The Urbanist
The Urbanist
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.Social links:
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Tall Stories 494: Metropolitan Ervin Szabó Library, Budapest
Geetanjali Krishna takes us to Budapest's largest public collection of books to study how its popularity with locals is growing, thanks to recent Hungarian literary success.
06:06
Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel and Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao’s view on housing
We explore the Melbourne Metro Tunnel, which has recently opened in the Victorian capital. Plus: Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao joins Monocle’s Ed Stocker to discuss how she challenges norms to champion social housing.
29:21
Tall Stories 493: The Tallinn Song Festival Grounds
Petri Burtsoff takes us to a festival grounds that acts as a lasting symbol of Estonian national pride.
07:10
Urban lessons from the World Economic Forum and the Holcim Foundation Awards
Carlota Rebelo reports from the World Economic Forum in Davos to share some urban lessons from this year’s meeting. Then: Ed Stocker gives us a run-down on the most recent Holcim Foundation Awards for sustainable construction.
34:19
Tall Stories 492: Todo Modo, Florence
Grace Charlton takes us to a literary stalwart and community pillar in Florence.
04:09
Development priorities in Canadian cities and a decade of co-operation in Cascadia
We’re joined by former City of Toronto chief planner Gregg Lintern to discuss priorities for Canadian cities. Plus: we visit Cascadia to see what has come from the mega-region’s decade-long formal partnership.
26:54
Tall Stories 491: Australian War Memorial, Canberra
Andrew Mueller takes us to the Australian War Memorial to find out the nature of and reasons for its recent refit.
06:04
What energy should we take into 2026 in order to face climate change head on?
We meet Dr Gary Yohe, a Nobel Peace prize recipient for his work on the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Then: we discover the stories behind Britain’s cooling towers, a brutalist structure that once dominated our skylines.
30:05
Tall Stories 490: How renovations stripped Bangkok’s Robot Building of its personality
Tomás Pinheiro explains how an act of urban erasure in the Thai capital stole the charm from one of the city’s iconic structures.
06:16
The best of ‘Tall Stories’ in 2025
Monocle’s editor in chief, Andrew Tuck, rounds up his favourite episodes of ‘Tall Stories’ from 2025.
30:42