LibGuides: Cities: Videos

Column Overview

General
Cities Around the World
Crime and Cities
Environment and Cities

General

Bright Lights, Big City This program explains the surprisingly strong effect that street lighting has on our cities. In addition to being a powerful tool to prevent crime, more and better lighting has improved the sense of well-being and added new dimensions to the business and social activities of the city.
Great Cities:Rise of the Megalopolis This program surveys the emergence and development of the megacity—both as an intellectual concept and as a physical phenomenon that is altering the face of the planet. The film examines present-day issues associated with the mammoth metropolis, including poverty, unemployment, rampant crime, poor or nonexistent health care, and air and water pollution. (51 minutes)
Life at Speed: Picking Up the Pace Why does life in a modern city move so fast, how have people adapted to this frantic pace, and what are the pluses and minuses of adaptation? This program studies the high-speed lifestyle of city dwellers, focusing on issues such as the hormonal response to continual sensory stimulation and the automatic filtering mechanism that protects against sensory overload. (25 minutes)
Rethinking Work From smarter collaboration to smoother travel, this CNBC program explores ways in which "wiser work" can lead to greater prosperity for businesses and organizations. Experts interviewed include James Surowiecki, financial journalist for The New Yorker and author of The Wisdom of Crowds, and Gordon Bethune, former CEO of Continental Airlines and former vice-president and general manager of the Boeing Commercial Airplanes Group's customer services division. A part of the series The Business of Innovation (Season 3).

Cities Around the World

Inside Mecca This program offers an unprecedented look at the birthplace of Muhammad and the rituals that bring together the followers of the world’s fastest-growing religion. Photographer Reza Deghati ushers viewers to Mecca to capture the exclusive story of the city’s traditions and holy places. A National Geographic Production. (56 minutes)
Istanbul: Urban Future Every week, over one million people around the world move from the country to the city in search of better jobs, education, infrastructure and resources. But can all those dreams come true? Urban Future is a voyage of discovery through the mega-cities of our new millennium, showing how people take initiatives to improve their lives and launch projects to shape their homes and neighborhoods. (28 minutes)
Megacity Diaries: Mumbai Director Giorgio de Finis combines street-level camera work with thoughtful interviews and his own eloquent commentary to reveal Mumbai’s challenges as well as its potential. Journalist Kalpana Sharma, activist Joachim Arputham, architect Charles Correa, and other guests explore poverty, land use, media images, and more. (52 minutes)
Sao Paulo: Urban Future Urban Future is a voyage of discovery through the megacities of our new millennium, showing how people take initiative to improve their lives and launch projects to shape their homes and neighborhoods. In Sao Paulo we meet a young man who recruits kids off the street in the worst drug neighborhood in town and gets them to decorate the streets with him. (28 minutes)
Tokyo: The Neon City Tokyo is one of the most technologically advanced cities on the planet, but Japan’s low birth rate and the diversifying interests of its young people are causing Tokyo to rely increasingly on skilled immigrant labor. This program examines the implications of that change, gathering insightful commentary from a wide range of Japanese society about multiculturalism, racism, and interracial marriage. (26 minutes)

Crime and Cities

Crime in the Cities: Public Safety at Risk Why do urban crime rates soar in some wealthy countries while dropping in others? This program analyzes that question using data-mapping to find telltale patterns in Japan and the United States. (31 minutes)

