Issues

What you’ve missed. Autumn 2024.

1. 
Hospitality: Hotel
The revamped mountain hotel
The Brecon: Adelboden, Switzerland

The Swiss alpine village of Adelboden high in the Bernese Oberland is surrounded by fresh water and snow-frosted massifs, and has a down-to-earth approach to hospitality. Snuggled among the fir trees is The Brecon, a chalet-turned-guesthouse built in 1912, which quietly reopened this summer, offering an old-school charm that is a world away from the more homespun corners of Adelboden. Instead, it goes heavy on stone flooring, textured woollen upholstery and leather trims. Its décor has a pared-back palette that allows the eye to wander towards the natural beauty without veering too far from the comforts of a traditional timber-clad Swiss cottage. “My family has been coming to Adelboden since I can remember,” co-owner Grant Maunder tells monocle. “I want guests to feel that sense of staying in a generous home.”

Designed by Amsterdam-based studio Nicemakers, the 22-key retreat, formerly known as Waldhaus (meaning “forest house”), has an Olympic-sized outdoor pool that looks onto the dramatic Wildstrubel mountain range. But the outdoor wonders don’t stop at the view. Days in Adelboden are best spent on the pistes of the region’s three ski areas during the winter months and following the hiking trails during summer – after which you can shrug off the day’s sporting pursuits with a visit to the sauna.
thebrecon.com

2.
Retail: Shop
The department store reimagined
House of Shinsegae: Seoul, South Korea

Over the summer, South Korean department store Shinsegae opened the House of Shinsegae, a new food and retail space in Gangnam, Seoul. The vast food hall houses 12 restaurants, a wine shop and a new branch of South Korean multibrand favourite Boontheshop. Casual fare and fine dining are both on offer. You’ll find artisanal pasta and ice cream but most of the restaurants specialise in local and Japanese fare. Head to Kikukawa, the first South Korean outpost of a fourth-generation Tokyo eel-rice specialist, or go to Jaju Hansang to sample Korean dishes dreamed up by Shinsegae’s own Korean Cuisine Research Institute.

During the renovation, which began in 2021 after the closure of the Shinsegae Duty Free shop, the brand opted for a redesign inspired by luxury hotels. The restaurants and an upper-level mezzanine converge around a central “lobby” with gleaming mirrored columns and tawny-coloured private booths. There isn’t a communal bench table in sight – rather, customers can dine on omakase at kitchen counter seats or in private dining rooms. The lights are dimmed at cocktail hour and House of Shinsegae stays open late, encouraging customers to sit back and sip. The pick of the bunch? Yoon Haeundae Galbi for Korean beef ribs.
shinsegae.com

3.
Hospitality: Hotel
The Riviera revival
Hôtel du Couvent: Nice, France

“I’m not a hotelier,” says Valéry Grégo. “I just do hotels.” He does them rather well too – at least, if the 88-key 17th-century convent-turned-hotel in Nice is anything to go by. This isn’t Grégo’s first creative overhaul; his Perseus Group was also behind Les Roches Rouge in Saint-Raphaël and Le Pigalle in Paris. However, it’s a project that brought a lot of pressure. “The mayor called me,” says Grégo. After a persuasive conversation, the hotelier agreed to commit to what would become a 10-year restoration project.

The crumbling building was only part of the brief: creating a community around it was also crucial. Charlotte de Tonnac and Hugo Sauzay of Paris firm Festen were drafted for the interiors: thick, cream-washed walls and terracotta floors and lots of linens, thick-cut marble and vast beds. In the restaurant, chef Thomas Vetele prepares hearty, tasty food made with produce from the area; electric green-pea tarts, fritto misto and rice pudding are on the menu when monocle visits. Perhaps the most special space is the garden – a terraced, stony sanctuary peppered with orange and fennel trees and lined with sweet-smelling jasmine.
hotelducouvent.com

4.
Fashion: Backpack
The bag to grab
Zattu: Japan

Zattu’s handsome, Japanese-made totes and backpacks are winning fans across the globe for their subtle style and hardy construction. The brand makes its carry-alls out of durable materials including Cordura nylon with plenty of internal pockets, snap buttons on the outside and a distinctive climbing-rope detail. Bag one now before everyone else cottons on to their charms.
zattu.jp

5.
Beauty: Moisturiser
The cream that beauty editors are talking about
Moussse: Switzerland

This launch is part of an ambitious new venture by Swiss-based Hélène Guttmann Chammas and Daniel Guttmann, formerly the ceo of Düsseldorf-based Dr Barbara Sturm. It offers targeted skincare for those living in cities. Moussse’s debut is a moisturising cream that protects the skin from pollution, UV radiation, smoke and stress damage.
moussse.com

6.
Furniture: Chair
The perch to purchase
Tangali chair: Italy & India

Designed by Milan-based duo Inoda + Sveje, the Tangali modular chair embodies a spirit of collaboration and quality craftsmanship. Produced in India at Phantom Hands, a Bangalore-based workshop, the chair showcases the skill of expert artisans who developed a special cane-weave pattern especially for the seat and backrest of this model.
inodasveje.com

7.
Material: Wood
The 1960s design that collectors crave
Pine furniture: Scandinavia

Long viewed as cheap, pine is changing in people’s perceptions. Today young brands such as Helsinki-based Vaarni are shifting the narrative by using it for tables and chairs in bold forms inspired by mid-century pieces. It’s helping to turn collectors’ attentions to original pine furniture from the 1960s and 1970s. Case in point: this dining chair by Ilmari Tapiovaara from London-based Chase & Sorensen.
chaseandsorensen.com

8.
Culture: Books
The Spanish novel that you need to read
‘Living Things’: Spain

Munir Hachemi’s debut novel wasn’t a hit in Spain when it arrived in 2018 but has since become a sleeper smash. “It was intended to be an ironic kind of autofiction: tribute and parody,” says Hachemi. An English translation is just out. “English is still the most powerful language of the world.”
fitzcarraldoeditions.com

9.
Furniture: Lamp
The illuminating find
Nox light by Astep: Copenhagen, Denmark

Astep’s new Nox lamp combines playful forms with practical portability. Composed of a tubular aluminium body, a mouth-blown opaline glass bulb and a simple, elegant handle, it can be carried and placed wherever light is needed. There’s also a dimmer, allowing it to provide calming mood lighting or serve as a more focused reading light when placed on a bedside table.
astep.design

10.
Design: Packaging
The tinned treats turning heads
Casa Marrazzo: Florence, Italy

Florence-based Auge Design is behind one of 2024’s best rebrands. It has reimagined the look and feel of Casa Marazzo’s tinned tomatoes (and other vegetables), which have been given colourful labels and retro gilded type, reflecting the brand’s 90-year history and southern-Italian roots.
auge-design.com

11.
F&B: Wine
The bottles beloved by those who know
Rosa 32: Saint-Tropez, France

Rosa 32’s founder, Florestan de Rouvray, thinks that Provence has more to offer than just the pink stuff. “The region produces crisp white wines and fragrant reds,” he says. “I wanted the brand to reflect this.” The cuvées are produced on the Massif des Maures but are now on sale in places from Zürich to Saint Barthélemy.
rosa32.com

12.
Aviation: Airport
The US hub worth touching down at
Portland International Airport: Portland, Oregon

US airports have a new bright spot. Following the recent upgrade of New York’s LaGuardia, Portland’s main terminal has been updated with a flair and a mindfulness that feel native to the state. The project, driven by zgf Architects, expands the airport’s capacity while embracing new approaches to design and craft, paired with an empathetic, passenger-focused approach. When monocle visited just before the formal opening, we met our guides amid the loud, liminal space of construction. Stepping through a guarded door felt like crossing a portal into something magnificent. The centrepiece of the new terminal is a wooden roof that both taps into the spirit of the Pacific Northwest and breaks the aesthetic codes of modern airports.

