Open City is a charity dedicated to making architecture and built heritage more open, accessible and equitable.
Providing you with essential listening, inspiring voices and built environment insights – the Open City Podcast covers news and current events as well as in depth studies of landmark buildings, and cities around the UK and world.
At the centre of our line-up is our flagship show The Brief – an award-winning review of the big stories in architecture, planning and housing news – hosted by Sahiba Chadha and Fran Williams on a fortnightly basis.
Alongside this is Deconstructed – a monthly podcast hosted by Matthew Lloyd Roberts taking apart the architecture of individual buildings and InterCities – a monthly podcast hosted by Owen Hatherley exploring municipal transformation around the world.
All three shows profile new, expert and diverse voices from across industry, journalism, academia and beyond. The Open City Podcast is produced by Hunter Charlton and Paige Reynolds. The commissioning editor is Merlin Fulcher.
The Open City Podcast is supported by Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture platform and produced in association with the Architects’ Journal, London Society, C20 Society and Save Britain's Heritage. The Open City Podcast is recorded and produced at the Open City offices located in Bureau.
To help support excellent and accessible, independent journalism about the buildings and the urban environment, please become an Open City Friend.
Photo credit: Owen Hatherley portrait © Antonio Olmos
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Open City is a charity dedicated to making architecture and built heritage more open, accessible and equitable.
Providing you with essential listening, inspiring voices and built environment insights – the Open City Podcast covers news and current events as well as in depth studies of landmark buildings, and cities around the UK and world.
At the centre of our line-up is our flagship show The Brief – an award-winning review of the big stories in architecture, planning and housing news – hosted by Sahiba Chadha and Fran Williams on a fortnightly basis.
Alongside this is Deconstructed – a monthly podcast hosted by Matthew Lloyd Roberts taking apart the architecture of individual buildings and InterCities – a monthly podcast hosted by Owen Hatherley exploring municipal transformation around the world.
All three shows profile new, expert and diverse voices from across industry, journalism, academia and beyond. The Open City Podcast is produced by Hunter Charlton and Paige Reynolds. The commissioning editor is Merlin Fulcher.
The Open City Podcast is supported by Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture platform and produced in association with the Architects’ Journal, London Society, C20 Society and Save Britain's Heritage. The Open City Podcast is recorded and produced at the Open City offices located in Bureau.
To help support excellent and accessible, independent journalism about the buildings and the urban environment, please become an Open City Friend.
Photo credit: Owen Hatherley portrait © Antonio Olmos
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In The Room at Accelerate Debates is a new podcast from Open City, broadcasting the live debates from Accelerate, Open City’s free educational programme. In this episode, you’ll hear our first debate of the year, “Designing A Safer City”, asking: what does safety in the public realm really mean? Moderators Siraaj Mitha and Jasmin Yeo are joined by five guest speakers: Gaia Crocella, senior researcher at Publica; Accelerate alumna Bhavni Ghedia; Ciaran Thapar, from the Youth Endowment Fund; artist Hanna Benihoud; and Dr David Knight, founding co-director of dk-cm.
Hosts: Manijeh Verghese and Siraaj Mitha
Music: Massive Music
This episode includes discussions of adult themes, including personal safety and abuse, which some listeners may find distressing. If you’ve been affected by the issues discussed, please find support through the organisations below:
* Samaritans – 116 123 (free, 24 hours a day) – samaritans.org
* Refuge (for women and children experiencing domestic abuse) – refuge.org.uk
* Rape Crisis England & Wales – rapecrisis.org.uk
* Men’s Advice Line (for male victims of domestic abuse) – mensadviceline.org.uk
* Mind (mental health support) – mind.org.uk
Further reading:
The podcast is supported by Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture platform and produced in association with the Architects’ Journal, London Society, C20 Society and Save Britain's Heritage. It's recorded and produced at the Open City offices located in Bureau. Subscribe on Spotify, Soundcloud or iTunes and to further support, become an Open City Friend.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.