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
The guided city
The guided city: tourist or resident, what role do guides have in opening up a city? Off the beaten path or firmly on it, how do we challenge our understanding of cities through new ways of seeing, touching, smelling or tasting them?
The perfect city block
The perfect city block: from the types of tree and best places to sit, to the scale of an apartment block and the width of the pavement – what is it that makes the perfect city block? And, who lives there?
City behaviour
Oh, behave: How do cities affect how we interact? We head to Rio de Janeiro, New York, Lisbon and London to listen, watch and walk our way through urban behaviour.
Urban religion
Religion: star, cross and crescent – we ask what impact religion has on our cities, whether it’s the singing sermon tourist track or church condo conversions.
DIY cities
DIY: From the one big project that transforms your life to the 100 little things you should do in a day, how do you build your own city? We’ll meet the man who set up his own neighbourhood transit authority and the Berliners building their own perfect apartment block –…
The kids are all right
The kids are all right: the big bad city isn’t always made for those who are 2ft tall so we look at how children live in the megacity and why urban design is becoming a new hobby for cities’ youngest residents.
Bloomber’s New York – Part 2
Bloomberg’s New York: In the second of a two-part documentary on Michael Bloomberg’s 12 years at New York City Hall, we look at the former mayor’s management style, why he loves a cubicle and how he built such a loyal team.
Bloomberg’s New York – Part 1
Bloomberg’s New York: the first of a two-part documentary on Michael Bloomberg’s 12 years at City Hall. We look at what New York built – from changing the skyline to opening the High Line – and why some street vendors’ jobs are on the line.
2013 highlights
The best bits: highlights of ‘The Urbanist’ from 2013.
The festive season
Christmas: from festive markets new and old to what to do with all those discarded trees – what does the festive season mean for a city?