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
Enjoying the city
From increasing green space to reducing traffic levels and improving mobility, there are several ways to make city-living a little easier. But can you measure just how tranquil urban spaces really are?
Tall Stories 92: Wilton’s Music Hall
A sneak peak into the history of one of the world’s last surviving grand music halls.
More than a title
From night mayors and music czars to bicycle mayors and ministers of loneliness, we explore the unusual ways to make a city tick.
Tall Stories 91: the Hollywood Walk of Fame
For the millions of yearly visitors to Los Angeles, there is one landmark that perhaps speaks most clearly of the glamour and the glories of North America’s film-making centre: the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Tomos Lewis goes on a stroll.
Cities and Trump: one year on
The 2016 race to the White House was one of the most divisive campaigns in modern US history. One year on, we assess US cities under Trump and ask if there’s a silver lining: are they taking charge of their own futures?
Tall Stories 90: the Beehive
We head to Wellington to take a closer look at a particular wing of the New Zealand Parliament. Monocle contributor Clair Urbahn tells us the story of the Beehive.
Temporary urbanism
It’s not all about pop-up cafés and gathering a couple of neighbours to set up a street market. Temporary urbanism can have a huge impact in cities, allowing planners to push some of their bolder and more unusual ideas through the bureaucracy of city hall.
Tall Stories 89: the tin church
This week we head to the small village of Laragh near the Irish border, to hear the story of a tin church that is enduring the test of time thanks to the community’s restoration work.
What’s new?
As New York enters the new year with murder figures at a record low, we look at criminality in the US. We’ve also got a public-transport tale of two cities – Athens’ wi-fi wrangle and London’s Tube triumph – and a review of the smart cities at CES 2018.
Tall Stories 88: Dubai World Trade Centre
When one thinks of Dubai, one thinks of its grand gestures. Today we hear the story of one of its first skyscrapers, the Dubai World Trade Centre.
