The Urbanist

We visit one of the US’s more successful attempts at a utopian society, as well as a mass-timber tower in Portland and the winners of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

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Valerie Hamilton takes us to the world’s oldest public-housing complex, which has a very unique payment system.

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We explore a crowdfunding platform for community projects, learn how to personalise the airport-retail experience and head to the Olten Chilbi folk festival in Switzerland.

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Noor Amylia Hilda takes us to the outskirts of Beirut to visit a monument for peace constructed from instruments of war.

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We unpack two stories exemplifying the principle that thoughtful design can have a deeper impact than just being pleasant to look at.

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Liam Syed takes us to a café in Damascus that serves up regional favourites blended with stories of the Syrian capital’s past.

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We assess how cultural spaces, music venues and arts festivals can bring a city economic success.

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Wif Stenger describes how the so-called “ugliest building in Oulu” can be redesigned to serve as a community treasure.

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We chair a roundtable conversation on the future of the office and how good design can bring people back to our city centres.

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Geetanjali Krishna takes us to Budapest’s pioneering “ruin bar” to see how urban environments persevere through destruction.

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We review some strong city journalism to see how these publications and productions are helping city residents to stay informed about the environments that they live, work and play in.

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Sheena Rossiter tells us the story of Tyra, the world’s largest dinosaur, and how the community and the rest of Canada are reacting to news of her removal.

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We are in the United States this week to see how one of the world’s most car-dependent nations can make its streets more pedestrian friendly.

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To celebrate the release of Monocle’s Quality of Life Survey 2025, we record a special edition of the programme in association with Brookfield from the rooftop of their smart new offices in Mayfair, …

Naomi Xu Elegant investigates the largest office-to-residential conversion in American history, which was recently completed in New York.

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We look at adaptive reuse through two lenses: a blockbuster case in the UK capital and an attempt to get European cities to legislate for less demolition.

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Tomas Pinheiro explores how the millennia-old settlement of Shanghai has grown into China’s most populous urban area.

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We look at the effects that war and conflict can have on our cities, and how we go about rebuilding our urban areas better than before.

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Charlotte McDonald-Gibson explains the design secrets and quirks behind this neoclassical US Supreme Court Building in Washington.

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We’re calling another meeting of ‘The Urbanist’ bookclub to review two titles: ‘Designing the American Century’ and ‘Women Architects at Work’.

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