Two penniless orphans, Black and White, struggle to survive on the mean streets of Treasure Town. When a megacorporation threatens to tear down the town to build an amusement park, Black and White engage in the fight of their life.
The living Volkswagen Beetle helps an old lady protect her home from a corrupt developer.
Undine is a historian and tour guide at the Berlin City Museum specializing in urban development, while Christoph is an industrial diver. Linked by a love of the water, the two form an intense bond, which can only do so much to help Undine overcome the considerable baggage of her former affair.
Since the end of World War II, one of kind of urban residential development has dominate how cities in North America have grown, the suburbs. In these artificial neighborhoods, there is a sense of careless sprawl in an car dominated culture that ineffectually tries to create the more organically grown older communities. Interspersed with the comments of various experts about the nature of suburbia
A couple moves from the country to istanbul to get proper schooling for their son, who has Down syndrome. However, the house they move to will be demolished in a number of months, the father can't get a job and has to resort to begging. Meanwhile, the stipend for their son's disability they'd thought they'd get when moving to the city and which they were depending on to live and pay for his school, is suddenly in doubt.
Since World War II North Americans have invested much of their newfound wealth in suburbia. It has promised a sense of space, affordability, family life and upward mobility. As the population of suburban sprawl has exploded in the past 50 years Suburbia, and all it promises, has become the American Dream. But as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are beginning to emerge...
This witty and original film is about the open spaces of cities and why some of them work for people while others don't. Beginning at New York's Seagram Plaza, one of the most used open areas in the city, the film proceeds to analyze why this space is so popular and how other urban oases, both in New York and elsewhere, measure up. Based on direct observation of what people actually do, the film presents a remarkably engaging and informative tour of the urban landscape and looks at how it can be made more hospitable to those who live in it.
A sophisticated and beautifully constructed account of landscape change in and around Paris in the early 1960s. The film raises complex issues about the meaning and experience of modern landscapes and the enigmatic characteristics of features such as canals, pylons and deserted factories. Rohmer also explores the role of landscape within different traditions of modern art and design and refers to specific architects, artists and engineers.
The six-decade transformation of a block of houses, shown by means of artfully featured archival shots, highlights the beauty and sadness of human-made decay. In the blink of an eye 66 years pass by and a savings bank replaces a church.
Rotterdam 2040 is a film about the city’s future, departing from the principle of Gyz La Rivière that you can’t look ahead without considering your past (something that hasn’t always been Rotterdam’s strongest feature). At high speed, La Rivière reconstructs the history of Rotterdam from the time before the bombings until now, and expands the developments to the year 2040 (100 years after the bombing and the 700th anniversary of the city). La Rivière made a specific choice to expose his personal vision, which is sometimes radical or a little absurd. So no experts and no talking heads, but an assault of old and new imagery, held together by La Rivière as the narrator of the film. Although Rotterdam 2040 deals with architecture and urban renewal, it is actually a film about people. The subjective experience of the city by its (future) occupants mainly determines the parade of architectural blunders and suggestions for the future. All tongue-in-cheek of course.
Prague faces the challenge of a new zoning plan. The city's development leads to conflicts between the private developer lobby, city residents, and elected officials. By following several years of town council meetings, the film paints an image of a public policy apparatus that ignores the role of the urban planner. Using a journalistic approach, the filmmaker attempts to depict all points of view, although in the end the dominant perspective is of those who believe in the city as an expression of culture and quality of life.
Underground people who exhale toxic gas appear in Tokyo's S-Ward, which is dealing with construction noise from urban development projects. Everyone panic, but it turns out that five middle-aged guys are unaffected by the poisonous gas. They undergo vigorous training to fight the underworld people, but are they going to be able to save the world…?
While looking for a new home for his family, a Haitian demolition worker is faced with the realities of redevelopment as he is tasked with dismantling his rapidly gentrifying Miami neighborhood.
Yirrkala is an Aboriginal township on the Gove Peninsula in Northeast Arnhem Land. It was established as a Methodist mission in 1935 and over the years Yolngu from many different clans moved there. Conversations With Dundiwuy Wanambi is a personal film which reveals something of the struggles and thoughts of one elder in the face of enormous change. In the early years Dundiwuy was a heavy drinker. In a disturbing interview in a pub, Dundiwuy explains his reasons for drinking. Then, through a dream, Dundiwuy realizes he must begin to protect his family and clan. He establishes his Marrakulu clan homeland center at Gurka'wuy, south of Yirrkala. He will hold a great ceremony there. Years later Dundiwuy returns to Yirrkala. His clan is small and he did not receive the necessary support from his sons. But Dundiwuy endures, continues his struggle, and we learn in the post-script of how he has become a successful and sought-after artist.
In the new world of high-speed highway driving, there are a host of new dangers to take into account.
Ecumenopolis: City Without Limits" tells the story of Istanbul and other Mega-Cities on a neo-liberal course to destruction. It follows the story of a migrant family from the demolition of their neighborhood to their on-going struggle for housing rights. The film takes a look at the city on a macro level and through the eyes of experts, going from the tops of mushrooming skyscrapers to the depths of the railway tunnel under the Bosphorous strait; from the historic neighborhoods in the south to the forests in the north; from isolated islands of poverty to the villas of the rich. It's an Istanbul going from 15 million to 30 million. It's an Istanbul going from 2 million cars to 8 million. It's the Istanbul of the future that will soon engulf the entire region. It's an Istanbul nobody has ever seen before.
After the 9/11 attacks, after the smoke was gone, after the rubble cleared away, New Yorkers had a city to rebuild. In response to fast-tracked redevelopment plans, more than 5,000 people gathered in the largest town hall in American history. They came to vote on the city’s six proposals for rebuilding Ground Zero. But instead, the people rejected the top down approach and successfully charted a new path forward. Their work determined what is at Ground Zero today. And their story is an example of what democracy can look like.
Terry Wilson is a 70-year-old lifelong resident of Meadowvale Village, Ontario's first heritage district. As development looms and begins to destroy Terry's favourite place in the world, he recreates pieces of history in his backyard, crafting an oasis where it feels like nothing has changed. A beautiful tribute to his childhood, his mother, and his town, Terry passionately fights to preserve history in a world that's too anxious for change.
A short documentary exploring the UK’s 1970s approach to urban renewal through General Improvement Areas. Mixing location footage from Blackburn, Norwich, and Oxford with unexpectedly quirky presentation, the film contrasts small-scale housing improvements with the sweeping redevelopment schemes of the post-war era. Produced as a government public information film and shown at meetings between planners, architects, and residents, it stands as a modest, humane entry in Britain’s civic-minded documentary tradition.
In Mumbai, once an island city linked by the sea, modern bridges and land reclamation have reshaped the landscape, disrupting the lives of its original communities.