“The wood roof is beautiful but it provides many benefits beyond aesthetics,” says Sharron van der Meulen, managing partner at zgf. “The structure enables long, column-free spans that help to provide clear sightlines for passengers and allow space for future evolutions and expansions without significant construction.” 

The locally sourced wood, all from within 500km of the airport, also significantly lowers the terminal’s carbon footprint compared to traditional steel construction. Beyond the airy, open feel, the analogue approach to construction creates something that soothes the senses: unlike cavernous airports where sound travels, the wood dampens noise and creates a subdued, less stressful environment.

According to zgf, that was the goal. The team sought to emphasise positive physiological and psychological outcomes for occupants throughout the space. “We put a lot of thought into how we could leverage biophilic design principles to support a positive passenger and employee experience,” says Van der Meulen. “There’s the roof, of course, but also the 5,000 plants placed around the terminal and the 49 skylights that provide 60 per cent of the terminal’s daylight.” Other barely noticeable touches add to the effect. Loudspeakers for passenger announcements are mounted at head height, rather than booming down from above.

One of the most vivid friction points for air travellers, security, was thought through down to the screening machines that require passengers to remove nothing from their bags. Lighting design and climate control for screening areas were carefully considered – no more sweltering summer queues – as well as the “recomposure” areas with benches and table tops of various heights as travellers proceed through screening.

The empathetic approach doesn’t just apply to travellers. Gene Sandovol, a design partner at the firm, tells me during the walk-through that it thought deeply about the tsa employees, seeing them as important stakeholders, and studied the patterns of their day to figure out how to improve their experience. Even the private screening areas, normally an afterthought in airports, are designed with soothing lighting.

The terminal used future-facing sustainability principles, taking what zgf describes as a “use what you can” approach, carefully analysing existing structures and systems for potential reuse or upgrades. This strategy allowed it to double the terminal’s passenger capacity while achieving a 50 per cent reduction in energy use.

13.
Hospitality: Rental
The beachside house to rent
Kona Kahlua: Melbourne, Australia

Say the words “beach holiday” to anyone who grew up in Australia and they’ll likely picture a very specific house. It will have a skillion roof and taupe-hued bricks. Inside, there might be a blend of flooring – linoleum for the kitchen, parquetry for the living room – watched over by lacquered cabinets, vinyl couches and panelled walls. Tragically, the bathroom might be carpeted. Ever since these beach houses proliferated across Australia in the 1970s, they have defined the summer holidays. 

Kona Kahlua in Sorrento, on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, is a classic of the genre: a place where later modernism meets the Aussie coast with a generous sprinkling of tiki affection on top. It was recently refurbished, preserving yet enhancing its mid-century chops. “It’s a 1970s gem that’s very practical and comfortable,” owner Siobhan Blewitt tells monocle. “We wanted to protect that integrity, because Sorrento doesn’t need another new house.” Kona Kahlua’s original owners’ love for Hawaii reverberates throughout: from the tiki carvings and bamboo on the walls, beds and doors, to the bathroom’s palm-patterned wallpaper. “It was a luau party house and definitely a slice of the past,” says Blewitt. She and her husband, Chris, retained as much as possible.

Across its five bedrooms and two storeys, Kona Kahlua comfortably accommodates 10. With its sublime views and a backyard spilling straight out onto the sand, it’s primed to keep hosting – and defining – summer beach holidays.
konakahlua.com

14.
Retail: Shop
The Spanish brand with designs on your dwelling
Zara Home: Paris, France

Zara Home’s aim to move upmarket is perfectly reflected in its pop-up flagship at 117 Rue du Bac, which it will occupy until next spring. Nestled in the well-heeled 7th arrondissement, opposite iconic department store Le Bon Marché, the space unfolds over three floors and two mezzanine levels. Guests are greeted with a space for collaborations with those such as florist Nina Charles. There’s a hook-up with Parisian favourite Café Dose for coffee and a snack, a bookshop and a personalised, while-you-watch printing and embroidery service offering monogrammed totes bearing the 117 Rue du Bac branding (courtesy of Atelier Saint-Lazare, winner of a 2024 monocle Design Award).

At the top of the restored spiral staircase, you’ll find L’Appartement, a space kitted out like a rather fetching Parisian pied à terre, complete with furniture for Zara Home by Belgian architect and designer Vincent Van Duysen, antiques and design classics from Galerie Patrick Seguin, including a desk by Pierre Jeanneret. Elsewhere you’ll find dressing-room-like spaces housing a sportswear capsule collection, pieces by Zara Woman and smaller “Editions” collections of furniture and homeware. On the lower level, things are a little dimmer: the focus is on bedroom furniture, textiles and a children’s playroom. Inditex-owned Zara Home might have 400 shops in 60 countries but it’s looking particularly at home in Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
zarahome.com

15.
Hospitality: Rental
The smart new rooms above the restaurant
Casa Teo 2: Mexico City, Mexico

Chef and restaurateur Enrique Olvera’s career has been devoted to food – and he has always been attracted by the idea of hotels and hospitality. Running restaurants in Mexico, New York, Los Angeles and Madrid, Olvera is often on the road and uses his trips to workshop what the perfect restaurant with rooms could look like. “I carry a notebook and write down what I would do [if I were to open one],” he says.

Though a full-blown hotel isn’t on the cards yet, Olvera is creating a series of rentable spaces that serve as extensions of the Olvera brand: both Casa Criollo in Oaxaca and Casa Teo in Mexico City opened recently. What you might have missed was the quiet opening of Casa Teo 2, a new three-bedroom apartment above Olvera’s mezcal bar Ticuchi in Polanco. Inside the third-floor apartment, it’s hard to believe that you’re in one of the world’s busiest cities. The understated rooms have wooden floors and panelling, soft curtains and plenty of plants.

