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
How do you create a healthy city?
We look at the city as a human habitat and explore how to include our health and needs in the architectural canvas. There are urban fixes and planning decisions that can contribute to our wellbeing so how do you create a city that is healthy for both body and mind?
1891: Victorian London
We head back in time to find out how different London looked in 1891 and go through some of the city’s achievements to get a glimpse of what life was like in the capital. We explore the architectural legacy of Victorian London, see how the introduction of the railway changed…
Heritage
We revisit the theme of heritage this week and explore why we should learn to cherish the history of our cities, from the importance of conservation in one of the world’s oldest medinas in Tunis to a tour of Vienna’s less-charming listed buildings. Plus: is the terraced house in Britain…
Cities on the big screen
This week we’ve joined forces with ‘The Cinema Show’ to bring you a special episode on the relationship between our cities and the big screen. We explore how movies can shape a city as a brand, chat with James Sanders about New York on film and head to Belgrade to…
Department stores
Department stores have redefined the shopping habits of many but what impact did they actually have in the city when they first appeared? We look at the history of the London department store and head to Paris to explore France’s first, Le Bon Marché. We also discover that Istanbul’s old…
Transformative urbanism
The city is always evolving but change is not always synonymous with transformation. This week we explore how the urban environment has gradually altered, most of the time thanks to us – ordinary citizens. We discuss the concept of participatory placemaking, head to Toronto for a chat about designing urban…
Fighting the establishment
From small businesses to citizen collectives, we discover how championing transformative change from the ground up can be the best way to alter the status quo in our cities. We see how the Ministry of Space is reclaiming public spaces in Belgrade, visit Vienna to find out how ordinary citizens…
New Year’s resolutions
With our first show in 2016 come a few resolutions for cities. We discover what resolutions won’t be broken in Paris, find out how our personal ones can change cities for the better and ask if 2016 is the year New York finally does something about its airports. Plus we…
Urban heroes
We recap our series on urban heroes, looking at four real characters in the community who are actively working to make our cities better places. Join us as we meet a preservationist in Lisbon, a civic leader in Dallas, food activists in Istanbul and a media collective in Brazil.
Best of 2015
We look back over the past 12 months at some of the most colourful and fascinating moments on ‘The Urbanist’. We hop on a houseboat in San Francisco, learn the craft of bell-ringing, chat with Daniel Libeskind and party with a cycling orchestra in Rio. Plus: we stroll up and…
