The Urbanist
Monocle
With an influential audience of city mayors, urban planners and architects, this is Monocle’s guide to making better cities, be it new technology, state-of-the-art subways or compact apartments. Nominee in the Smartest Podcast category of the 2019...
Location:
London, United Kingdom
Networks:
Monocle
Description:
With an influential audience of city mayors, urban planners and architects, this is Monocle’s guide to making better cities, be it new technology, state-of-the-art subways or compact apartments. Nominee in the Smartest Podcast category of the 2019 British Podcast awards.
Language:
English
Contact:
Midori House, 1 Dorset Street, London, W1U 4EG, UK +44 20 7725 4388
Email:
info@monocle.com
Episodes
How major events have influenced Milan’s urban infrastructure
4/16/2026
We look at the legacy left by Milan’s Expo 2015 and the Olympic Winter Games on urban infrastructure. Then: Ottawa’s winter-transport report. Plus: Hong Kong’s plans to develop 120 hectares of protected wetlands.
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Duration:00:30:54
Tall Stories 504: Caracas’s El Helicoide – from mall to political prison to rebirth
4/13/2026
Camille Rodríguez Montilla investigates the dark history and hopeful future of Caracas’s mall-turned-political-prison – El Helicoide.
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Duration:00:06:10
Breaking ground or breaking promises? New York mayor Zohran Mamdani’s first 100 days in office
4/9/2026
We discuss some of the promises that led to Zohran Mamdani’s election, from affordability and small businesses to transit. Plus: how are immigrant communities reacting to one of their own sitting in city hall?
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Duration:00:37:20
Tall Stories 503: The Sámi Cultural Centre in Finland and its impact
4/6/2026
Petri Burtsoff takes us to Sajos, in Finland’s northern Lapland, a centre for culture and administration in the Sámi community.
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Duration:00:05:32
Finding out what our urban futures hold in Ljubljana
4/2/2026
Guy de Launey reports from Urban Future, a Better Cities event taking place this year in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana.
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Duration:00:29:38
Tall Stories 502: The Columbus Lighthouse’s bizarre origin story
3/30/2026
Gregory Scruggs tells the odd tale of the energy-sapping totem that is Santo Domingo’s Columbus Lighthouse.
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Duration:00:07:01
How Apple delivers a sense of place to the built environment
3/26/2026
We speak with Apple’s VP of places, Kristina Raspe, about how the tech giant’s real-estate portfolio adds to cities. Then: the changing face of Medellin and we farewell our long-time producer.
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Duration:00:30:05
Tall Stories 501: How does Taipei 101 stay standing? It’s what’s inside that counts
3/23/2026
Clarissa Wei climbs Taiwan’s best-known tower to investigate the clever engineering that keeps it in the sky.
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Duration:00:06:35
More from the world’s leading real estate event – Mipim
3/19/2026
We reflect on Mipim conversations with the executive director of UN Habitat, as well as representatives from the New York City Housing Authority, Miami-Dade Beacon Council and ING Media.
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Duration:00:29:54
Tall Stories 500: Shadows of Errol Flynn in Mallorca
3/16/2026
Andrew Tuck goes searching for the remains of the home of a 1930s Hollywood star in Mallorca’s Bay of Palma.
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Duration:00:05:34
Meet the mayors at Mipim, the world’s leading real-estate event
3/12/2026
We report from the world’s leading real estate event, Mipim. Here we meet mayors from Turku to Genoa and Lisbon to Rome who are putting their city’s best foot forward to drive investment.
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Duration:00:44:39
Tall Stories 499
3/9/2026
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Duration:00:06:37
Balancing security and aesthetic appeal in Oslo’s New Government Quarter
3/5/2026
We visit Oslo to see the New Government Quarter, which has transformed the site of the city’s 2011 terrorist attacks into an open, civic space. Then: we explore the new Louise Tower on Brussels’s iconic Avenue Louise.
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Duration:00:31:11
Tall Stories 498: The many faces of the Maritime Hotel in New York
3/2/2026
Paul Logothetis takes us to a hotel in Manhattan that has been transforming since its construction in the 1960s.
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Duration:00:06:22
Málaga has transformed – but does its second act come at a cost?
2/26/2026
We speak to Málaga’s officials, architects, artists and restaurateurs to assess its urban transformation. Plus: we speak to the CEO of Arup to hear about how the firm is helping cities to thrive.
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Duration:00:32:04
Tall Stories 497: Maracaibo's modest Metro system
2/23/2026
Gustavo Ocando Alex tells the story of the Maracaibo Metro, which has garnered a particularly diminutive nickname thanks to its limited coverage – the result of a lack of funding and alleged corruption.
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Duration:00:04:27
North America’s fastest-growing city: How Toronto is taking shape
2/19/2026
Training our lens on Toronto, we look at Pinnacle Skytower, one of its newest skyscrapers; explore Indigenous Hub, a new mixed-use development; and learn about Frank Darling, an architectural icon of the city.
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Duration:00:29:20
Tall Stories 496: Villa Beer – a modernist monument in Vienna
2/16/2026
Alexei Korolyov visits a key work of Viennese modernism by Austrian design icon Josef Frank, which has been reopened after a five-year restoration.
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Duration:00:06:41
How Santo Domingo’s old town is attractive for both residents and visitors
2/12/2026
We visit the capital of the Dominican Republic to see how its historic centre is balancing residential and tourist appeal. We also stop by Sydney’s newly reopened fish market and hear from the co-CEO of Waymo.
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Duration:00:31:57
Tall Stories 495: Practising preservation at Buffalo’s Assembly House
2/9/2026
The founder and director of Assembly House, Dennis Maher, describes how his project is helping to preserve more than just structures in the city of Buffalo.
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Duration:00:06:59