MONU is an English-language, annual[2] magazine on urbanism that focuses on the city in a broad sense, including its politics, economy, geography, ecology, its social aspects, as well as its physical structure and architecture.

It refers to itself as an independent, non-conformist, niche publication that collects critical articles, images, concepts, and urban theories from architects, urbanists and theorists from around the world on a given topic.

MONU claims to examine topics that are important to the future of our cities and urban regions from a variety of perspectives[5] and to provide a platform for comparative analysis.

(#15 in 2011[7]) MONU was founded by Bernd Upmeyer and Thomas Söhl in 2004 and was originally conceived as a way to keep in touch and to continue to intellectually challenge one another after graduating in architecture and urban design at the University of Kassel in 2002.

[9] Upmeyer once explained in an interview that at the start of the new millennium it felt much more appropriate, in a globalized world, to investigate topics such as architecture as a part of a wider field – in this case urbanism.

[19] MONU's blend of radical passion and expert design has made the magazine itself the focus of several international exhibitions, including in Los Angeles, Madrid and Tokyo.

In that sense, the magazine aims to be open-sourced to its core, collecting and deploying a wide variety of articles, images, concepts, and urban critiques from designers and thinkers from all over the world, recognizing that the traditional journal no longer connects to today's informed audience.

[25] MONU's method of the "call for submissions" and its focus on diverse backgrounds and viewpoints from international contributors has found many followers in newer architectural publications that were established after 2005.