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
Mind your manners
There’s a set of unspoken rules of conduct that make our cities tick: standing on the right on an escalator, properly tipping in a restaurant and behaving in a certain way on public transport. But how do people manage to remain civil in a hostile urban environment? Join us as…
Power city
We explore how politics have changed Brussels, visit an old embassy for sale in Belgrade and discover some of Hong Kong’s power clubs. Plus: we ask if Vienna is still the stage for international diplomacy and walk through Embassy Row in Washington DC.
Easy access
The way our buildings and public spaces are planned has a significant impact on our quality of life. We explore the theme of accessibility: from how to use inclusive design to a cab service in Hong Kong especially for wheelchair passengers. Plus: we find out what happens when technology and…
Law and order
Crime and illegality are ubiquitous in our urban environment, from illegal housing, street art, rough sleeping to organised crime. On this episode of The Urbanist we tackle the illegal city and look at how our cities are dealing with those who are bending the rules.
City corners
Hear about the corners in our cities. Find out about what makes the perfect corner shop, the superb grid design of Eixample in Barcelona, London’s very own Speakers’ Corner and the most iconic corner building of all, The Flatiron Building in New York.
Easy living
As Monocle’s Quality of Life survey hits the newsstands, we take a look at what’s making our cities tick. How is Tokyo at the forefront of an urban-garden revolution and how does Vienna aim to create a major business hub? Plus: we discuss what metrics we will have next year…
Knock on wood
We discover the world of luck and fortune in our cities, from how architects apply the Chinese philosophy of feng shui to their work to a district thought to be so lucky that it was named Boa Sorte (‘good luck’ in Portuguese). Plus, we look at superstition in Catholic Italy…
The Happy City
We bring you a special episode from this year’s congress of the Academy of Urbanism. With a focus on happiness and wellbeing, we met with architects, designers and urbanists to discover how to make the most of our cities.
Under the city
We dig way down as we explore what lies underneath our cities, from a river hidden beneath Elizabeth Street in Melbourne to the world’s first subterranean park. Plus: we talk about underground urbanism and how to get people to invest below ground.
On the move
We take the lead from Monocle’s pages as we look at how transport is changing our cities. Tune in as we hitch a ride in a water taxi in Toronto, go to Bolivia’s capital by ‘teleférico’, explore Vienna’s aviation links and meet Beirut’s train guardians.