Environment and Cities

Breakthrough Communities Humanity has a pivotal, long-term role in the health of our planet and global community. Carl Anthony of Oakland, California tells how the universe story expanded his understanding of race and environmental justice. With a focus on urban and metropolitan areas, he explains the practical implications of a functional cosmology for sustainable community development.
Earth Days This program traces the origins of the modern environmental movement through the eyes of nine Americans who propelled the movement from its beginnings in the 1950s to its moment of triumph in 1970 with the original Earth Day and to its status as a major political force in America.
Eco-Cities Cities originated as a means to trading and some ancient designs could still be used today. By emphasizing an organic and evolutionary whole-city perspective, Founder of Ecocity Builders Richard Register draws attention to the imaginative ways in which cities are being rethought and rebuilt around the planet for a flourishing, sustainable future.
Industrial New York: Filthy Cities Fleeing persecution, poverty, and famine, millions of 19th-century Europeans arrived in a place that seemed worse than what they’d escaped—a seething Manhattan in the throes of the Industrial Revolution. This program uses eye-opening computer reconstructions to envision what waves of immigrants had to accept. A part of the series Filthy Cities: A History of Public Sanitation (or Lack Thereof). (49 minutes)
Liquid Assets: The Big Business of Water With freshwater making up only 3 percent of the world’s supply, are we looking at a global crisis in the making? Some say it’s already upon us—whether for drinking, growing crops, or proper hygiene, shortages are emerging all over the planet. Studying the impact on our home front, this CNBC Original documentary travels to the American West, where seven states compete for water from the Colorado River Basin, as well as to Alaska and Wisconsin, both of which enjoy an abundance of water and are eager to capitalize on their surplus. The program also visits Chile, a nation with some of the most efficient water markets in the world—in theory, anyway, since the realities of managing a scarce resource inevitably produce tensions. In addition, viewers learn about the bottled water industry, which has posted growth rates of 20 percent for most of the past two decades.
Reshaping Cities According to some estimates, the equivalent of seven New York Cities are added to our planet's population every year-an apt term of measurement, since the growth is mostly in urban areas. Can an already crowded metropolis survive under the strain? This CNBC program explores the intelligent city's answer: we will not only survive, we will flourish. From transportation to public safety to self-aware buildings and smart grids, viewers discover the systems that can make cities of the future both successful and sustainable. A part of the series The Business of Innovation (Season 3).
Sustainable Future: Globalization-A Real-World View If you want to know where the next environmental issue will arise, says UNESCO education expert Charles Hopkins, "look at where capital investment is moving." This program makes a thesis of that observation while expanding it to examine not only ecological but also socioeconomic dilemmas.
Suzuki Diaries: Future City Food, land use, housing, energy, waste — how we tackle these issues will determine whether our cities evolve, or whether they decline. In a new installment of Suzuki Diaries, David and his daughter Sarika set out to discover whether some of Canada’s biggest cities are ready for the challenges of the future.
TEDTalks: Alex Steffen—The Shareable Future of Cities Is clean energy really the solution to the problem of climate change—or is it likely that with urbanization increasing, it will never be possible to generate enough energy, clean or otherwise, to meet everyone’s needs? In this TEDTalk, futurist Alex Steffen calls for sustainable neighborhoods that provide consumer needs without residents having to rely on any sort of transportation other than their own feet.
TEDTalks: Dean Kamen—Rolling Along “In the next 20 years, all human population growth on this planet will be in cities.” In this TEDTalk, inventor Dean Kamen lays out his argument for the use of his Segway as an efficient means of getting around in the urban centers of the world.
The Vanishing City Told through the eyes of tenants, city planners, business owners, scholars, and politicians, this film exposes the real politic behind the alarming disappearance of New York’s beloved neighborhoods, the truth about its finance-dominated economy, and the myth of “inevitable change.” Artfully documented through interviews, hearings, demonstrations, and archival footage, the film takes a sober look at the city’s “luxury” policies and high-end development, the power role of the elite, and accusations of corruption surrounding land use and rezoning.
Trash, Inc.: The Secret Life of Garbage This CNBC Original documentary examines the business of gathering, disposing of, and profiting from the 250 million tons of trash that move through America's communities and ecosystems each year.

