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
Tall Stories 6: Cavenagh Bridge
This week we head to Singapore to take a tour of Cavenagh Bridge. This elegant suspension bridge showcased new civil-engineering techniques under British rule and has featured in many of Joseph Conrad’s novels. Our guide is Kelvin Ang, director of conservation management at the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore. ‘Tall…
Mapping the city
Compass and ruler in hand, we examine the history and politics behind the mapping of our cities. We look at new approaches in Toronto and find out more about the Graphia project, where Scandinavian aesthetics meet Hong Kong.
Tall Stories 5: Oslo Rådhus
We head to one of Oslo’s most famous buildings: Rådhus, or city hall. Designed by Arnstein Arneberg and Magnus Poulsson, it is the proud venue of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony and was named the city’s structure of the century back in 2005. ‘Tall Stories’ is a weekly feature brought…
Changing dynamics
Can old manufacturing towns hold the key to innovation? A new book called ‘The Smartest Places on Earth’ believes that rust-belt cities are now brain-belt ones. Plus: can you guess which city is set to be the first in the world to have its own bike mayor?
Tall Stories 4: Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial
This week we head to Honolulu to visit one of the grandest and most peculiar buildings in the city. Not only does it commemorate the service personnel who died in the First World War but it’s also an open-air sea-water swimming pool. ‘Tall Stories’ is a weekly feature brought to…
Density
How do you tackle overcrowding without expanding a city’s footprint? We explore a new study by Hassell and chat with Joel Kotkin, who’s challenging the conventional “pack-and-stack” and high-rise strategies. Plus: 60 years of designing Hong Kong.
Tall Stories 3: Cooperative Building
This week we head to what was once Belgrade’s grandest edifice: the Cooperative Building. Established as the HQ for a joint-stock company, it became the seat of several institutions over the years and today houses the Belgrade Waterfront project. Our guide is Milutin Folic, Belgrade’s city architect. ‘Tall Stories’ is…
National identity
What is it that makes us feel like we belong somewhere? From Estonia and France to Canada and Italy, it’s all about the sense of a nation as a whole – and often, what makes them proud too.
Tall Stories 2: Queen Square
The starting point for this week’s ‘Tall Stories’ is a tiny square of metal screwed on to concrete in London’s Queen Square. It’s all about memory and healing, an explosion echoing across 101 years. ‘Tall Stories’ is a weekly feature brought to you by the team behind ‘The Urbanist’.
Urban experiences
This week is all about how we experience our cities. We discover the joys of urban tree-climbing, hop over to sunny Portugal with our Lisbon Passport and hear the sounds of the Amazon in Times Square.
