living better / global

https://monocle.com/magazine/issues/175/the-monocle-manifesto/

The Monocle Manifesto

From urbanism and the environment to simple street manners, we present 30 edicts for improving our cities for people and planet.ByJosh FehnertIllustratorPong

As the world and global opinion turns, monocle remains irrepressibly optimistic about cities – or at least their enduring potential to help people live well, regardless of income, outlook or industry. While no city is perfect, the best ones know how strike a balance and remain places of opportunity, discovery and excitement for all. So shouldn’t more politicians, ceos and civic leaders be concerned about making the most of the places most of the world now calls home? After all, what could be more important to our collective future than properly talking about how we build, assemble and share such spaces? 

Buildings, businesses and bus routes are only small parts of the matrices that make appealing cities tick. There’s also history, style and culture to consider. There’s some software to attend to too – the ways we should behave and the rules we should all endeavour to follow. How might a graciously deployed “good morning” affect the way you feel on your street? What if we considered children more closely when designing public spaces? How could better housing and hospitals provide dignity for all? Permit us to ascend our soapbox briefly in this, our city-focused issue. Here, we offer a few ideas that we believe will help focus attentions, bind communities and create neater social contracts in cities where such things can sometimes fray. Read on for monocle’s manifesto on how best to darn, repair and, in places, reweave the city’s social fabric. — L