Past Life

Hong Kong’s east side is a former industrial neighbourhood undergoing a renaissance. We explore the warehouses that are now home to stores, galleries and innovative start-ups moving away from downtown.

Japanese design icon Kenya Hara’s House Vision exhibition gathered some of the nation’s most creative thinkers in Tokyo to explore new possibilities for urban living.

Under the leadership of a progressive mayor, Kaohsiung in the south of Taiwan is no longer the neglected sibling of the capital Taipei. With its harbour being redeveloped and refreshed infrastructure within the city, Monocle visits to learn how to balance culture, industry and liveability.

It's not all bad news on the streets of Madrid. The economic crisis is stirring a new generation of young, creative entrepreneurs into action - and the city is undergoing a refreshing and very visible transformation as a result. As bold new retail, hospitality and co-working initiatives turn traditional concepts on their head, Monocle sits down with some of the progressive voices leading the charge.

Investment from Beijing and abroad has brought a boom to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province. Monocle visits the city to gauge its progress.

These are the five cities that have made our pinboard and deserve our mention even if they did not appear in our Quality of Life index. Whether it be for the transformation they have seen over recent years, the warm and friendly residents or the local cuisine, these places win in the simple living stakes.

For a small city, Zürich’s 50 museums, theatres and concert halls are a subtle hint that there’s more than beautiful architecture, clean living and stunning scenery in Monocle’s favourite city of 2012. A strict corporate culture with a village-style feel that means Zürich is a microcosm of a well-balanced city that larger neighbours could learn from.

George Town, on the Malaysian island of Penang, is a former British trading outpost rich with post-colonial charm. Now it’s drawing in a new batch of entrepreneurs who are converting old shop-houses into everything from homes and hotels to cafés and galleries. Monocle visits the city to witness its property revitalisation.

The Karaköy neighbourhood of Istanbul is poised on the brink of significant change as a major development project seeks to revitalise its port area, bringing hotels, shopping, residences and a resultant flow of tourists to what is now mostly an under-the-radar business district. As Istanbul moves forward with aggressive plans for growth and renewal, Monocle meets the people of Karaköy to find out what kind of an impact development there might have.

As part of a series on neighbourhoods in transition, Monocle visits Candelaria in Bogotá. The oldest part of Colombia's capital is unique in that it's home to a mix of social classes and more and more people are moving here – Colombians as well as foreigners. We meet the architects, artists, landscapers and hairdressers who are making La Candelaria a centre of creativity and enterprise.

Monocle’s favourite cities combine small-scale neighbourhoods with green spaces, but not all cities were built with the right foundations for future growth and sustainability. We champion four urban innovators who see potential in derelict spaces and find creative approaches to make some of the worlds more challenging neighbourhoods bloom into richer and more pleasant places to stay.

Greece’s finances are in a dire state, and its government under pressure. The latest EU bailout package has staved off economic collapse for now, but unemployment is at a record high and many Greeks are feeling the effects. In Athens though, there’s a group of people busy at work, moving forward despite the situation, starting creative enterprises and cultural centres – even new hotels. Monocle heads to the Greek capital to meet a few of them.

Buenos Aires, Casablanca, Kagoshima, Rome and Seoul are never going to make the top 25 of our Liveable Cities index but despite their various impediments – from creaking services to epic traffic problems – they are all great in their own way.

Helsinki claims the number 1 spot in Monocle’s 2011 Quality of Life survey, which ranks the top 25 cities in the world to call home. Rising from fifth position in 2010, Helsinki outperformed Zürich at number 2 and Copenhagen at number 3 to claim the mantle as the world’s most liveable city. An unorthodox but well-deserving champion, the Finnish capital stands out for its fundamental courage to rethink its urban ambitions, and for possessing the talent, ideas and guts to pull it off.