Monocle 24: The Urbanist

Icons and iconoclasts: do cities need popular icons to unite them? What of the cities that have none? We visit Madrid, Vienna, Sydney, London and Lisbon to find out.

Build: The Urbanist reports from the Bilbao Urban Innovation and Leadership Dialogues conference, hosted by the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMFUS).

Number wars: whether it’s securing the right prefix for your phone number or naming a business according to the trendiest postcode – why do we care so much about our city digits?

Peace and quiet: how do we find a little calm in the big, loud city. From a fruitless hunt in the construction capital of Shanghai to an ode to mindfulness with meditation expert Andy Puddicombe. Plus, the wristwatch that could change your life.

Trains: we explore the history of trains in cities in locations such as Beirut, Buenos Aires, Sydney, LA and New York. Plus, a love story that unfolded from London to Paris on the Eurostar.

Weather: how an oyster can help protect a city from hurricane damage, we look at Vancouver’s wet-weather architecture slip-up, and meet a very enthusiastic weatherman, to learn how the oncoming forecast affects all elements of urban life.

Documenting the city: how we record our urban areas, from the museum curator with a collection you can’t display to a documentary film that’s both fantasy and fiction, along with maps, photographs, audio and more – what sides of the city are we trying to preserve and create through documenting them?

The unbuilt: we speak to the City of London’s former planning officer about how to say “no” to those who want to build, find out why residents are thankful that Lisbon doesn’t have a new airport and look at China’s metro lines to nowhere – now headed somewhere.

Oddballs: Why a city that accepts its eccentrics wins out, featuring the Parisian toilet attendant (and self-styled dame), the Sydney transgender bubble-bike rider and Rio’s own Batman who are all helping add to a healthy metropolis.

Twinned: the idea of pairing cities is more than half-a-century old and arose with the best of intentions – to make everything feel a bit friendlier in the wake of a world war. But is the gesture outdated? What does Tucson really have in common with Almaty?

Drinking in cities: How booze fuels our urban centres. We look at the history of the British pub (and why Charles de Gaulle got to name one in London), Milan’s aperitivo culture and how to buy a good drop in Stockholm. Plus, how to find out if you live in a “drinking city”.

What’s new in the business of doing your business in public? We find out how public toilets can make you money, how to design them (we get lessons from Japan) and what do with ones that have had their final flushes.

What does a ‘district’ do? We explore their place in the city, from the branding of neighbourhoods by their past or present industry to give them a story to tacking on 'village' or 'quarter' to give them soul.

Freedom: What are the spaces in a city where we feel free to express ourselves and do as we please – and does freedom make a city a better place to live? And what about services: should parks have free wi-fi and is public art preferable to a gallery? We head to Hong Kong, Sydney, Belgrade, Amsterdam and London to find out.

The Hipster: they are part of a very visible and oft-derided subculture that has pushed loft-style living into big business and filled the streets with couture coffee. But what is the long-term impact of these of-the-moment taste makers when it comes to our cities?