The Mexico City-based chef has always had an eye for interiors, which is evident at his restaurants, such as Pujol. “We always try to have a peaceful atmosphere and use natural materials,” says Olvera, who designed Casa Teo 2 himself and lived there before opening it to the public. Guests checking in will have access to things that Olvera loves: records, coffee and even homemade banana bread, sourdough, fresh yoghurt and fresh mangoes on arrival.
teo.casa

Brand image, urban geese, and the perfect shot – stories of city life and corporate culture

Tyler Brûlé on why brands need to take back control of their image

In the past few weeks, uniforms and guidelines have become leading topics among clients. Over dinner in Zürich, a ceo asked me to find out how a competitor was able to keep staff looking so well groomed while he was fighting a running battle about whether or not female staff should have to shave their legs or if male staff could wear jangly earrings. Meanwhile, in Toronto, a global hospitality group told me that it was struggling to define itself as premium because too many staff members were resisting guidance about what to wear. I keep hearing the same questions: “How did we let things get so baggy? When did we lose our courage to fight for our brand?”

I usually interject with the reminder that the uniform is alive and well in many parts of the world. “But how do we get back to where we were 10 years ago?” clients would ask. In the case of the company in Toronto, I said that it would require its board to jettison some inclusivity initiatives in favour of brand preservation. Such advice used to be met with spasms of wincing but it’s now clear to most that something has to give. Many companies are weighing up how to bolster their customer base and build brand loyalty through superior products and service delivery rather than political gestures. The Toronto executive summed it up best. “We have lost our best people because they were embarrassed by colleagues showing up for their shift in slippers,” he said. “It all happened on our watch.”

Waste not…

Anyone who has recently ventured into a park or spent a day at the beach in Helsinki knows that the city has a problem. Or 5,338 problems, to be precise. That’s how many geese the authorities say have made their home  in the city and its leisure areas. Not only can these geese get aggressive but their faeces litter much of Helsinki’s coastline. To make matters trickier, this particular species, the barnacle goose, is protected by the EU, meaning that Helsinki has had to come up with some rather innovative ways to deter them…

This summer, the Finnish capital experimented with fencing in, not birds, but humans. It turns out that the urban geese, despite having wings to fly with, opt to walk in cities rather than become airborne. However, by installing fences just high enough so that the geese can’t be bothered to jump over them has meant Helsinki has turned to enclosing areas in parks en masse for people to enjoy without the birds bothering them. And, so spoiled are these urban geese that show a preference for manicured lawns, that this has also resulted in the city to curb cutting the grass in certain parks. 

Some have suggested a softer strategy: adaptation. If we are to coexist with the geese, let’s at least have better tools. Helsinki recently launched an open competition to design a more effective shovel for the 45 city officials tasked with collecting the geese’s waste. We’re waiting for those results to drop soon.

The government has promised to help as well. In its policy programme, it says it will allow people to hunt for barnacle geese. Some skilful EU-level diplomacy is needed first, but in a country that boasts more than 300,000 active hunters, it would be an effective solution. We’re just not sure how many people would enjoy hanging out in parks with bullets flying around.

Perfect shot

A fleeting visit to the verdant Alpine Austrian town of Bad Ischl might sound like an idyllic trip to the land of The Sound of Music, but reporting trips are never as tranquil as one might imagine. Coordinating the calendars of 12 members of the region’s cultural programme to find a convenient time for a group shot (see page 44) is a challenge in and of itself. The selected time for the photoshoot happened to be during rush hour and the location – chosen for its quaint Austrian spires to create an atmospheric backdrop – happened to be a through road. It made for an amusing episode of role play as a school crossing patrol officer when I found myself halting residents on their way to work, apologising in broken German for blocking their way. Meanwhile the photographer, perched on a rickety stepladder for a privileged viewpoint, took the 10-second break in the traffic to snap as many pictures as possible. When it comes to getting that perfect shot for a monocle feature, we’re prepared to move mountains – and a number of cars.

Editor’s letter: Andrew Tuck on moving forward

Mobility, the way we get from A to B, has become a source of surprising friction. Fisticuffs even. Some of the biggest confrontations are taking place in our cities, where moves to pedestrianise streets and encourage more people to cycle have been met with unusual responses. Politicians have waded into the urbanism debate to depict such seemingly innocent transport shifts as left-wing plots or middle-class conspiracies to deny working folk access to their cars. How did it come to this? And how do you find a way through the politicking and barracking to find a consensus? 

These were some of the questions that our foreign editor, Alexis Self, had in mind as he headed to Brussels, a city that’s become a veritable urbanism battleground. After a period that has seen cars removed from much of the downtown area and the creation of numerous new green spaces, most visitors to the city would be impressed by its transformation – the city with a rap for being a bit dull and home to far too many EU bureaucrats is actually a rather splendid cultural capital. Who could be opposed to any of this, one might wonder?

Well, as Alexis discovered, the creation of this walkable, cycle-friendly city was enough to dethrone many politicians in June’s regional parliamentary elections, as parties that had spoken out in favour of car owners over cyclists took the majority of votes. It’s a fascinating report that reveals the complexities and compromises at play in the urban-mobility conversation.

Luckily not all mobility tales end up with ballot-box battles. In our global survey, we also take time to ride Sydney’s new metro line, visit the Detroit of the Balkans and discover how an automobile touring club became a major player catering to Austrian cyclists and running medevac services across the country. Then, in our Design pages, Nic Monisse oversees the assembly of our ideal train set-up, from carriages to stations. (We knew that train set was a good ‘secret Santa’ gift.)

But none of these stories unfold in a vacuum. Every sector of the mobility industry is being shaped by social and legislative pressures. That’s particularly true in the auto trade, where the demand for environmentally cleaner vehicles that don’t cost a fortune and can be driven nippily around congested cities has given rise to a cavalcade of tiny, often electric, options. It’s a similar story when you look at the cargo-bike boom in places such as Switzerland, where people want to get themselves and their shopping home affordably under their own steam. So while this is Monocle’s Mobility Special, it’s also a report on how we want to live – and the innovators making it possible.

But it’s not all horn-honking and bell-ringing. There are also a few stories that unpack very different aspects of what makes a country harmonious. In the Affairs pages, our Bangkok bureau chief, James Chambers, attends Thailand’s school for diplomats and meets the nation’s foreign minister as he investigates how the country keeps its admirable engaged neutrality with the region’s many powers. James even learns how to lay a table for a state banquet. Meanwhile, Ed Stocker visits Lithuania to attend its quadrennial Song Celebration, which this year  featured 37,000 people chorusing the nation’s most treasured tunes – a coming together that has delivered an epic and mellifluous Expo. 

As ever, though, there’s much more afoot at Monocle than merely making magazines. We are in full planning mode for this year’s Quality of Life Conference, which will take place in Istanbul from Thursday 10 to Saturday 12 October. It’s a moment in the calendar where we bring readers together for a day of talks and debates, peerless hospitality and a deep dive into our host city. You can find all the details at monocle.com/conference or by emailing our head of events, Hannah Grundy, at hg@monocle.com. Whether you arrive via Turkish Airlines or Bosphorus ferry, you will be well looked after.

Finally, if you’d like to send thoughts or clever mobility tips to me or the team, you reach me on at@monocle.com. Safe travels.

How Bombardier’s Toronto facility is redefining aircraft production (and sunlight)

At a new facility on the northwestern periphery of Toronto Pearson Airport, a fresh approach to aircraft manufacturing is taking off. “It’s a real contrast to the old buildings that we occupied for 30 years,” says Julien Boudreault, the vice-president of project management at Montréal-based aerospace firm Bombardier, which was founded in Québec in 1942.

