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 372: Schumann’s Bar am Hofgarten, Munich
Tom Webb takes us to Munich’s best-known bar, where owner Charles Schumann is famous for cultivating exceptional hospitality.
Switzerland’s ‘Badenfahrt’
Every ten years Switzerland builds a city within a city for ‘Badenfahrt’, the largest urban festival in the country. Celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, it’s more spectacular than ever and we tagged along to find out what goes behind an endeavour such as this.
Tall Stories 371: Bunker St Pauli, Hamburg
Ed Stocker takes us to a surprising wartime relic that he discovered on a recent walk through the streets of Hamburg.
USA in focus
We cast our eyes across to the US to review some recent urbanism stories that have caught our attention.
Tall Stories 370: Auroville, Tamil Nadu
Tomás Pinheiro takes us to Auroville, an experimental township mostly in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, to see what lessons we can learn from this “laboratory for humanity”.
On-campus arts districts and urban biomimicry
We investigate a new trend at universities in the US as they begin to devote parts of their campuses to arts and culture. We also find out what city planners can learn from nature as we speak to an expert in biomimicry.
Tall Stories 369: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Chris Cermak explores the role of Gettysburg – the site of the American Civil War’s most famous battle – in addressing the country’s modern-day divisions.
Health and heat resilience
We explore how the design of healthcare facilities can have an impact on public wellbeing and we speak to Asia’s first chief heat officer about how building better heat resilience is essential in our cities.
Tall Stories 368: Udaan Park, Udaipur
Ananya Singhal of Studio Saar takes us on a tour of his firm’s recently completed lakeside pocket park in the Indian city of Udaipur.
Biodiversity in the city
How important are flora and fauna to a flourishing city? We investigate the merits of encouraging an urban insect population, the benefits of wildlife sanctuaries in city limits and we visit a turtle rehabilitation centre in a Dubai hotel.
