In anticipation of the arrival of the American 'family' restaurant chain, Guy Rundle - Crikey columnist, chronicler of urban decline and its ever-diminishing pockets of resistance - reflects on the American ‘restaurant experience’ and the corrosive effect of franchise-chain capitalism on living culture.

Architecture is a man's profession. That's what a young African American girl in Harlem, New York, grew up thinking. But Norma Merrick Sklarek would soon prove she could be a top-tier architect and in doing so, would become a pioneering figure in the history of American architecture.

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This episode was first broadcast on August 6, 2022.

It's hard to imagine how revolutionary the arrival of the match was. Now we can't imagine life would without them. In this week's Iconic Designs Colin Bisset looks at the invention of the match.

Tamar Adler explains how to use the Marcella Hazan tomato sauce onion and how to talk about no-waste cooking without moralism; Tom Wilkinson discusses the ideological and political context of the contemporary architectural fetish for decay.

Rummage through the essential cultural ingredients - design, architecture, food, travel and fashion.

Iconic food writer, Rachel Roddy, talks pasta, literary influence, Roman food culture, and writing about Italian food as an outsider; and Brent Toderian discusses Reykjavik’s urban development plan competition, the problem of car dependency and the populist backlash to the 15 minute city. 

A survey of the history and legacy of Australian built university campuses; fashion in the age of AIDS; Chef Annie Smithers on what to do with your broad bean leaves and design writer, Colin Bisset on Tokyo's Yoyogi gymnasium

A tour of an iconic designer's city with Garry Emery, a design history of the sneaker and Paul Bangay on his life in gardens.

Filmmaker and architect, Liam Young gives us a tour of his radically re-imagined city of the future; Jack Pascoe explains why recognition of cultural significance is required for ecological protection and Colin Bisset on the design history of the mason jar.

Its arguably one of the most universally reviled features of the plant world but pollen has proven invaluable to detectives in solving crimes, from revelations of war crimes to the identification of murderers.