Opened in May, this is where Bombardier makes its Global 6500 and 7500 series of business and private jets. The manufacturing hub marks several firsts for Canada’s aircraft industry and signals a fresh focus for the storied manufacturer at a time when demand for its planes – from military, government and private clients – is in the ascendant.

Arrayed around the 71,500 sq m facility are jets at various stages of completion. On the morning when Monocle visits, we see electricians tweaking the cabling inside a plane’s wing, while engineers review the underbelly of another. The lozenge-shaped doorway of a third aircraft is undergoing a mechanical inspection.

Unusually for a manufacturing hub of this scale and type, the staff members who are hard at work on the production floor aren’t bathed in the glare of artificial lights hanging overhead. “We have unlocked the daylight,” says Lilia Koleva, a partner and architect at Montréal-based practice NEUF, which designed the complex. “Architecturally, that is probably one of our biggest successes here.”

“That might not seem like a lot but it feels significant when you have spent years in facilities that felt like caves, where you never saw the daylight while you worked,” adds Boudreault. Translucent and semi-translucent panels are installed in the windows and hangar doors. Because of innovations in their design, they are as flame-resistant and combustion-proof as panels made from the heavier materials conventionally used in hangar construction, which tend to be impermeable to natural light. “All of a sudden, you get this new world where you can feel the sun and take it all in.”

Smart but seemingly simple architectural interventions such as this can have multiple benefits. The purpose, in this case, is not only to elevate the working conditions on the assembly floor, where most of Bombardier’s 2,000 or so Toronto-based personnel spend much of their time. According to Boudreault, the facility’s design will also boost the mobility and efficiency of the company’s production lines, at a time when demand for its aircraft is booming, following a major overhaul of the wider business in recent years.

Québécois mechanical engineer Joseph-Armand established Bombardier in the 1930s when he built Canada’s first commercially available snow plough. The company was incorporated in 1942 and grew to become one of the country’s best-known manufacturers, producing trains, aircraft and other vehicles. But in 2020, Bombardier sold its train-building and commercial-jet operations to focus on its private, business and defence divisions, as well as on its EcoJet facility, which is developing planes powered by electricity.

Currently, Bombardier’s business is anchored by its Global series of jets. Once assembled in Toronto, the aircraft are flown to Montréal, where their interiors are furnished and finished before delivery. The series has set new standards for the duration that a twin-engine aircraft can stay airborne, as well as for fuel efficiency. In 2019 a Global 7500 aircraft broke an intercity record when it flew more than 15,200km from Sydney to Detroit non-stop, with ample fuel to spare.

Meanwhile, the Global 6500 model has long been attractive to military and government clients for the high altitudes at which it can fly, as well as for its long lifespan and adaptability for intelligence-gathering and reconnaissance missions. Following the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in 2014, the Australian military deployed a Global 6500 to search vast areas of the Pacific Ocean. In December 2023, the US military placed an order for three Global 6500s, which it intends to equip as spy planes.

The private-jet use of celebrities and other wealthy people has received criticism in recent years – but even this unwanted scrutiny has increased interest in the Global series. Many prospective clients who are keen to acquire an aircraft that is gentler on the environment are turning to Bombardier. A new addition, the Global 8000, is under development and expected to be airborne late next year. 

All of that, says Boudreault, explains why the innovative design of the new Toronto hub, which operates 24 hours a day, is so crucial in allowing Bombardier to play a role in shaping the future of mobility by air. “That’s the science and art of a facility such as this: to be able to meet all of the requirements and generate operational efficiency, as well as a momentum and a flow that works.”

The layout of the hangar allows every aircraft to be moved easily by crane from one stage of the production process to the next, from the attachment of the body to the wings at the beginning to the assembly of the cockpit and the engines. Tool stations and desks for project managers are nestled among the assembly lines; this ensures that parts, tools and other equipment can be retrieved quickly and that questions are answered promptly without the need for engineers to stray too far from the aircraft that they are working on.

Other aspects of the hangar design complement this. Self-service canteens and nicely appointed bathrooms have been built into the hangar’s periphery, meaning that personnel don’t have to take long, winding routes through the complex when they take a break. 

“We are always bringing it back to this but a happy workforce is a productive workforce,” says Boudreault. “That’s why it was important for us to bring in all of these other elements and consider things that people wouldn’t expect to find in an ordinary factory.”
bombardier.com

Going the distance
Able to fly non-stop for longer, Bombardier’s Global 8000 will open up a new array of routes when it takes to the skies next year.

Australia’s ambitious public-transport plan is cutting commute times in Sydney

Many of the features that make Sydney an astoundingly beautiful city – its dramatic coastline, narrow central streets and low, rolling hills – are the same things that conspire to make it a frustrating place in which to commute. Here, the notion of getting from your doorstep to desk in less than an hour is often so unrealistic that it’s downright fantastical. But that might not be the case for much longer.

The new phase of the Sydney Metro, the City Line, is due to open this month, transforming the way that Sydneysiders move through Australia’s largest metropolis. The multi­phase Sydney Metro project, first announced in 2011 and in construction since 2014, is the country’s biggest public-transport plan; an audacious, decades-long effort to deliver Oceania’s first mass rapid-transit system. Its ambition is to connect the city’s outer reaches and second international airport with the central business district – and the crowning jewel is the City Line, with its six new stations.

“It’s one of the biggest public transport projects since the Harbour Bridge, so it’s going to completely transform Sydney,” says Jason Hammond, director for design at Sydney Metro. “It will make the journey easier for everyone using the city, from people coming in for leisure at the weekend to office workers during the day. Sydney won’t know what’s hit it.” The metro is using customised versions of French manufacturer Alstom’s high-speed, driverless Metropolis trains, which arrive at stations at peak hours every four minutes, almost halving travel times for train passengers in the city centre. Hammond is relishing the opportunity to speed up Sydneysiders’ lives. “We’re expecting 264,000 trips on a typical weekday, moving 37,000 people during the morning peak,” he says. “One of the key things is to relieve congestion on existing central business district stations and spread the load across the network.”

Global architecture firm John McAslan + Partners was selected for two of the most important tasks in the project: designing the new Waterloo Station and upgrading Central Station to become metro-ready (the latter in collaboration with Australian-founded design firm Woods Bagot). In 2012, McAslan delivered the Kings Cross Western Concourse, a global benchmark in station design, and it looked to that success when considering the challenge of untangling the commuting knot at the heart of Central Station. As Australia’s busiest train station and Sydney’s main transport hub, Central Station has weathered an accretion of extensions and additions over the years, but few changes have been as drastic, or as well-received, as McAslan’s.

