-nannies are also the same people who think that anything which cools air is an environmental evil until, of course, their granny in Lausanne or Graz can no longer function and suddenly it’s AC to the rescue.

On Friday, the French media reported that the government approved the purchase of 30,000 air conditioners for medical facilities. Go Mitsubishi or whoever else lands this contract! In a week that saw us launch our Quality of Life ranking, it’s perhaps fitting that Tokyo took top prize. This is a city that is hot from April to October but is also well cooled along with being a generally cool metropolis. Did Japan become a manufacturing powerhouse because people were collapsing on Toyota assembly lines? No. Japan became a leading economy because it created work and service environments that stay chilled. Admittedly, the recent Cool Biz campaign is a bit ridiculous (keeping workspaces at 28C) and I would argue that such moves have also been tied to Japan’s economic sluggishness. Hard to be at your best when the room temp hovers around 28C. 

It’s for this reason that I propose the “Daikindex”, in honour of the world’s biggest air conditioning player and its contribution not only to blissful sleeps but also to the productivity that comes with them. Perhaps next year we will factor in overall cool coverage in a city for our rankings in 2027 – both shady boulevards and also chilled suites, shops, offices and apartments. I’m now off to find some units for our Paris and Zürich offices.

Enjoying life in ‘The Faster Lane’? Click here to browse all of Tyler’s past columns. 

He lives in a bucolic spot in the English countryside, in the sort of village that gets cast in 1930s period dramas. Miss Marple would be very at home in one of the cottages on the high street with their rose-framed front doors. And he loves it. But 20 years ago, he lived in central London and was something of a nightclub fiend.

The other day we were having a catch up after way too long and he was – as many rural converts from the capital are prone to – banging on about how London has changed, and for the worse. “It used to be so much more fun but now when I come here it just seems tough, dirty and definitely not fun.” At this point I needed to trip up his rant. “Do you really think that the city has stopped being fun? Or could it perhaps be that you have?” I asked with a friendly smile. He laughed and agreed that it might be true.

Cities are not fixed things – of course they change. But so do we and how we judge a city depends on so many personal things that no mayor can hope to address. A city can have the best restaurant scene in the world, for example, but it matters not an avocado on toast if you don’t have friends or a lover to dine out with. From theatre nights to Sundays in the park, you need a social network to get the most out of living in London, New York or Paris. And as we get older, those networks can be harder to build. So suddenly someone transplanted to a new job in Berlin in their thirties will tell you what a miserable place the city is, when all they really mean is that they have not found the human keys to unlock the city for them.

The July/August issue of Monocle has just landed on newsstands, and it contains our annual survey of the 20 best cities to call home. The ranking always causes a lot of debate. But when someone is definitely opposed to a city having ranked, yet it clearly does well on the metrics, I often wonder what else is at play. Can an entire city and all its residents really be cast off as “boring”? Or does the person passing judgement have a habit of surrounding themselves with dull people?

Now many of my favourite cities in the world have not made the list this year – and might never. It would be hard for me to sneak Beirut onto the chart, or Palma, or indeed London. Monocle’s editorial HQ city suffers in our survey because of the level of street crime and the housing crisis – but it’s still a place that I love. And the reason is simple – it’s the people I know that make London work for me. My neighbours, my colleagues, work contacts and old and new friends offer me a thousand ways to penetrate the capital’s sometimes steely carapace. Without them, perhaps I would also say, “London’s not fun anymore.”

To make the most of a city, to understand and also love it, you need to find yourself cast in its script; its ever-involving narrative. This is the thing that turns a metropolis from liveable to loveable. When I was in my twenties, I used to watch Woody Allen movies more or less on repeat: Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters, Annie Hall. The characters in these movies lead New York lives that embraced all the city had to offer – cinema, Central Park, going to museums, dating. And I wanted some of that sense of belonging, even if it was to be found across the Atlantic in London.

So when you read our survey, especially if you feel your hackles twitching, remember that cities are theatres and we are the players. Monocle can tell you where crime is low, where green space abounds and where cultural institutions are free and glorious. But in the end, all these cities are just scenery. It’s down to all of us to step onto the stage, to play a part.

For more of Andrew’s columns, click here.

When musician Sorasak “House” Chanmantana isn’t performing with his band, Slur, he’s busy at work as the founder of Bangkok multi-label shop Onion. “Our store places equal emphasis on international and local brands, with a focus on quality and a commitment to design,” says House, who is also one of the retail experts featured in our new publication Thailand: The Monocle Handbook.

