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
Documenting the city
Documenting the city: how we record our urban areas, from the museum curator with a collection you can’t display to a documentary film that’s both fantasy and fiction, along with maps, photographs, audio and more – what sides of the city are we trying to preserve and create through documenting…
The missing and the unbuilt
The unbuilt: we speak to the City of London’s former planning officer about how to say “no” to those who want to build, find out why residents are thankful that Lisbon doesn’t have a new airport and look at China’s metro lines to nowhere – now headed somewhere.
City eccentrics
Oddballs: Why a city that accepts its eccentrics wins out, featuring the Parisian toilet attendant (and self-styled dame), the Sydney transgender bubble-bike rider and Rio’s own Batman who are all helping add to a healthy metropolis.
Pairing cities
Twinned: the idea of pairing cities is more than half-a-century old and arose with the best of intentions – to make everything feel a bit friendlier in the wake of a world war. But is the gesture outdated? What does Tucson really have in common with Almaty?
Drinking in cities
Drinking in cities: How booze fuels our urban centres. We look at the history of the British pub (and why Charles de Gaulle got to name one in London), Milan’s aperitivo culture and how to buy a good drop in Stockholm. Plus, how to find out if you live in…
The business of public toilets
What’s new in the business of doing your business in public? We find out how public toilets can make you money, how to design them (we get lessons from Japan) and what do with ones that have had their final flushes.
The role of districts
What does a ‘district’ do? We explore their place in the city, from the branding of neighbourhoods by their past or present industry to give them a story to tacking on ‘village’ or ‘quarter’ to give them soul.
Free spaces
Freedom: What are the spaces in a city where we feel free to express ourselves and do as we please – and does freedom make a city a better place to live? And what about services: should parks have free wi-fi and is public art preferable to a gallery? We…
The impact of hipsters
The Hipster: they are part of a very visible and oft-derided subculture that has pushed loft-style living into big business and filled the streets with couture coffee. But what is the long-term impact of these of-the-moment taste makers when it comes to our cities?
The lobbyists
The lobbyists: not the bad or ugly, but the good. How are those lobbying City Hall, whether through closed-door meetings or open public festivals, getting their messages heard – and changing the metropolis for the better?