“We tried to help this heritage building sing and be the best version of itself,” says Troy Uleman, director of John McAslan + Partners Sydney, as he and Monocle tap into the newest section of Central Station. “It comes down to that user experience. It’s not just about the station itself or the experience outside the building but how you move through it and use it to connect yourself from place to place.” McAslan’s improvements include a central walkway that, though nominally designed to allow access to the new metro, has also provided escalators and easier access to every train platform in the station. It can be accessed by a new northern concourse set beneath a soaring roof that crests over a cluster of Central Station’s sandstone buildings. “It was about having a great public room for Central Station,” says Uleman. “It’s an organising space that connects to everything.” Crucially for any large station, there’s room for hapless commuters to dither while they figure out which train to catch, without getting in anyone’s way. “We made room for those little places for people to stand in a corner or catch up,” says Uleman.

Nods to the building’s past abound, including the use of arches and sandstone, as well as a custom typeface made with old platform lettering. But the station’s new metro future is alluded to throughout, including in the walls, where engravings of clocks gradually fade away in a representation of Sydney’s timetable-free reality, where the next train is only a few minutes away. 

Non-stop service
Sydney’s next milestone will be the opening of a route with six stations linking the city to the new Western Sydney Airport in 2026.

How mini but mighty microcars are changing the way we drive

The minicar, the microvan, the nanocar – the tiny vehicles that have been cropping up on city roads across the globe have many names. Japan was among the first countries to recognise their virtues, establishing the kei category in 1949. Others have warmed to them too – most notably China, where surging domestic sales of the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV have seen it dethrone the Tesla Model 3 as the world’s best-selling electric vehicle (EV).

With consumers increasingly prioritising energy efficiency, automakers are now offering vehicles that are conspicuously more diminutive than their fuel-guzzling counterparts. Advances in engineering and design have allowed newer microcars to pack more amenities and technology into their bijou frames. Meanwhile, government incentives for compact cars are becoming common, from subsidies in South Korea to preferential parking in Guernsey. 

Almost every major automaker has entered the sector, responding to growing demand – particularly from young urbanites, among whom these compact vehicles have become status symbols. They make sense for urban life: they can zip down alleys and squeeze into tight parking spots, and are safer, quieter and less obtrusive than larger vehicles. But they’re not limited to cities. Models such as the Suzuki Hustler and the Kia Ray are built for country drives, while specialedition models including Fiat’s Topolino are perfect for cruising along the Italian Riviera. Here are 10 of the mightiest microcars on the market.

1.
Fiat Topolino
Italy

Fiat’s Topolino is a restyled version of the Citroën Ami. Like the original, it’s a two-door, two-seater electric quadricycle, though drivers who want to feel the wind in their hair can choose the Dolce Vita edition, which has a doorless open carriage and a canvas roof. Its name is a nod to the original Fiat 500, which ceased production in 1955 and was widely known as “Topolino” (Mickey Mouse’s Italian moniker). It comes in teal with cream interiors and has a top speed of 45km/h.

2.
Microlino
Switzerland & Italy

Co-founders Merlin and Oliver Ouboter unveiled their Microlino concept at the Geneva International Motor Show in 2016. Four years later, a redesign resulted in the two-seat, four-wheel EV that’s now produced in Turin. The Microlino can reach 90km/h, though it’s so small that it’s technically classified as a quadricycle. It has a sunroof and comes in various shades of pastel or primary colours, with a glossy or matte finish. Prices range from €16,500 to €23,000.

3.
Daihatsu Copen
Japan

The first generation of the Daihatsu Copen, launched in Japan in 1999, was a two-door roadster with a hard convertible top and bubbly curves suggestive of a children’s toy. The model that’s now in production is slightly more angular but retains the original’s charm and has a top speed of about 170km/h. The Copen – the anglicised form of the Japanese word kopen, a portmanteau of kei and “open” – is a particularly fine example of the light automobile.

4.
Suzuki Ignis
Japan

The Suzuki Ignis is a rare beast: an SUV version of the dinky Japanese kei-class car. It’s reliable and feels roomier than most micro-vehicles, with more than 500 litres of storage when the rear seatbacks are folded. But you won’t buy one for haulage – its main draw is that it’s fun to drive in the city. The 434 option is perfect for more rustic outings, while the new SZ-T version comes with roof rails, 16-inch alloy wheels and side mouldings that are guaranteed to turn heads.

5.
Silence S04
Spain

This two-door hatchback comes in two versions, the faster of which can reach 85km/h. The Silence S04 has the distinction of being one of the first EVs with a removable battery, making charging more convenient – drivers can plug in at home or subscribe to a service allowing them to swap dying batteries for fresh ones at designated stations. Spain’s Silence produces the S04 at a former Nissan factory in Barcelona and Nissan is leading its distribution in Europe.

6.
Tata Magic Iris
India

The Magic Iris is a diesel-powered microvan produced by Tata Motors, one of India’s largest carmakers. It has four seats, a front cab with two doors and a third rear door, and its top speed is 55km/h. It has diamond-shaped headlights and measures a little under three metres in length. It was designed with the domestic market in mind: it’s a safer alternative to the rickshaws and tuk-tuks that are ubiquitous in the country’s megacities.

7.
Wuling Hongguang
Mini EV
China

The two-door, four-seater Wuling Hongguang Mini is the world’s best-selling EV. It’s also one of the cheapest, with the basic model priced at about €4,000. It was launched in 2020 by SGMW, a joint venture between SAIC Motor, Guangxi Auto and General Motors. The wallet-friendly price and a Pantone collaboration that resulted in a series offering three pastel-coloured options have made it especially popular among younger drivers. It can reach a speedy 100km/h too.

8.
Kia Ray EV
South Korea

With its large windows and add-ons such as a side tarp that forms a shaded canopy, the Kia Ray will appeal to camping enthusiasts and day-tripping urbanites. In response to the growing demand for EVs in its domestic market, South Korea’s Kia released a new electric edition of this popular compact car in 2023, having discontinued the first EV Ray in 2018. It comes in shades ranging from white to aqua and the interior can be outfitted in either grey or black.

9.
Honda N-One
Japan

On the outside, the second generation of Honda’s N-One kei car is nearly indistinguishable from its predecessor. It has slightly deeper-set headlights, a larger grille and an additional strip of rear lights but most of the changes were reserved for the inside. These include enhanced safety features, extra storage space, usb ports and a sleeker dashboard. A special Style 1 Urban edition, launched in 2022, features two-tone leather seats and a faux-wood dashboard.

10.
Nissan Sakura
Japan

Released in 2022, Nissan’s four-seater Sakura is Japan’s best-selling EV. Nissan has decades of experience in the sector and pioneered the first mass-market EV but this is its first electric kei car. Though narrow, the Sakura’s height allows for plenty of storage space, especially when the backseats are folded flat. It has an impressive top speed of 130km/h and comes in a range of colours, including pink, in honour of Japan’s national flower, the cherry blossom.

“Why I’d rather get lost than let my phone give me directions”

I recently took a work trip to Sussex in southern England. I hadn’t had a chance to check where we were going and just hopped in my colleague’s car. She typed the address into her smartphone, slipped it into a holder on the dashboard and off we went. When I wasn’t following the blue dot on the screen, I was startled by the views. We traversed an exotic-looking heathland. A gothic church loomed over a mysterious hill town. Unexpectedly, I glimpsed the sea. Where were we? I felt as though I was in a foreign land. 

