It’s been a great year for some and a tougher year for others. Here’s a tour of our top 25 cities and why we love them.

The elusive alchemy that makes a good city a great place to live is something we’ve been dedicated to understanding since Monocle began. With a sharper eye than ever, we present our top 25.

In the Chilean capital, services usually controlled by the government (water, road maintenance, street lighting) have been farmed out to private firms or, as in the case of firefighting, plucky volunteers.

Keeping a city going isn’t simply about the trains running on time and the books being up to date. Spare a thought for city hall workers tackling earthquakes, a flood of human waste or a town overrun by feral monkeys.

It’s not quite the return of the Ottoman Empire but Istanbul is set to be home to a new finance district and accompanying transport upgrades, including the world’s largest airport. Will this be a journey that results in a new superpower?

Sky-high rents in Switzerland. Vienna's Wien Mitte and a Q&A with Lisbon architect Goncalo Ribeiro Telles.

Toronto plays catch-up with its transport plans, why San Franciscans will be hearing more clearly, and how the Chilean capital is luring residences back to city living.

What to do with an ugly building project in Tokyo? Cover it with a park, of course. Plus: "clean-air" holidays in China and flying doctors in Thailand.

A political journey on Israel's transport system, cleaning up in Lagos and blocking African's "brain drain".

Motorbike gangs in Melbourne, kicking the habit in Australia and an interview with Brisbane's mayor.

Meet the five mayors and city governors, from Nairobi to Seoul, whose vision, strategies and commitment should inspire us all to demand better leaders (or stand for elections).

Let’s play fantasy city hall. If you were mayor, which urban innovators would you want in your far-sighted crew to make sure it’s the best place to live, visit and keep coming back to? Meet Monocle’s top team.

The lamps that light up our streets, shopping malls and car parks are often boring and unimaginative. But one firm has turned it into a mission to create something more original. Monocle heads to the hills.

As populations become more urban and people become more aware of where their food comes from, city farms, whether it’s beekeeping in Brisbane or vegetable growing in Havana, are coming into their own.

In Bandung, the capital of West Java, a growing hub of creative businesses are choosing to stay put and build an arts and crafts industry. Suddenly, ‘Made in Indonesia’ has become a phrase with a reputation behind it.

With each Japanese household spending thousands of yen a year on cakes and sweets, confectionery is big business in Japan and nothing in the sweet-tooth calendar is bigger than the National Expo.

Why Spain's book publishers are looking abroad and why businesses aren't looking to Sydney

This issue we’ve cleared the culture pages for summer to report on media companies who are doing things on their own terms, usually against the grain, and making a success of it.

A publishing nerve-centre in Madrid, a marketing consultant in Copenhagen and an art fair organiser in London. One thing they all have in common is the beautiful and inspiring spaces they work from.

The words, noises and images that we ingest from the moment we wake up help shape our thoughts and moods throughout the day. Here, we present a 24-hour itinerary of our favourite sources of deep thought and distraction.

It takes all sorts to make the media world go round and we’ve traversed the world in search of the best in the business. Publishers in Zürich, a radio station in Auckland and an art and design studio in Paris are just some of the places we’ve visited to swap notes and meet people who know there’s more than one media model.

The new offices for Zürich-based publishers Tamedia are creating some firsts for the company, such as the merging of print and online newspaper teams inside the first Swiss building to be designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban.

The Green Bird team of Tokyo is an army of young people, with cool haircuts and bibs supplied by Nike. cleaning up their city. Picking up litter has never been sexier.

The signs that enhance our cities come in a chaotic mix of shapes and sizes. But the craft of creating clean and inspiring text across formats as diverse as glass windows to paper lanterns falls to those with clear heads – the sign-writers.

A progressive 1960s concrete estate in the middle of precious woodland might send alarm bells ringing in many design circles. But Siedlung Halen just outside Bern is a quiet, friendly triumph where nurture sits alongside nature.

The geometric playscapes of Corocord start off with hard labour and harder maths but come to life with a final, magic design element: imagination.

The role of parks and other green urban spaces as quality-of-life improvers cannot be underestimated. Monocle takes a leafy stroll.

Urban planning is a fashionable subject these days but while it's good to talk about it, let's not miss the point, says Tyler Brûlé.

Much of its complex history is dark and overshadowed by the Mafia but Palermo’s citizens have fought back and reclaimed their seductive city as a centre for art and gastronomy.

It’s not even five years since the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war but in that time its capital has undergone an incredible transformation. There’s still plenty to do but the burgeoning arts scene and the restless optimism of its youth are signs of good things to come.

As club culture gives way to café culture and more technology start-ups take root, Tel Avivians are beginning to take a new pride in their city and its unique place as a vibrant, open and tolerant oasis in the Middle East.

Chiang Mai seems to have the best of both worlds: a laidback approach to life combined with enough vim and vigour to allow for frenzied building work, academic advances and a lively music scene. However, is the city’s poise suffering in the face of rapid progress?

When you land in Costa Rica your taxi driver will know the way to San José, it’s just that he won’t be entirely sure why you want to go. This is a capital city at odds with its peaceful surroundings – but arguably all the better for it.