
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
How to be an urbanist
How to be an urbanist: we ask what qualifications are required to become a city planner and learn about a planning icon – Jane Jacobs.
Examining Vancouver
Vancouver: David Michon speaks to the Mayor of Vancouver, finds out farmer’s markets lasting appeal and how the city should become a hub for Asia.
Investigating suburbs
Suburbs special: we head to the outskirts of the city to see how suburbs are being improved and also why they play a vital role.
World Urban Forum special
World Urban Forum special: we head to Naples to meet mayors, administrators and experts and also learn why China has no shanty towns.
Cities on a diet
Fitness: how best to use city rivers, what health regime has Delhi in stitches and the US mayor who put his city on a diet.
Explaining Detroit
Detroit: a special on the once-thriving city that’s reinventing itself as a cultural, entrepreneurial and urban-farming hub. Plus, a chat with Detroit mayor Dave Bing.
Cities on foot
Pedestrians: from London’s Exhibition Road to the king of all pedestrianised avenues in Copenhagen, we walk paths, parkways and public spaces on foot.
Trees: a city’s best friend
Trees: how the French stay trimmed at Tuileries Garden, Delhi’s planting mistakes left by the British and why trees can be a mayor’s best friend.
Dealing with death
Death: how do cities find space to deal with their dead? We head to Paris, Hong Kong, San Francisco and London, to find out.
Urban trading
Trade streets: connecting the city’s economy with its history, we visit some of the most distinct retail areas in London, Paris, Tokyo and Hebron.