This is not how I normally travel. I am one of the few remaining smartphone refuseniks; my phone is a brick. I use Google Maps but only before I set out, so that I can draw a route onto a scrap of paper. In the car, I consult the road atlas. When I’m out on my bike, I tap on the windows of cabs waiting at red lights. I ask bus drivers where to get off. These human interactions now feel very countercultural. But my brief period of Sussex disorientation is now how most people live all the time – unaware of where they are going and in which direction. I do sometimes get lost but I’m usually aware of the general lie of the land. I am mindful of my increasing eccentricity but I believe that not having a sense of where we are is profoundly disempowering. It means that we walk blindly down a dark corridor, guided only by technological corporations with dubious motives. 

Several studies have shown that relying on “egocentric navigation” (or turn-by-turn instructions) rather than paper maps is eroding our navigational ability; it’s a “use it or lose it” skill. Indeed, we have our own gps system in our brains: researchers have identified triangular “grid cells” that map territory, rather like longitude and latitude co-ordinates. This is just one way in which we underestimate our own highly sophisticated cognitive capacities in favour of the shiny new technology at our fingertips. Satellite navigation is improving all the time and rarely lets us down. When it does, though, the consequences can feel catastrophic. 

Researchers have found clear links between spatial awareness and memory. London taxi drivers who have memorised the city’s entire street plan (known as “The Knowledge”) acquire an enlarged hippocampus – the part of the brain associated with learning and memory. There is also evidence that orientation helps us to remember not just places but events. Neuroscientists believe that, remarkably, parts of our brain also give us the ability to imagine ourselves in, and plan for, the future. In June, scientists based in the UK and US discovered how the brain’s prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus work together to enable us to make decisions by envisaging potential outcomes.

Replacing paper maps with phones feels like progress but are we actually travelling backwards? If we give up our sense of direction, we forfeit agency and control. We might feel liberated but we lack the freedom to explore what lies between A and B. Worst of all, we lose context. That loss is part of a more general disorientation. Children no longer appear to be taught countries and capitals. My own kids are growing up without a clear sense of their place in the world. History for them is a series of unconnected events; music is a playlist of singles, detached from any discernible movement or era. Digital technology is rendering us both tethered and unmoored. We lose the big picture at our peril.

Glaser is a writer, lecturer, radio producer, broadcaster and author whose books include ‘Elitism: A Progressive Defence’.

The Philippines’ infrastructure revolution has an unlikely architect

For frequent flyers travelling in and out of the Philippines, September can’t come soon enough. That’s when the state-owned operator of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), Metro Manila’s chronically congested main gateway, hands over the keys to a consortium led by the San Miguel Group.

The publicly listed conglomerate has taken on the challenge of fixing NAIA and expectations are sky-high. The public-private partnership even got a mention in president Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s July state-of-the-nation address. “Once considered among the world’s worst and most stressful airports, [NAIA] will soon be a world-class international hub that we can be proud of,” he said. Is the president correct? “Yeah, 100 per cent. I have no doubt that we can turn around the airport,” says Ramon Ang, San Miguel’s CEO and largest shareholder. “Within a year you will not see any runway or terminal congestion,” he adds, before committing to notable improvements by Christmas – peak travel time for a majority Catholic country with millions of overseas workers.

San Miguel might sound like an unlikely saviour. The beer brand is principally known outside the Philippines for its eponymous pilsner, which dates back to the company’s formation in 1890 during the Spanish colonial period. But much has changed under Ang’s stewardship. A series of acquisitions over the past 15 years have transformed what was predominantly a food and beverage company with an annual turnover of €3.7bn into a €24bn-a-year juggernaut with interests in power generation, oil refinement, water, banking, roads, railways, seaports and cement. “Whatever business we do, our purpose is to make money for the shareholders and develop the country,” says Ang, explaining the logic behind his diversification strategy.

Monocle visits Ang at San Miguel’s headquarters in Mandaluyong, one of the 17 cities that make up the Metro Manila region. The understated captain of industry, a child of Chinese immigrants, arrives at the office most days behind the wheel of a Toyota Camry or Land Cruiser. A car enthusiast and mechanical engineering graduate, he began his career importing Japanese vehicles before joining San Miguel in his forties and becoming one of the Philippines’ richest tycoons.

Ang’s approach has been to buy small existing businesses and grow them into industry leaders. San Miguel’s infrastructure division began 15 years ago with the acquisition of a tollway company and is now the biggest operator in the country. It opened a series of elevated “skyways” in recent years, drawing traffic away from local roads and decongesting the sole expressway linking the capital’s north and south. A two-hour journey in heavy traffic can now take 30 minutes and a few crosstown friendships have been reconnected in the process.

Ang’s enthusiasm for building roads, however, has attracted criticism for tethering Metro Manila’s future to four wheels. But as with the San Miguel-owned oil refinery Petron, which is gradually moving away from fossil fuels, the green transition has to be incremental, realistic and government-assisted. “Cars are the main transportation in Asia,” says Ang. “Our problem is we are adding hundreds of thousands of cars a year without phasing out the old ones.”

Rail is the one mode of transport where San Miguel has almost had to start from scratch. The company is building a 14-station rail line that, once operational at the end of 2025, will carry up to 850,000 passengers a day between the Bulacan province and Quezon City, Metro Manila’s largest municipality. The first major mass-transit project this century, MRT 7 will allow commuters to switch to two other lines at an interchange station – a national first. A north-south commuter railway and a subway funded by the Japanese government will soon follow, as part of what President Marcos labelled a “railway renaissance”.

“San Miguel has a lot of projects that help the development of the Philippines,” says Janno Quinto, project manager at station six in Quezon City, where construction is almost complete. Quinto, who is dressed in an obligatory high-vis vest and hard hat, recently joined from a rival toll-road company to work on elevated structures. The 29-year-old engineer stands on an empty, unfinished platform, pointing out the electrified third rail – another first. “Transportation is the way to our development,” he says.

A seasonal typhoon has just passed by Metro Manila, cancelling flights and causing flooding. San Miguel has been dredging rivers to facilitate drainage and Ang shares his opinion on what structural improvements are required to weather future storms – both natural and manmade. The patriotic Filipino is fully invested in the country’s disaster resilience and the decisive leadership he demonstrated during the coronavirus pandemic – distributing food, medical assistance and other aid – even led to calls for him to run for president in 2022. “If I become a famous politician for six years, what’s the good of that?” he says, dismissing the idea. “I will have divested all of my shares in my company and made thousands of enemies.”

RSA, as he is known to colleagues, can achieve more by sticking to what he’s good at. What’s his best deal to date? NAIA, he says, without hesitation. “We’ve been given the opportunity to improve the main gateway to the Philippines,” adds Ang, who turned 70 this year. It’s a surprising choice given that the commercial terms have been pilloried in the business pages for, oddly enough, being overly generous. A consortium in which San Miguel owns a stake won the NAIA public tender in 2022 with a bid that will earn the government $20bn (€18.5bn) and a 60 per cent cut of profits. Characteristically confident, Ang believes that he can’t lose. After all, what’s good for the Philippines is ultimately good for San Miguel.

