The Urbanist
Monocle’s guide to better cities. Explore urban innovation, cutting-edge infrastructure, and compact living with insights from planners, architects, and city leaders.
Latest Episodes
The Urbanist: best of 2016
We bring you some of the best moments on ‘The Urbanist’ this year, including reports from Rio de Janeiro, Moscow and Seattle – and even a chat from the top of a tree.
Tall Stories: best of 2016
We bring you highlights from 2016’s ‘Tall Stories’, including a tale of the river Thames, the Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial and Singapore’s Cavenagh Bridge.
Jane Jacobs
In a special episode of ‘The Urbanist’, we look at the life and legacy of Jane Jacobs, one of the most influential urban thinkers and city activists of our time.
Tall Stories 36: RKO Pictures
The RKO Pictures logo once conjured up feelings of anticipation among cinemagoers around the world but today its history is largely relegated to the pages of history books. However, as Monocle’s Ben Rylan learns there are still a few clues left for eager Los Angeles sidewalk explorers to discover as…
Come together
This week we report from the C40 conference where mayors gathered to discuss how to implement positive change in the world. Hop on a boat in Lisbon to talk about how collective action and architecture come together and we unpack the emerging trend of building over transit lines.
Tall Stories 35: Trafalgar Square’s Christmas tree
As nations around the globe get into the festive season, our Business editor Matt Alagiah takes a look at one of the UK’s most established and deeply symbolic Christmas traditions: the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree.
Grand tour
This week we head to Cairo to talk about how good design has helped the city change for the better, chat with Brazil’s tourism minister Marx Beltrão and catch up with Buenos Aires mayor Horacio Rodriguez Larreta.
Tall Stories 34: take a dive
Fernando Augusto Pacheco tells us all about his love affair with swimming pools, from his native São Paulo to his community pool in London’s Soho.
All aboard – choo, choo!
The city that is bringing back trains from the late 1950s, an award-winning station with no town and how Austria is aiming to become Europe’s largest night-train operator.
Tall Stories 33: Zurich’s drinking fountains
Switzerland’s largest city might be best known as a global centre for banking and finance but a quick glance at Zürich’s streets can tell a different story: the city is home to about 1,200 drinking fountains.
