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
Rebirth of public art
We look at how public art can contribute to a rebirth for cities and create more welcoming public spaces. Is there a better way to ensure that your city remains vibrant than by integrating art with the built environment?
Tall Stories 269: Paul and Babe, Bemidji
Kimberly Bradley visits the iconic roadside statues of the lumberjack Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox to ponder what these oversized attractions, and others like them, mean to tourists today.
Reading the city
Bookshops are anchors in our communities, where we can go to get away to far-flung places without leaving our own neighbourhoods.
Tall Stories 268: Ljubljana Mosque
Guy De Launey brings us the story of a mosque in Slovenia that was more than 50 years in the making.
School’s out
How does inner-city school design affect the way children learn and grow, and how should school blueprints change in the future?
Tall Stories 267: Danube-Auen National Park, Vienna
We visit one of the finest remaining low wetlands in Europe, of which a large chunk sits within Vienna’s borders.
The ideological city
We investigate the impact that past and present political ideologies have on the way our urban areas look and function.
Tall Stories 266: Hong Kong General Post Office
Monocle’s Nina Milhaud discusses building preservation in Hong Kong with architectural historian Charles Lai, as they look at a classic piece of civic architecture that is due for demolition.
The summer of play
How can we design our streets to encourage play and give young people back the summer that was lost to the global pandemic?
Tall Stories 265: The Royal Horticultural Society, Wisley
Monocle’s Emma Nelson visits the UK’s Royal Horticultural Society to see how it’s monitoring trees to tackle climate change.
