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
Best of Tall Stories 2019
We take a whirlwind trip around the world before returning home to London in our look back at the best of our Tall Stories series in 2019.
Best of 2019
Monocle’s Andrew Tuck runs through some of the highlights of 2019 on The Urbanist, including the thoughts of Los Angeles’ chief sustainability officer, a tour of the city of Cayenne and a discussion with architect Alfredo Brillembourg.
Smart ideas
Technology plays a huge role in our relationship with cities: from simple things such as being able to pay for your subway ride with your phone to more serious efforts such as using drones to help keep protests peaceful.
Tall Stories 187: Santa Claus Village, Rovaniemi
This week we head to Finnish Lapland, regarded as the home of Santa Claus, to see what life is like in a town where it’s Christmas all year round.
Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz
We meet Puerto Rican politician Carmen Yulín Cruz, the mayor of San Juan and an outspoken critic of President Trump’s handling of the aftermath of hurricanes Maria and Irma.
Tall Stories 186: The Doorbell
Monocle’s Georgina Godwin takes us from Harare to London to explore the significance of the humble doorbell – and how its chimes can become soundtracks to the various episodes of our lives.
Comedy and urbanism
Laughter is often the best way to deal with complex issues so it’s no wonder that it can make city living more agreeable. This week we explore how humour can be found in the built environment.
Tall Stories 185: Ghosts
Andrew Tuck contemplates the urban apparitions that bring a sense of belonging to the cities in which we live.
Kindness
Can a city be kind? And how do citizens, activists and civic organisations show they care about building friendly places?
Tall Stories 184: Bank of Georgia, Tbilisi
We visit the Bank of Georgia’s Tbilisi HQ: a unique building that takes its design cues from the ‘Space City’ concept, aiming to cover less ground and give the surrounding area back to nature.
