Web special on factors that make a city great
A large chunk of the latest issue of Monocle magazine on the 20 most liveable cities in the world is freely available via the International Herald Tribune.
All the content is linked from the introductory article “Urban Manifesto: Factors that make a city great” by Tyler Brûlé, Monocle’s editor-in-chief.
“Our mission for this issue is a simple one – we want to improve the urban experience. It’s a tricky enough task for forward-thinking local governments to tackle, let alone a media brand, but we’ve been thinking about this theme since our launch and decided the best time to engage politicians, developers, architects, financiers and anyone else who has influence or an opinion about city-life was while they were stretched out, relaxed, taking the sun and fully focused on their own quality of life.
Our focus is firmly fixed on identifying the components and forces that make a city not simply attractive or wealthy but truly liveable. Researched over a three-month period, our quality of life survey is 50 per cent scientific (we’ll come to our metrics shortly) and 50 per cent subjective (sometimes a place just rubs you the wrong way and you’re not quite sure why).”
Web specials include:
- A feature article on 25 examples of good urban design, also featured in a series of renderings and a video;
- Photo slideshows: an overview of the world’s top 10 most liveable cities, the beautifully graphically rendered section on top urban designs, and photo features on Munich and Copenhagen;
- Videos: a report on the C40 Climate Summit bringing together 40 city mayors, and video showcases of the top 25 urban elements that make a city great and of the perfect high street;
- the Globespotters blog with “urban advice from reporters who live there” – featured cities: Amsterdam, Bangkok, Berlin, Hong Kong, London, Paris and Rome;
- the Cityscapes web special bringing together a number of older Herald Tribune articles on Berlin, Cairo, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, Los Angeles, Paris, Prague, Singapore, Stockholm, and Venice;
- the World mayors web special with “a series of profiles of the men and women who make their cities work” – the section includes some older Herald Tribune articles on mayors of the following cities: Amsterdam, Athens, Berlin, Casablanca, Chicago, Dublin, Jerusalem, London, Madrid, Manila, Moscow, New Delhi, New York, Paris, Putrajaya, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, San Francisco, Seoul, Stockholm, and Yokohama;
- Monocle city features, covering the 20 most liveable cities in the world: 1. Munich, 2. Copenhagen, 3. Zurich, 4. Tokyo, 5. Vienna, 6. Helsinki, 7. Sydney, 8. Stockholm, 9. Honolulu, 10. Madrid, 11. Melbourne, 12. Montreal, 13. Barcelona, 14. Kyoto, 15. Vancouver, 16. Auckland, 17. Singapore, 18. Hamburg, 19. Paris, and 20. Geneva.
And if that’s enough, there is also a comments section.