Re-engineering NAIA is part of a slate of major infrastructure projects that Ang wants to see completed over the next three to five years before handing the San Miguel reins over to his eldest son, John Paul. Building an entirely new airport to serve the capital is unquestionably the jewel in his crown and the $7bn (€6.5bn) investment will almost certainly define Ang’s legacy. 

The New Manila International Airport, as it is currently known, is in Bulacan, a province immediately north of Metro Manila. Site preparation was completed this year and construction will soon get under way. Once up and running, three or four years from now, Bulacan will become Metro Manila’s equivalent to Incheon in Seoul or Narita in Tokyo, while NAIA will be a Gimpo or Haneda. “There is no compromise in our new airport. It will be ideal,” says Ang, while scoring all of Asia’s major airports, from an engineering rather than tourism perspective. “Four parallel runways with 2km separation, good for 100 to 200 million passengers a year and a 30-minute drive or train journey to anywhere in Metro Manila.”

It’s a case of better late than never. During the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, when most developed Asian capitals were building a second airport, consecutive administrations in the Philippines dithered. Southeast Asia’s fourth-largest economy is now 30 years behind many of its peers and the aviation industry’s shortcomings are emblematic of a broader infrastructure deficit.

Closing this gap has been a flagship policy of the past three presidents. In any democracy, though, forming policy is one thing and implementing it is quite another. Ang first pitched his new airport to president Benigno Aquino III in 2012. Aquino’s successor, Rodrigo Duterte, finally approved it in 2018. The straight-talking CEO has little to gain, though, from picking sides or apportioning blame. All governments are basically the same from his perspective and he must work with whoever occupies the Malacañang Palace – the Filipino White House.

Is Ang betting his company on aviation? The new airport must attract about 36.5 million passengers to break even, he says, while NAIA will reach almost 50 million this year. “There is a risk but we have to take it,” he adds, revealing the missed opportunities that motivate him more than any fear of failure. By his own count, he has walked away from five potential investments that have “cost” the company a whopping $100bn (€92.7bn) – and Ang countless hours of sleep. “My greatest mistake is not to be more aggressive,” he says. “You win some, you lose some.”

Towards the end of the decade, once San Miguel’s airports, toll roads and railway projects are complete, its visionary CEO envisages vehicular traffic and investment dollars beginning to flow from the national capital, home to most of the economic activity, to the north of the Philippines’ largest island, Luzon, where land is cheap. Traffic in Metro Manila will ease, seasonal flooding will be less severe and the country will be better placed to attract Thailand’s tourism numbers and compete for the foreign direct investment typically funnelled into Vietnam.

Metro Manila’s reputation for violence will be the last remaining sticking point – no amount of concrete can cover up international headlines about kidnappings, drug wars and extrajudicial killings. This bad publicity will have to change, Ang says, if the Philippines is going to attract the likes of Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor. His passionate monologue has the makings of a future stump speech delivered to a crowd of potential voters. President Ang in 2028? “Politics is not me,” he says, definitively. “I’m happy now that I’m able to prepare San Miguel’s succession plan, see the company continue to do well and be able to help the community. Mission accomplished.”

Affairs round up: Icebreaking in the Arctic, Rwanda’s aviation ambitions and 58 Polish “wolverines”

Arctic sea ice might be shrinking but it still inhibits maritime navigation. Seven Nato members have territory in the northern polar region but their icebreaking capabilities lag behind those of Russia and China. The alliance is now trying to close the gap. On the sidelines at July’s Nato summit in Washington, the governments of the US, Finland and Canada signed the Icebreaker Collaboration Effort (or Ice Pact). The three nations agreed to share information, pursue workforce development and encourage allies to buy more icebreakers.

The announcement came at a crucial moment for the US. New vessels to support the Coast Guard’s two ageing diesel-powered icebreakers were supposed to be ready this year but delays and cost overruns have pushed their delivery to 2029 at the earliest. Shipyards in Mississippi are struggling with the task but US law prohibits the purchase of foreign-made vessels.

“We haven’t built a large icebreaker in the US in decades and specialised skills, such as high-end welding, have atrophied,” Rebecca Pincus, director of the Wilson Center Polar Institute, tells Monocle. But Finnish shipbuilders could come to the rescue, as the pact clears the way for Helsinki to send some technical assistance. “Finland is the world’s leading design-and-build country for icebreakers,” says Pincus. 

As for the third Ice Pact partner? In March, Canada signed a contract with Québec-based shipbuilder Davie, which bought Helsinki shipyard dny Finland Oy in November 2023, for six new icebreakers for the country’s coast guard.

Mid-latitude countries are increasingly showing up at Arctic forums too but the primary beneficiary will be the US, where the pact was signed. “The US is the Arctic ally that’s furthest behind,” says Pincus. “We have the most catching up to do.”

Anura Kumara Dissanayake
MP and presidential candidate

The leader of Sri Lanka’s left-wing National People’s Power (NPP) coalition, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, is the frontrunner in the country’s presidential election, which will be held on 21 September. Here, monocle speaks to him in Colombo.

What does the NPP offer Sri Lanka?
Both the main opposition and the ruling party follow the same neoliberal economic model. Today, sadly, we are a bankrupt nation. We have an external debt of €34bn, poverty has increased and the price of essential goods has skyrocketed. Our priority is to save the country from this economic crisis.

What about foreign policy?
There are many power camps within a multipolar system. We won’t be a competitor in that geopolitical fight, nor will we be aligned to any party. We don’t want to be sandwiched, especially between China and India. Both countries are valued friends and, under an NPP government, we expect them to become close partners. We also want to maintain relations with the EU, the Middle East and Africa.

You won 3.16 per cent of the vote in 2019. Now you’re polling at about 40 per cent. What has changed?
In the past, people wanted us to be the opposition. Now they want us to run the country. They have realised that the two main parties rule together. Their economic policies and governance structures are the same.

Andrew Mueller on winners and losers

During an election, the focus is normally on what the contenders will do if they win. Nobody pays much attention to the loser because their response is taken for granted: a graceful concession, followed by retirement to write a vindictive memoir, or else a regroup with a view to having another crack at it next time. The 2024 US presidential election, bizarre in many respects, is also unusual in that the loser might end up commanding centre stage – especially if it happens to be Donald Trump.

We have some idea of what he might do. Perhaps, as he did last time, he’ll confect fantasies about a rigged election and have a tantrum. That might not prompt another sacking of the Capitol – the stiff sentences imposed on hundreds of participants in the attempted putsch of 6 January 2021 will hopefully have a deterrent effect. 

But a defeated Trump would likely be more desperate than he was back then. By the 2028 presidential election, he will be 82 and possibly in prison. It doesn’t require much imagination to foresee Trump encouraging another attempted coup d’état, especially if the Republicans have sufficient numbers in the House and Senate to delay or refuse the result’s certification (in 2021, 139 Republican congresspeople refused to acknowledge Joe Biden’s victory, as did eight of the party’s senators). Trump could even stage a rival inauguration, sworn in by one of his plants on the Supreme Court (or Hulk Hogan).