Last year, over coffee at the One Ounce for Onion café, which adjoins his flagship in Bangkok’s Ekkamai neighbourhood, he told Monocle that he was on the lookout for a second physical location. We went through a list of potential spots, ticking off the pros and cons of each. Silom? Chinatown? A return to Siam Square, the site of his first physical shop? We made a pitch for Ari in the north of the city. “Been there, done that,” he said. Was it time to enter a shopping mall and embrace all of that foot traffic? No chance. A recent concession at department store Central Chidlom might have been a step too far from his street-level comfort zone.

In the end, the winner was none of the above. Onion – The Mansion opened in March on Soi Sawatdi, an alley running off Sukhumvit Road. Hats off to House and his letting agent: this area has the makings of an independent retail cluster. AMR de Saíson’s flagship is nearby and Fewer Better Things opened there last year. 

House describes The Mansion as an elevated selection of global brands. “As both our shop and our audience matured, the focus moved towards garments with greater complexity in pattern-making and construction, pieces that required more space, physically and conceptually, to be properly experienced,” he says. “This led to the introduction of brands such as UJOH, Kolor, Beautiful People and Studio Nicholson.”

The shop is a nice contrast to the one in Ekkamai (though it can’t compete for charm and cosiness): bright, spacious and right at the heart of the action. Soho House and shopping mall Emsphere bookend a buzzing neighbourhood that includes bar Alone Together, trattoria Appia, boutique hotel Public House and Michelin-starred restaurant Gaggan (again, pick up our handbook to learn more). 

A collaboration with Tokyo’s Cluél magazine introduces brands from Japan and there’s also room for Onion’s label, which is now more than a decade old. Thai fragrance and skincare brands The OBA, Rati and Copenn have joined the fashion line-up, while The Mansion’s extra floor space also allows for pop-ups and events, for which the till doubles as a DJ booth.

House started selling fashion and eyewear online to raise money to build a production studio. He named his business Onion to surprise his friends because they knew that he hated eating them. Fifteen years later, he’s still playing music and asking for onions to be removed from his food – and his eye for fashion and retail is as sharp as ever.

Fernando Augusto Pacheco, Monocle’s senior correspondent, has many guises. As the host of The Stack, he is a connoisseur of print; but he is also the curator of the musical segments on Monocle Radio’s airwaves. Pacheco is our resident DJ of the summer season too. To help you handle the heat as well as he does, he took some time (while lying by the pool) to pick 40 tracks that will keep you feeling sunny until August – best enjoyed with a caipirinha in hand. 

‘Rosanero’, Mind Enterprises
A chunky Italo-disco hit taken from the duo’s latest album.

‘I Feel So Free (Peggy Gou Energy Mix)’, Madonna
The queen of pop is back with a spiritual sequel to 2005’s Confessions on a Dance Floor.

‘Coeur’, PPJ
Sunny bossa nova, techno and electro from Franco-Brazilian duo PPJ.

‘Areia’, Silva
This breezy release from Brazilian singer Silva reflects on life’s transience.

‘What You Want’, Angèle (featuring Justice)
A real summer sizzler. Read our interview with the Belgian star in Monocle’s July/August issue, out on Thursday.

‘Bangaranga’, Dara
Bulgaria won its first Eurovision Song Contest with this perfect pop song. What is “Bangaranga”? Who cares? Let’s just dance along.

‘She Waits’, Collect 200
We love the euphoric, sunny beats of this British-Canadian duo, who have just released their debut album, Everything Will Be Alright.

‘Girl on the Beat’, Shermanology
Caribbean-Dutch vibes meet Chicago house: a perfect combination.

‘How I Need You’, Bad Boys Blue
This dance-pop group from Cologne has recently found new fans online. This track is from 1990 but will still light up the dance floor.

‘Delulu’, KiiiKiii
The coolest girl group right now. K-pop made for dancing.

‘I Like Your Style’, Freddy Butler
This 1960s soul gem is a perfect accompaniment to the season.

‘The Beach’, Miss Kittin & The Hacker
A sharp track by French electro queen Miss Kittin and longtime collaborator The Hacker.

‘Doing It Too’, Rochelle Jordan
A slick track inspired by 1990s R&B – think Mariah Carey meets Janet Jackson.

‘Nano’, Tul8te, Saint Levant
Two of the biggest names in the Arab music world get together for this smash hit.

‘Salvador’, Zeca Veloso, Caetano Veloso, Moreno Veloso, Tom Veloso
This delicious collaboration between members of the Brazilian musical family celebrates the city of Salvador.

‘Vivre’, Simon Mény
Missing Paradis? Listen to this work of crystalline peacefulness from half of the Parisian duo.

‘Diaspora’, Tära
Italian-Palestinian singer Tära is an artist to watch. She has even coined a new term, Arab’n’B, for her sharp beats.

‘Hileli’, Manifest x Ajda Pekkan 
The Turkish queen of pop partners with new girl group Manifest in this ode to the season.

