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 436: Tallinna Linnahall
David Plaisant visits a Soviet-era concert hall that has been disused for the best part of 15 years and is loved and loathed by the city’s residents in equal measure.
The positives of public parks, Kitchener’s glockenspiel and the art of letter carving
We assess all the benefits that public green space brings to a city, visit one of the most German cities in Canada to see how the town glockenspiel brings residents together and investigate the ancient art of letter carving.
Tall Stories 435: Streetcars in El Paso
Gregory Scruggs hops aboard a street car in El Paso to find out how the revival of this transportation option has struck a chord with the locals.
Protecting London’s past
We explore some iconic parts of London’s past through ‘London Lost Interiors’, a book revealing the great indoors of the UK capital. Plus: a cylindrical example of brutalist architecture, Space House, which has been preserved for future generations.
Tall Stories 434: Millionaire’s Row, George Town
Tomás Pinheiro discusses the history of a prestigious street in the capital of Malaysia’s Penang state and assesses some of the new developments taking over the area.
Utopian Hours 2024
Monocle’s Ed Stocker reports from Turin’s annual festival of urbanism, Utopian Hours, where a collection of inspiring speakers discussed everything from meanwhile spaces to climate resilience. Plus: we visit the river Po to see how it interacts with the Piedmontese capital.
Tall Stories 433: Holcim Foundation Awards series: Sou Fujimoto
Each week we welcome one of the jury chairs of the Holcim Foundation Awards – the world’s premier competition for sustainable design – to hear their views on creating uplifting places, fostering a healthy planet and building thriving communities. In the fifth and final episode we sit down with the…
US elections special
We are using the upcoming US election to put a spotlight on American cities and the challenges they face. We discuss housing struggles, how to get around, the changing world of work, the resulting state of downtown cores and how apps are altering our urban fabric.
Tall Stories 432: Holcim Foundation Awards series: Sandra Barclay
Every week we welcome one of the jury chairs of the Holcim Foundation Awards – the world’s premier competition for sustainable design – to hear their views on creating uplifting places, fostering a healthy planet and building thriving communities. In episode four we meet Peruvian architect and co-founder of Barclay…
WEF: Urban Transformation Summit
Monocle’s Carlota Rebelo reports from the World Economic Forum’s annual Urban Transformation Summit, which took place in San Francisco this week. We discover the city’s plans to build a resilient waterfront, hear about South Africa’s ambitions to tackle the housing crisis and how the private sector can help deliver urban…