It is easier to anticipate a defeated Kamala Harris’s actions. As divided as the Democrats traditionally are, they remain keen on democracy. Even in the event of a cliffhanger like the 2000 presidential election, which came down to just 537 votes out of nearly six million cast in Florida, Harris would accept the result. That would be the Democrats’ short-term response. The longer-term one would need to be to ensure that the US actually has subsequent elections.

Andrew Mueller is the host of ‘The Foreign Desk’ on Monocle Radio.

Aiming for the skies
With hefty financial support from Qatar, Rwanda is hoping to become a new African aviation hub. Qatar Airways (QA) is the majority shareholder in an airport under construction near Kigali, Rwanda’s capital. Expected to open in 2027, it will be QA’s main base in Africa. Betting on the country’s strategic position at the heart of the continent, the airline is also finalising a deal in which it will take a 49 per cent stake in its flag carrier, RwandAir.

Africa’s population and economy are projected to grow rapidly over the coming decades. Though the continent currently only accounts for about 2 per cent of global air traffic, it is among the world’s fastest- growing aviation markets. According to analysis by Boeing, passenger numbers will more than quadruple in the next 20 years. However, flying from one African capital to another still too often requires at least one layover, usually in the Gulf, Cairo or even Paris. 

So far, only Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, has succeeded in becoming a hub for both passengers and cargo on the continent. A focus on connecting regional destinations and joining Star Alliance, the world’s first and largest airline partnership, have helped Ethiopian Airlines to become one of Africa’s most profitable flag carriers.

Landlocked Rwanda is now seeking to emulate and even surpass that success by making Kigali a global hub on a par with Doha, Singapore or Atlanta. That would be a major coup for the country’s president, Paul Kagame, who has been trying for years to draw foreign investment to the city with limited success. His aviation plan will depend heavily on attempts to liberalise travel regulations within Africa. Thirty-seven countries are currently signed up to the Single African Air Transport Market, an African Union initiative intended to bring down costs and barriers. If this plan takes off, the sky’s the limit.

Naveena Kottoor is Monocle’s Nairobi correspondent.

In the basket: 58 Rosomak armoured personnel carriers
Who’s buying: Poland
Who’s selling: Poland
Price: €610m
Delivery date: 2027

This is a conspicuous vote of confidence in the domestically built Rosomak (whose name means “wolverine”). Poland’s army already fields some 800 of these eight-wheeled vehicles, a variation on the amv built by Finland’s Patria. Rosomaks have carried Polish troops serving in Afghanistan and Ukrainian troops defending Ukraine; Poland has sent 200 of them to its neighbour. 

The order is part of a vast enlargement of the country’s military. Its Armament Agency has confirmed orders worth €9.4bn in 2024 and Poland expects to spend 5 per cent of its GDP on defence by next year, which would make it Europe’s highest military spender per capita. The Rosomak’s ZSSW-30 remote-controlled turret might help Warsaw pay for some of this. It has reportedly piqued the interest of South Korea, which has recently become a major supplier of tanks, artillery and aircraft to Poland.

Agenda: The death of in-flight entertainment, roadtrips on paper and the cultural industrial revolution.

Smartphones are revolutionising in-flight entertainment. Paul Charles ponders what will come next.

More than 100 years since 11 passengers in an Aeromarine Airways plane excitedly watched the first in-flight movie – a short promotional film called Howdy Chicago – are we witnessing the end of this travel tradition? The introduction of wi-fi on planes has made staying connected easier than ever, albeit with pesky outages, depending on your route (for some reason, the signal always drops over the Bay of Biscay, off the west coast of France). Today most people board clutching their mobile device, onto which they have downloaded their favourite films and TV shows. 

There’s a cost factor for airlines to consider. Onboard monitors are expensive to maintain and are often so unreliable that they periodically need to be reset by cabin crew. Turkish Airlines will soon provide free wi-fi to all passengers on every flight. Finnair, British Airways and Singapore Airlines now offer free messaging for travellers if they sign up for their respective loyalty schemes. This encourages those onboard to use their own devices for the duration of the flight, rather than rely on the larger screens installed on the plane.

In the race to be as sustainable as possible, companies are also seeking to reduce aircraft weight. By reducing the size of in-flight monitors or removing them entirely, airlines can ensure that their planes weigh less and don’t need as much fuel. As in years gone by, the aircraft of the future might have tiny monitors overhead, used to display cabin safety messages or maps showing where you are and at what height. In-flight entertainment will be provided by you, the passenger, who will be left to your own devices.

Paul Charles is the CEO of luxury travel consultancy The PC Agency and a former director of Virgin Atlantic.

Setting the stage:

London-based events company Broadwick Live is behind some of the UK’s most ambitious cultural spots, including Drumsheds, an enormous venue inside a former Ikea building in the capital’s Upper Lea Valley area. Many of its spaces have an industrial past and its latest location is no exception: New York’s Brooklyn Storehouse is a shipbuilding site on the Navy Yard industrial complex.

Once a military dockyard, the building has been used for civil shipping and boat repairs for the past 50 years. “It belongs to New York’s Economic Development Corporation, which has a clear mandate to stimulate industrial jobs,” says Simeon Aldred, Broadwick Live’s director of strategy. “We believe that we can create a new cultural industrial revolution, generating employment and socioeconomic change. Shipyards, power stations, warehouses – these buildings are often loved by the community, so developers are no longer commissioned to knock things down.”

For Broadwick Live, which runs 23 venues in the UK, expansion into the US felt like a natural next step. The availability of characterful (and gigantic) properties was another factor. “New York still has swaths of amazing industrial spaces that can be reused,” says Aldred. Brooklyn Storehouse will have a mixed schedule that spans electronic gigs, fashion shows and theatre performances. “We have to make bold strides. Culture is being squeezed out of cities in the rush to build cheap housing. We want to do something to redress that.”
brooklynstorehouse.com

Taylor Bruce
Editor in chief, Wildsam

Taylor Bruce is the editor in chief of Wildsam, an Austin-based travel brand known for its Field Guides. Wildsam has now launched a magazine that will publish 12 issues a year. Here, Bruce tells Monocle about his fondest travel memories, his plans for the magazine and where’s next on his bucket list.

Why do you love roadtrips?
Some of my favourite memories are of travelling through national parks or from Austin, Texas, to Colorado and back. It’s a rite of passage: for young adults in the US, driving from coast to coast is one of life’s most exciting experiences. Roadtrips are also an important part of our heritage. Something about the expanse of our landscape captivates the imagination. 

What has been the reaction to Wildsam’s move into magazines?
It has been great. There has been an upswell of magazines leaning into specific niches. We’re embracing the unique things that go hand in hand with roadtrips: recreational vehicles, back roads and scenic routes, and visiting small businesses along the way.

Which part of the US are you most excited to explore?
We’re focused on the West Coast now, looking at the redwoods in our national and state parks. Also, any region that touches the Great Lakes, such as Minnesota or Wisconsin, which are real hidden gems.