‘Tornado’, Ayra Starr
The Nigerian superstar once again delights with this Afrobeat track, mixing synth-pop and Latin percussion.

‘Walila’, Bongeziwe Mabandla
The award-winning South African artist mixes folk and electronica on this uplifting track sung in Xhosa.

‘Solitudine’, Valentino Vivace
Known for his glittery disco, the Swiss-Italian musician has returned with a more pared-down album. Hit play next to the ocean.

‘Feel the Real’, Fcukers
These New Yorkers are one of the hottest bands of the moment and this lush, slightly trip-hoppish track demonstrates why.

‘La Villa’, Ryan Castro, Kapo, Gangsta
So sunny and bouncy that it hurts. Best enjoyed with an ice-cold beer.

‘YDH’, Chloe Qisha
We love the work of this Malaysian singer and “YDH” is particularly infectious. She’s on the hunt for her knight in shining armour (maybe it’s me?).

‘Night Lover’, Natalia D
J-Pop via Mexico – one of my most fun discoveries this summer. 

‘It’s a Shame’, Aaron Frazer
The softly spoken singer from Baltimore has a voice that we want to hear on unforgettable summer evenings.

‘Segredo’, Zé Ibarra
With his 1970s-inspired sounds, Zé Ibarra’s music harks back to a Brazilian golden age.

‘Carousel’, Cannons
Delicious, dreamy pop from the Los Angeles-based trio.

‘Vanille Fraise’, L’Impératrice
One of our favourite songs from this French band. Any song by L’Impératrice would elevate your summer dinner party.

‘Sailing Away’, Antoine Bourachot
A Monocle Radio mainstay. We can’t get enough of this track by Antoine Bourachot, who mixes disco, fusion jazz and French touch.

‘Bella Menina’, Lord Funk, Moar
Brazilian disco-suaveness – just feel the beat.

‘Sesquicentennial’, Sofie Royer
This Austrian-Iranian pop artist will be releasing a new album in September and, judging by the first single, it’ll be something special.

‘Sortudo’, NAPA
This Portuguese band, which appeared in last year’s Eurovision, became a streaming success around the world. They are back with the sunny “Sortudo”.

‘Partenope’, Merk & Kremont, Serena Brancale, The Kolors
Could this be the tormentone of 2026 (the name given to the song of the summer in Italy)? We think so.

‘Summer Skin’, Desire
A song for those who feel that summer should never end. It’s sexy and euphoric.

‘Rivers Run Free’, Horsegiirl
The German DJ gets it right with this ethereal track, which feels like a lost track from Madonna’s 1998 album Ray of Light.

‘Only Love’, Ezra Collective (featuring Pa Salieu)
This elegant and passionate track is built around West African beats and Gambian influences.

‘I Want to Live’, Naomi Campbell
Every playlist needs an element of randomness and though Naomi Campbell’s debut album from 1994 didn’t rock the charts at the time, “I Want to Live” is an underrated gem that deserves a spot in our selection.

‘Eurosummer’, Zara Larsson
We all want to live in the Eurosummer where Swedish pop star Zara Larsson resides.

‘Something’s Wrong’, Caroline Alves
This Swiss-based Brazilian singer makes dance music for the heart.

You can listen to all of the tracks on Spotify here.

The Obama Presidential Center in Chicago opened to the public on 19 June, with a dedication ceremony celebrating its launch held the day before. In attendance were artists, former world leaders (including Angela Merkel and Justin Trudeau) and three former US presidents: George W Bush, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden. The 78,000 sq m campus on the city’s South Side features a museum commemorating the presidency of Barack Obama, a public library, as well as an athletic and events space with an NBA-regulation-sized basketball court. It also serves as the new home of the Obama Foundation, a charity focusing on community empowerment. 

The campus’s construction encompassed more than just its buildings: it required the creation of signs, web pages and other things to help people to interact with the centre both physically and digitally. That’s where Tom Crabtree and Patricia Callaway, the husband-and-wife co-founders of design studio Manual, came in. Appointed as prime design partner in 2023, the studio, which has offices in San Francisco and Amsterdam, led a wide-ranging programme spanning brand identity for the Obama Foundation and visitor experience for the centre, from custom typefaces and maps to signage and wayfinding.

Here, the duo speak to Monocle’s head of radio, Tom Edwards, about getting involved with the project through a social-media message, overcoming impostor syndrome and how their small studio takes on commissions of a presidential scale.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and length. Listen to the full interview on ‘The Entrepreneurs’ from Monocle Radio.

Tell us about the origins of Manual.
Tom Crabtree: I moved to the US in 2006 to work at Apple after nearly a decade in London doing brand identity for arts, culture and hospitality clients. When I left Apple in 2009 I saw an opportunity to start a studio in San Francisco, walking a fine line between culture, nonprofits and technology.

