Monocle 24: The Urbanist

From gentrification to unaffordability, how do you fix a city in crisis? We speak to Richard Florida about his book ‘The New Urban Crisis’. We’re also in Paris to look at the mayor’s plans for an abandoned railway.

Monocle 24’s Fernando Augusto Pacheco strolls around London’s Soho and visits his favourite shops, restaurants and streets in the neighbourhood he calls home.

Are certain cities synonymous with certain crimes? We speak with urban activists from three different regions about dealing with violence and ask if design can change the way the public perceives the police.

We head to Egypt to hear the story of the Cairo Tower, the tallest structure in North Africa. Designed by Egyptian architect Naoum Shebib, it is one of the city’s most well-known modern monuments.

We speak to Shawn Micallef about his new book ‘Frontier City: Toronto on the Verge of Greatness’, hear about Melbourne’s missing rail link and ask if Paris will be able to connect the city to its suburbs.

We take an evening stroll around Bologna and enjoy some of the city’s beautiful outdoor public spaces, from the central square, the Piazza Maggiore, to walkways sheltered by medieval porticoes.

This week we talk to Sarah Williams Goldhagen on the way our built environment shapes us, hear about Toronto’s missing middle and New York’s latest addition: a floating food forest.

We wax lyrical about one of Brussels most spectacular art-nouveau structures: the Old England department store, which is now home to the Musical Instruments Museum.

We discuss China’s plans to build a brand-new city three times the size of New York, hear how Serbia’s capital is preparing for a cycling revolution and examine the project trying to “beautify” Cairo’s downtown.

When Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque pioneered cubism in Paris, young Czech artists such as Pavel Janák and Josef Gočár saw the artistic movement as a way to dilute their country’s decorative architectural style. Czechoslovakia was one of the first nations to apply cubism to architecture and the house of Black Madonna was the very first cubist house built in Europe.

How can we improve the way we interact with our cities? This week we explore a ‘sensory’ waterfront in Seattle, hop on a smelling tour of Austria’s capital and ask if Lisbon is tackling noise as it should.

‘The New York Daily News’ is no longer headquartered on East 42nd Street, but the Daily News Building still stands as a shining art deco tribute to the art of the newspaper. And while its designer left an indelible mark on the city, to many outside observers the building might be more familiar as the workplace of a certain mild-mannered reporter.

Cities are busy beasts but being constantly surrounded by people doesn’t necessarily prevent us from feeling lonely. The hustle and bustle of city life can be overwhelming, especially for newcomers – so what’s the best way to tackle urban loneliness?

Monocle’s Toronto bureau chief, Tomos Lewis, takes us to Montréal to assess the significance of two bronze statues – of two pet pooches – that speak of the city’s past divisions and the promise of a unified future.

All Olympic Games host cities must consider their legacy and whether the price of hosting is actually worth it. We look back to Rio de Janeiro, Sydney and more.