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
Can San Francisco turn its downtown around?
We report from San Francisco as Monocle’s Christopher Lord speaks with some of the key players and devotees of the city’s downtown – an area that has most keenly felt the effects of the post-pandemic lull. The city’s mayor, as well as property developers and local business people, weigh in…
Tall Stories 450: The Warburg Institute, London
Sarah Grice explores the history and current day offerings of the Warburg Institute Library.
Mipim 2025: meet the mayors
We are on the ground in Cannes for the global urban festival Mipim, where we speak with mayors from around the world who are looking to stoke interest in their cities.
Tall Stories 449: Circo Voador, Rio de Janeiro
Tomas Pinheiro tells us how concert venue Circo Voador became so intertwined with Brazilian music that it was named an intangible cultural heritage site.
Tall Stories 448: Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas
Camille Rodríguez Montilla takes us to Universidad Central de Venezuela to see why it means so much to its students, alumni and the city as a whole.
Revisiting, reviewing and restoring the city
We look back at snapshots of our cities as we speak to the man behind Milan’s Bosco Verticale a decade on from construction, revisit a collection of essays 14 years after they were written while strolling the streets of Toronto and see how the refurbishment of a traditional house in…
Tall Stories 447: Kennedy Park, Lima
Elna Schütz takes us to a park in Lima best known for its large number of well-cared-for resident cats.
Digital democracy and the new Riyadh Metro
We explore how going digital can contribute to a thriving city democracy and improve other things such as climate resilience and urban loneliness. The CEO of digital community-engagement platform Go Vocal describes its benefit for communities, the developer behind Europe’s most digitally connected neighbourhood tells us how they did it…
Tall Stories 446: Villa Rezek, Vienna
Alexei Korolyov tells us about the refurbishment of one of Vienna’s most important modernist buildings.
Developing London
We take a look at three developments in the UK capital that will be worth a visit in the months to come. From a revitalised piece of industrial history to a colourful waterside park in a grey business district and the big tenants pitching up beside Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