Column Overview

History of Cities
Poverty and Cities
Suburbs
Urban Planning and Ideas

History of Cities

Great Cities:Rise of the Megalopolis This program surveys the emergence and development of the megacity—both as an intellectual concept and as a physical phenomenon that is altering the face of the planet. The film examines present-day issues associated with the mammoth metropolis, including poverty, unemployment, rampant crime, poor or nonexistent health care, and air and water pollution. (51 minutes)
Industrial New York: Filthy Cities Fleeing persecution, poverty, and famine, millions of 19th-century Europeans arrived in a place that seemed worse than what they’d escaped—a seething Manhattan in the throes of the Industrial Revolution. This program uses eye-opening computer reconstructions to envision what waves of immigrants had to accept. A part of the series Filthy Cities: A History of Public Sanitation (or Lack Thereof). (49 minutes)
New York: A Documentary Film by Ric Burns Series Documentarian Ric Burns presents an elegant, lyrical, and compelling video portrait of the greatest and most complex of cities. This definitive series chronicles the history of New York from its founding in 1624 as a Dutch trading post to its continuing pre-eminence as the cultural and economic capital of the world. 8-part series, 120 minutes each. Distributed by PBS Distribution.
Secret Cities of the Amazon This program investigates the history and the mystery behind the mythological lost cities surrounding the Amazon River. Scientists once dismissed the legends as exaggerations, believing that the rainforest could not sustain such a huge population—until now. A new generation of explorers armed with 21st-century technology has uncovered remarkable evidence that could reinvent our understanding of the Amazon and the indigenous peoples who lived there. . A National Geographic Production. (50 minutes) A National Geographic Production.
Superpower: America—The Story of Us America’s efforts invigorated the struggle against the Nazi stranglehold in Europe. In the Pacific, the ultimate piece of technology ended the war, and a new superpower took the global stage. In this program, many of America’s most prominent leaders and personalities reflect on defining moments in the evolution of post-war America—including the Cold War, the space race, the Civil Rights movement, and more. Distributed by A&E Television Networks. Part of the series America: The Story of Us.
The City Early cities emerged from trading posts and fortresses; they were generally accessible by water and easily defended. This program examines the metamorphosis of the city from fort and trading post to cultural epicenter and beyond. Ancient cities are discussed and Athens and Rome are compared. Modern cities including New York and Paris are also presented, with a focus on Paris’s attempt to re-create itself in the 19th century by razing slums to build monuments and boulevards. City planning and public services are examined as well, along with the middle-class exodus from, and recent return to, many American cities. (53 minutes)
The Silk Road This program follows history’s famed artery of global commerce and examines the many urban centers and ports of call it enriched—or, in some cases, endangered—over the centuries. A National Geographic Production. (43 minutes)

Poverty and Cities

Off the Grid: American Communities in the Wake of the Financial Crisis
Poverty: The Fourth World What are the human stories behind these images of the Fourth World? Traveling to Nairobi, Guatemala City, and Manila, this documentary brings viewers inside the world’s shantytowns, exploring the reasons for their rapid expansion and revealing the personal struggles of those who live there. Original title: The Fourth World. (Portions with English subtitles, 54 minutes)
Slum Cities Each week, in countries around the globe, nearly a million people say goodbye to their homes in impoverished rural regions—and move to even worse conditions in cities. This program explores the tragic results: illegal slums filled with some of the poorest people in the world, lacking water, sanitation, and other resources needed to support exploding populations. 46 minutes)
Solving Black Inner-City Poverty: William Julius Wilson The problems of our inner cities have been growing worse with each year; some policymakers and scholars question whether these problems can ever be solved. In this program with Bill Moyers, Dr. William Julius Wilson, author and sociologist, argues that the time to throw up our hands in despair has not yet arrived; he believes that most inner-city blacks stay poor not because they are black, but because they live in the wasteland of the inner city. (30 minutes)
The 51st State: America's Working Poor While poverty has traditionally been a problem only for the unemployed, a new demographic of Americans has emerged—the working poor. This program explores the disturbing realities that many people in low-wage jobs face every day—such as having to decide whether to pay the rent, buy groceries, or see a doctor. (Original series title: The 51st State.) (57 minutes)

