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
Why so moody?
There’s a correlation between the built environment and the way we feel as an individual but how does that apply to the population as a whole? This week we assess if there’s such a thing as a “collective mood” in our urban environments and what essentially makes a city happy…
Water under the bridge
Bridges play an active role in the way in which we interact with cities and they also influence how our urban environments evolve. This week we discover how something that is meant to unite us can be divisive, from a pedestrian crossing in Adelaide to Calgary’s Peace Bridge. Plus: we…
DNC, World Fair and taxi sharing
We hear from two mayors on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention on how to better connect local authorities with state and federal government. Plus: we hitch a ride in Beirut’s taxi-sharing system and reflect on the fact that it’s been a year since the World Fair packed its…
Rio’s Olympic urban legacy
In this special episode of ‘The Urbanist’ we look at the highs and lows of Rio’s urban makeover, how the city will be seen during the Games and more importantly what will remain after the Olympic movement leaves town.
Summer in the city
How does a city change when the sun shines? Be it balmy evenings in the park, dinner by the river or the sand between your toes, there’s something about a rise in temperature that just makes everyone that bit happier.
Keep on moving
We catch up with businesses “on the go”, from a travelling cinema in Vienna to the delicious food-truck craze in Paris. Plus: we hop on a houseboat in London that doubles as a record shop.
An ‘Urbanist’ melting pot
We report on some of the key issues that have been debated across conference rooms in the past few weeks: the impact that creative industries have in our cities at Music Cities Convention; the idea of a zero-carbon London at The Liveable City; and the challenges Prague is facing at…
Prague: Resite 2016
This week we report from Resite, a two-day conference in Prague that aims to tackle one of the biggest challenges for modern cities: migration. We speak with experts, policy-makers and more to understand how cities are standing up to the test.
Refugees and integration
We explore examples of integration in Europe, from a Viennese restaurant that hires only refugees to the Refugee Aid Miksaliste organisation in Belgrade. Plus: how a park in Copenhagen became a global symbol of multiculturalism.
AoU: the future of urbanism
It’s not an easy task to examine the great urban trends of tomorrow. This week we report from the 10th Congress of the Academy of Urbanism and hear the lessons that cities can learn from each other.
