Open City
Open City is a charity dedicated to making architecture and built heritage more open, accessible and equitable.
Providing you with essential listening, inspiring voices and built environment insights – the Open City Podcast covers news and current events as well as in depth studies of landmark buildings, and cities around the UK and world.
At the centre of our line-up is our flagship show The Brief – an award-winning review of the big stories in architecture, planning and housing news – hosted by Sahiba Chadha and Fran Williams on a fortnightly basis.
Alongside this is Deconstructed – a monthly podcast hosted by Matthew Lloyd Roberts taking apart the architecture of individual buildings and InterCities – a monthly podcast hosted by Owen Hatherley exploring municipal transformation around the world.
All three shows profile new, expert and diverse voices from across industry, journalism, academia and beyond. The Open City Podcast is produced by Hunter Charlton and Paige Reynolds. The commissioning editor is Merlin Fulcher.
The Open City Podcast is supported by Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture platform and produced in association with the Architects’ Journal, London Society, C20 Society and Save Britain's Heritage. The Open City Podcast is recorded and produced at the Open City offices located in Bureau.
To help support excellent and accessible, independent journalism about the buildings and the urban environment, please become an Open City Friend.
Photo credit: Owen Hatherley portrait © Antonio Olmos
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Update frequency
- every 6 days
- Average duration
- 35 minutes
- Episodes
- 249
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2025
Leisured City pt2 - a guided walk around the West End
Following on from Merlin's interview with Angus Lockyer on the Londown this week, here is the second leg of the Leisured City guided walk -- part of Angus' new podcast series historicity.
This episode…
Spotlighting the women written out of London’s built environment history
Click here to get early, ad-free access to the Londown, and support accessible independent journalism from Open City.
This week Merlin speaks to the historian, and writer and presenter of the audio wa…
The Rental Crisis with Michael Walker
Click here to get early, ad-free access to the Londown, and support accessible independent journalism from Open City.
This week Merlin Speaks to the broadcaster and and host of the brand new podcast s…
Why Materials Matter in the Age of Climate Emergency
In this episode we are zooming in on the importance of materials, as we design our way through the climate emergency.
Joining Paul are Vanessa Norwood and Duncan Paybody. Duncan is Director of Landsca…
Visionary plans to deliver 1.2 million homes around rural train stations
Click here to get early, ad-free access to the Londown, and support accessible independent journalism from Open City.
This week Phin speaks to Denean Rowe, project manager at the Town and Country Plan…
Supreme Court grants luxury homeowners victory over Tate Modern
Click here to get early, ad-free access to the Londown, and support accessible independent journalism from Open City.
This week Merlin speaks to Charles Begley, Chief Executive of the London Property …
Carbon credits and zero carbon construction
This week Merlin speaks to the architect and Director of Citizens Design Bureau, Katy Marks.
Huge doubts over carbon credits, a key pillar of Net Zero construction | Pop-up urinal death prompts debate…
Could Architects be Replaced by Machines?
This week Merlin speaks to the architect, director of Frame Projects and chair of Open City; Deborah Denner.
A linear park for Camden on the route of a disused railway wins approval | New research rev…
Leisured City - an Audio Walking Tour of The West End
Historicity is a brilliant new series of audio walking tours which explore how cities got to be the way they are - starting with London.
This episode - Leisured City - covers the transformation of th…
Could increasing congestion on London’s roads improve transport?
This week Merlin speaks to the architecture critic and Chief Executive of Open City, Phineas Harper.
Could increasing congestion on London’s roads be the real cure to all transport woes? | Shock as Gr…
School of Place and the revival of traditional architecure
This week Rachel speaks to the architect and co-author of the new book 'Meanwhile City', Petra Marko.
Census map blows the lid on London's housing and transport inequalities | Michael Gove vows to rev…
What public space designed for men, means for women
In this episode we are looking at how public space has been designed by and for men, and how this can have potentially deadly consequences for women.
Joining Paul are Eleanor Trenfield, Jade Goto and …
Building with Timber, with engineer Andrew Lawrence and architect Lina Ghotmeh
Open City presents Episode One, Season Two of Words on Wood, a podcast series created by the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) in conjunction with Disegno journal, that delves deep into the big…
The Londown Christmas Review of the Year
Join Phin Harper, Peter Arkley Bloxham, Sonny Malhotra, Cath Slessor and Ruth Lang for a epic end of year quiz where we look at some of the biggest, boldest, and down-right strangest stories we've co…
Leading London architects called out over Qatar world cup
This week Merlin speaks to the journalist and the former director of inclusion at the RIBA -- Marsha Ramroop.
Leading London architects called out over Qatar world cup | China’s new embassy next to To…
100 years of Women shaping Landscape Architecture
In this second episode of Talking Landscape - a monthly series produced by the Landscape Institute and Open City - host Paul Lincoln speaks to two contributors to the autumn edition of the Landscape …
Audio walking tour of London Bridge
A walking tour of the extraordinary architecture around London Bridge, Southwark and the Square Mile created for Shangri-La The Shard, led by architect Charles Holland.
You can find details about the …
From black and white nostalgia to internet memes
This week our host Rachel speaks to the urban designer, and co-director of ZCD Architects, Dinah Bornat.
Toddler killed by mould a defining wake-up call for the housing sector | New Voter ID rules fre…
You can't pickle a shark in a bedsit
This week Merlin speaks to award winning architectural journalist, and author of 'Monumental Lies: Culture Wars and the Truth about the Past', Robert Bevan.
The Grenfell inquiry concludes and the long…
Austerity hits London's cultural sector
This week Merlin speaks to Alpa Depani, an architect and head of strategic planning and design the London Borough of Waltham Forest.
Austerity restarts with £50 million pounds of cuts to London cultur…