Suburbs

Divided Highways This program about the Interstate Highway System combines archival material, newsreels, and interviews to describe the impact of what has been called the world’s largest public works project. The Interstate’s effect on community, culture, regionalism, and freedom is considered, as are the ideals, motives, and methods of its builders who helped bind a nation together. (85 minutes)
Requiem for Detroit? More than a requiem, this documentary touches on issues relevant to all students of American history and society by using Detroit as a window into many sociocultural aspects of American life. Major topics include industrialization, the birth of suburbs and consumerism, black migration and white flight, race relations, unionization, economic decline, and community renewal—all set to a soundtrack by famous Detroit musicians.. (60 minutes) A BBC Production.
Sprawling from Grace: Driven to Madness This documentary examines problems and possible solutions surrounding the dependence on cars created by suburban sprawl, emphasizing the need for walkable, mixed-use communities served by public transit. (82 minutes)
Suburban America: Problems & Promise Filmed in a wide range of suburban and metropolitan areas around the United States, this program presents a dynamic and thought-provoking exploration of American suburbia, including its genesis and history, its dramatic political and social evolution, and its developmental challenges. Viewers are guided through specific issues facing the nation’s suburban landscape, including problems in infrastructure, transportation, housing, economic development, environmental sustainability, and community revitalization. Interviews with leading policy experts offer remarkable insight into the grey areas that separate—or connect, depending on one’s point of view—America’s cities and rural regions. (55 minutes)
The City Early cities emerged from trading posts and fortresses; they were generally accessible by water and easily defended. This program examines the metamorphosis of the city from fort and trading post to cultural epicenter and beyond. Ancient cities are discussed and Athens and Rome are compared. Modern cities including New York and Paris are also presented, with a focus on Paris’s attempt to re-create itself in the 19th century by razing slums to build monuments and boulevards. City planning and public services are examined as well, along with the middle-class exodus from, and recent return to, many American cities. (53 minutes)
The Good Society: Atlanta The groundbreaking book by sociologist Robert Bellah, The Good Society, forms the backbone for this two-part program with Bill Moyers, which looks at two American cities uniquely struggling to make a better society. The first program looks at Atlanta. Often cited as America’s most livable city, it is also one of the poorest cities in the nation. In spite of the divisions within the city—rich and poor, black and white—Atlanta is a place where people are coming together to work for a better community. Among those appearing in the program are former President Jimmy Carter, Mayor Maynard Jackson, as well as civic and community leaders. (60 minutes)
The Post-War Years This program examines America during the years 1945 to 1960, in which the Cold War loomed, babies boomed, and the suburban family became the bull’s-eye of the mass market. Viewers learn about the leadership transition from Truman to Eisenhower, the creation of the interstate highway system, the advent of TV and rock-n-roll, and more. (40 minutes)

