Strap in, sit back & settle in: for issue 74 of Monocle magazine we get the world back on track with our Transport Survey – charting rising design stars, new transport hot spots and those setting a course to become the world's new movers and shakers.

Among the stories in issue 73 of Monocle magazine we check out some sharp residences, a handsome architectural classic, a neighbourhood on the rise and also the buyers who get the goods – as part of our design special.

Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market might be a must-see for tourists but the Japanese capital’s flower market is also that rare thing – a place of beauty and big business.

A new generation of stationery entrepreneurs is preserving and reviving the art of writing. Monocle Films travels to Prague, Vancouver and London to visit three shops that share a love of paper.

Not one but two special reports await you with Monocle issue 72. Our Style Directory brings you the sharpest in the world of fashion – from the buyers to the brands, the neighbourhoods to the looks – and we proudly present our inaugural Top 25 Retail Awards.

We're celebrating Monocle's seventh birthday this month. Since we launched in 2007 we’ve delivered fresh coverage of global affairs, business, culture and design – online, in print and on air. With five bureaux (plus more to come), five shops, two cafés, a radio station and a worldwide network of 34 correspondents, we’ve been busy keeping an eye and an ear on the world.

‘Benvenuto’! It’s Monocle’s Italian special: meet the politicians, designers and manufacturers determined to re-establish their country’s standing on the world stage.

Make issue 70 the starting point for your travel, business and leisure projects this year – our worldwide forecast brings together the people to meet and places to visit to put your 2014 plans into action.

Over the past year Monocle has sent its correspondents across dozens of countries on a giddying array of planes, trains, and automobiles, to gather the very best in cabins, concourses, suites and tables.

For Monocle’s annual winter edition – Alpino – we travel from the Alps to the Catskills in search of Swiss mountain bunkers, slope-style fashion, how to stage a downhill ski race, and business ideas on the up, all in our Eiger-sized resort newspaper.