13 April 2017
Episode 287
28 minutes
Photo: Flickr
This week we talk to Sarah Williams Goldhagen on the way our built environment shapes us, hear about Toronto’s missing middle and New York’s latest addition: a floating food forest.
13 April 2017
Share episode
DownloadChapter 1
14 minutes
15
15
/
The built environment has a direct impact on the way we relate to each other, as well as our cities. In a new book ‘Welcome to Your World: How the Built Environment Shapes Our Lives’, architecture critic and scholar Sarah Williams Goldhagen makes a compelling case for human-centred design.
14 minutes
Share chapter 1

Chapter 2
11 minutes
Photo: Flickr
15
15
/
Toronto’s housing stock is increasingly split between the high-rise glass towers of downtown and the larger townhouses of the city – with little in between. Architect Marco VanderMaas tells us about Toronto’s “missing middle”.
11 minutes
Share chapter 2

Chapter 3
5 minutes
Photo: Flickr
15
15
/
This month the Swale floating food forest will be docking in three different boroughs of New York. The farm features fruit trees and other crops such as kale, asparagus and coriander, allowing visitors to enjoy nature by picking and sowing – in the middle of the river.
5 minutes
Share chapter 3

Want more radio episodes like these in your inbox?
Sign up to Monocle’s email newsletters to stay on top of news and opinion, plus the latest from the magazine, radio, film and shop.
The Urbanist - latest episodes
Tall Stories 308: Returning to Kyiv
Monocle’s Olga Tokariuk returns to Kyiv to assess the current state of day-to-day life after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Floriade – growing green cities
We report from the international horticultural show that takes place in the Netherlands every 10 years. Once it wraps up, the 60-hectare site will be adapted to become a fully functioning new part of the city of Almere.
Tall Stories 307: La Carbonería, Barcelona
David Stevens heads to the Catalan capital of Barcelona to visit a historic building that offers a fresh perspective on one of its long-hidden façades.
ULI Europe Conference: the future of cities
We’re in Brussels reporting from the Urban Land Institute’s Europe Conference and Young Leaders Forum to explore the emerging trends for cities and what comes next.
Tall Stories 306: Fort Jesus, Mombasa
Samson Mbogo visits Kenya’s Fort Jesus, a Unesco heritage site that is both a major tourist attraction and a symbol of a much darker history.
Global snapshots and city stories
We flick through a few city snapshots and discuss some stories that we have been following from around the globe.
Tall Stories 305: Sesc Pompéia, São Paulo
Monocle’s Ivan Carvalho looks at a remarkable piece of architecture designed by Lina Bo Bardi, whose efforts to preserve an oil-drum factory in the middle of Brazil’s biggest city resulted in a refined design that meets the…
Housing design
We look at the different ways in which cities are bringing innovative designs to their new housing stock to ensure that growing urban populations have a place that they can be proud to call home.
Tall Stories 304: The Red Fort, New Delhi
Geetanjali Krishna looks at the Red Fort in Delhi – and the claim to its ownership by a woman purporting to be the oldest surviving descendant of India’s last Mughal emperor.
Lessons from history
What lessons can cities learn from the past? We discuss Leonardo da Vinci’s plans for the ideal city, sketched after a pandemic; revisit the pneumatic tube system; and re-examine the humble drinking fountain.
Tall Stories 303: Jerusalem International YMCA
Emily Wither visits one of the world’s most stunning YMCA buildings to explore how the space has helped to bring together a divided city.
Helsinki report, part two: Innovation
How Helsinki is creating more liveable spaces, the latest technology being rolled out by Kone and we visit an active mine 200 metres below ground, which is now used as a testing laboratory for high-rise buildings.
Tall Stories 302: French Communist Party headquarters, Paris
Hester Underhill visits a strange subterranean building in the French capital designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer.
Helsinki report, part one: Sustainability
Climate change is the biggest threat to our cities. Helsinki has set the ambitious target to be carbon-neutral by 2030, a goal matched by global engineering firm KONE. Monocle 24’s Carlota Rebelo reports from Finland.
Tall Stories 301: Bonus Facciate, Milan
Ed Stocker examines Milan’s recent obsession with building renovations and the tax incentives behind it.