Urban Planning and Ideas

A Big Stink: City Sewer Systems Odorless, hygienic, and sanitized—although that’s how most of the western world’s city sewer systems would be described today, it wasn’t always so. Using London as an example, this program looks at the history of the city and its sewage, and the development and effect on cities of indoor bathrooms and toilets and the sewers built to cope with them. Once considered a wonder cure which made cities cleaner and healthier, the convenience of the modern toilet may yet prove dangerous. (29 minutes)
Brazil: Urban Planning Challenges “A city shouldn’t be a problem,” says Jaime Lerner, the former mayor of Curitiba. “It should be a solution.” This program explores innovative planning, engineering, and conservation at work in the Brazilian metropolis as it transcends many of the problems plaguing other South American cities. Part of the series Sustainable Development: The World Challenge. (27 minutes)
Breaking the Walls of the Nation-State Through Interdependent Cities: How a Global Parliament of Cities Can Establish a Sustainable Democracy Political theorist Benjamin R. Barber, adviser to former U.S. President Bill Clinton and political leaders in the U.S. and abroad, and a bestselling author on the topics of citizenship and democracy, proposes a new global model of governance in which interdependent cities are the key players.
Bright Lights, Big City This program explains the surprisingly strong effect that street lighting has on our cities. In addition to being a powerful tool to prevent crime, more and better lighting has improved the sense of well-being and added new dimensions to the business and social activities of the city.
Decaying Cities: Reclaiming the Rust Belt Studying these cities from a human angle, the program delves into Philadelphia’s struggling urban core and showcases Birmingham’s grassroots and municipal efforts to assist the elderly, the unemployed, and the victims of crime. The result is an informative catalyst for class discussions on severe economic shifts and how cities cope with them. (31 minutes)
Great Cities:Rise of the Megalopolis This program surveys the emergence and development of the megacity—both as an intellectual concept and as a physical phenomenon that is altering the face of the planet. The film examines present-day issues associated with the mammoth metropolis, including poverty, unemployment, rampant crime, poor or nonexistent health care, and air and water pollution. (51 minutes)
Jane Jacobs: Urban Wisdom Through her groundbreaking books, Jane Jacobs has influenced the planning and understanding of cities and economies with what she calls a “web way of thinking.” In this program, Jacobs shares her insights into urban planning by tracing the progression of ideas in her books, including The Death and Life of Great American Cities; The Economy of Cities; Cities and the Wealth of Nations; Systems of Survival; and her most recent, The Nature of Economies. An extended interview with Jacobs is blended with scenes from various North American cities and footage of her 1997 seminar, “Ideas That Matter.” (45 minutes)
Metropolis (Series) This series explores the history and the future of the key feats of technology and engineering that have shaped today’s large cities—skyscrapers, underground trains, sewer systems, traffic control, lighting, and surveillance. The programs reveal how the ever-expanding city has pushed back its boundaries, becoming more and more dependent on machines as it thrusts itself into uncharted realms—moving higher into the sky, plunging deeper through the earth, moving faster along busier streets.. 6-part series, 29 minutes each.
Reshaping Cities According to some estimates, the equivalent of seven New York Cities are added to our planet's population every year-an apt term of measurement, since the growth is mostly in urban areas. Can an already crowded metropolis survive under the strain? This CNBC program explores the intelligent city's answer: we will not only survive, we will flourish. From transportation to public safety to self-aware buildings and smart grids, viewers discover the systems that can make cities of the future both successful and sustainable.
TEDTalks: Amanda Burden—How public spaces make cities work More than 8 million people are crowded together to live in New York City. What makes it possible? In part, it's the city's great public spaces -- from tiny pocket parks to long waterfront promenades -- where people can stroll and play. Amanda Burden helped plan some of the city's newest public spaces, drawing on her experience as, surprisingly, an animal behaviorist. She shares the unexpected challenges of planning parks people love -- and why it's important.
TEDTalks: Geoffrey West—The Surprising Math of Cities and Corporations Physicist Geoffrey West has found that simple, mathematical laws govern the properties of cities—that wealth, crime rate, walking speed, and many other aspects of a city can be deduced from a single number: the city’s population. In this mind-bending talk from TEDGlobal he shows how it works and how similar laws hold for organisms and corporations.
The City of Tomorrow: New Models for Living This program travels through Holland, the Ruhr area, and Berlin to observe the ways technology and the wealth of ideas from architects, urban planners, and researchers will change the future of cities worldwide. Discussion focuses on the visions that will make optimum use of space, meet transport needs and power requirements, and maximize quality of life for tomorrow’s city dwellers. (26 minutes)
The Interconnected World: An Inside Look at the IMF and Its Impact Growing affluence in Asia, economic development in Eastern Europe, and new approaches to natural resources in Africa—all are major influences on the global financial landscape and all provide ample demonstrations of the IMF at work. (45 minutes)
This Space Available: Outdoor Advertising and the Fight Against Visual Pollution This Space Available explores efforts to reclaim commercially usurped public spaces as it takes an incisive look at the differences between the Baby Boomer generation, which spawned the excess in advertising, and today’s young adults—the most marketed-to generation in history. Complex issues of economics, urban development, public space, aesthetics, and more are confronted as the documentary grapples with the question of who public space is for. (86 minutes)