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
Special: Bill de Blasio’s second term
Bill de Blasio’s first term was marred by investigations into his fundraising, as well as disagreements with governor Andrew Cuomo and President Trump. So what are the issues at hand as he enters his second term?
Tall Stories 81: San Francisco’s fog
It comes out of nowhere, descending rapidly to chill and isolate residents and visitors alike. But the fog in San Francisco is more inspiring than inconvenient and viewed as a beloved part of the city’s fabric.
CityLab Paris, part 2: delivering change
The second part of our report from the urbanism conference. As more and more cities around the world start to think and act global, how can we better deliver change around the world?
Tall Stories 80: Terrassenhaus
First theorised by the Austrian architect and designer Adolf Loos in the 1920s, the Terrassenhaus was not realised until the mid-1970s in several big housing development projects on the periphery of Vienna. This week, Monocle’s Alexei Korolyov tours one of the more well-known examples.
CityLab Paris, part 1: mayors special
More than 40 mayors, numerous civic officials and urban leaders from across the globe flocked to Paris earlier this week to discuss the trends of the cities of tomorrow. In this first episode, we keep up with the mayors.
Tall Stories 79: Revamping the Isar River
Originally central to establishing Munich, the Isar was, sadly, neglected. Our correspondent Janek Schmidt tells us how it is being regenerated and adding a new dimension to the city’s quality of life.
Identity
What is that sense that distinguishes one city from another? From urban features, to planning, cultural institutions or values, there are certain quirks that immediately define a city or region.
Tall Stories 78: Torre Velasca
On the eve of its 60th anniversary we decide to take a closer look at Milan’s Torre Velasca, a skyscraper that, despite its groundbreaking design, received mixed reactions on its debut.
The way forward
We find out how a tent used by Mongolian nomads is getting a facelift, we take the temperature of the race for the mayor’s office in New York and hear about the country with the most freshwater in the world – that also suffers from drought. Plus: Amsterdam bans tourist…
Tall Stories 77: Kulttuurisauna
This week Monocle’s Chiara Rimella bares all and explains to us how an Alvar Aalto-inspired sauna convinced her to dive headfirst into Helsinki’s culture.