Patricia Callaway: I began my career in marketing at organisations such as the Barbican Centre in London, before moving into product marketing in San Francisco. We started the studio when Tom and I were expecting our first child – a big challenge but an incredibly fun one too.

How did the Obama Presidential Center project come about? 
TC: It started with a Linkedin message. Hashem Bajwa, the Obama Foundation’s chief creative officer, reached out to us after seeing some of our work. We used to work at Apple together but didn’t know each other at the time. He invited us to help think about how the Obama brand would show up in the public’s experience of the Obama Presidential Center. That initial project led to a broader partnership.

Did it challenge any of your assumptions about the kind of work that you do?
PC: It was definitely different for us. We were working with people who had had extraordinary careers in politics so there was initially some intimidation and a bit of impostor syndrome. But we were excited by the opportunity to shape what a presidential library could be, since it’s not a kind of space that’s typically associated with innovation or creativity.

TC: What surprised us was that it didn’t begin with leadership meetings in a boardroom. The process was more like what you might see at a start-up, with a series of design sprints in which we would make work, put it in front of people and learn from the response. Rather than asking for permission upfront, we were proving ideas through the work itself. That gave us the freedom to be ambitious and boosted our confidence as the project evolved.

Were there moments when it all felt beyond your comfort zone?
TC: Early on, we built a lot of momentum. We were taking some pretty big swings, testing how far the foundation wanted to push into a more contemporary design language for things such as custom typefaces, colour palettes, motion and patterns. It was encouraging to see that there was an appetite for it. It maybe went all the way up to the president and we were getting feedback such as, “Yes, this is what the Obama Foundation should feel like.” The real challenges came later, when we moved into wayfinding and signage. Suddenly, it was about helping people to navigate a large, complex building. That’s when the weight of it hit us because signage is pretty permanent. Once it’s in, it’s in, so we had to get it right.

Did working on such a high-profile project change the way you do things?
PC: Absolutely. We had to make sure that we had the right team and processes in place, and trust and collaboration became more important than ever. We brought in great partners. Having such strong collaborators around the table made a project of this scale feel achievable.

Across the past few editions of football’s crowning glory, it has been increasingly hard to welcome the World Cup with fully open arms – whether you’re a sporting purist or simply a decent person. There were countless corruption allegations surrounding the winning bids of Russia and Qatar, the respective hosts in 2018 and 2022 – two nations with, let’s say, a creative approach to human rights. The Qatar tournament was controversially moved back many months to evade the Gulf’s scorching summer. Then there have been the myriad complaints concerning the current leviathan version that sees 48 teams play across Canada, Mexico and (most pertinently) the US.

But two weeks into the 2026 World Cup, the football itself and the international spectacle that follows it from city to city has truly lit up North America and beyond, largely putting gripes and some highly dubious politics in the shade – and you don’t even need to adore the beautiful game to appreciate it.

I have just spent the first 11 days of the tournament in Mexico and the US. Despite being a journalist who could be considered cynical even by industry standards, it was an almost unreservedly life-affirming experience. It’s a cliché no doubt but there are scant other events at which you can rub shoulders with such an array of joyful folks from around the world. 

Where else within the space of a few days could you take a flight with singing Ecuadorians and pass a man dressed as (I think) a guinea pig, become engulfed in the smiles of celebrating Curaçaoans, share drinks with friendly Uruguayans, see stadiums filled with Mexicans in fake shirts supporting South Korea and Sweden for one night only or witness thousands of seated Norwegians performing a mass Viking row all around you?

Sure, there have been a fair share of missteps, mostly of the financial variety – $25 (€22) for a can of hard seltzer in the Kansas City Stadium this past weekend was a personal low. I also have doubts that Miami should ever have been allowed to host matches, given that a trip from the sunny city’s downtown to Uruguay versus Saudi Arabia necessitates a $90 (€79) Uber ride, followed by a 30-minute walk in the heat thanks to the confoundingly large security cordon around the stadium. 

Elsewhere, plenty of pure, human moments demonstrated that not everybody is out to fleece fans, from something as simple as strangers sharing taxis to the rather grander show of defiance to Fifa’s cash grab from morally righteous Atlanta sports mogul Arthur Blank. Blank practically halved the cost of a visit to the city’s downtown stadium compared with other US venues by refusing to raise food and drink prices. The reason? To show the world Southern hospitality. Give that man a medal. Perhaps in the shape of the competition’s iconic gold trophy. It’s entirely heartwarming to confirm that for every tone-deaf Gianni Infantino or Donald Trump attempting to bleed fans dry or use the tournament for personal gain, there are tens of thousands of regular people who continue to make the World Cup the greatest show on Earth.