urban development

Tekkonkinkreet

Sat, 21 Oct 2006

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.

Herbie Rides Again

Tue, 12 Feb 1974

The living Volkswagen Beetle helps an old lady protect her home from a corrupt developer.

Undine

Wed, 01 Jul 2020

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.

The Noise

Sat, 23 May 2015

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…?

Mountains

Fri, 16 Aug 2024

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.

The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream

Mon, 12 Jan 2004

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 is How the Obelisk Was Born

Wed, 14 Oct 1936

The construction of the Obelisco in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Changing Landscapes

Wed, 01 Jan 1964

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.

Gut Renovation

Wed, 06 Mar 2013

Su Friedrich's personal essay charting the destruction of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. After living in the neighborhood for 20 years, the filmmaker was one of many who were forced out after the city passed a rezoning plan allowing developers to build luxury condos where there were once thriving industries, working-class families, and artists. Filmed over many years, it is a scathing portrait of one neighborhood's demolition and transformation.

Brick by Brick

Fri, 01 Jan 1982

A prescient portrait of late-1970s Washington, D.C., that chronicles the city's creeping gentrification, the systematic expulsion of poor Black residents, and the community response in the form of the Seaton Street Project, in which tenants banded together to purchase buildings.

High Rise Building Problems

Mon, 01 Jan 1973

This is a 1970’s era, color movie discussing problems fire departments have with high rise buildings. It opens with a massive high-rise tower with a ladder next to it and was produced with the assistance of the National Fire Protection Association and Fire Prevention through Films. Producer is Julian Olansky and the New Haven Fire Department in New Haven, Connecticut.

Radiant City

Wed, 30 May 2007

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

Ecumenopolis: City Without Limits

Fri, 15 Apr 2011

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.

Terry's Little Village

Sat, 03 Aug 2024

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.

Places for the Soul

Mon, 01 Jan 1990

An intimate portrait of Christopher Alexander, a critic of modern architecture on a lifelong quest to build harmonious, livable places in today’s world. The film tells the story of two projects – a spectacular high school in Japan and an innovative homeless shelter in California. For Alexander, feelings come first, users are deeply engaged and process is paramount. We discover what happens when an architect’s unconventional method collides with standard practices in his profession.

Plán

Thu, 25 Sep 2014

The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces

Tue, 01 Jan 1980

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.

In Ictu Oculi

Thu, 29 Oct 2020

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.

At Tourkovounia

Mon, 04 Oct 1982

Greek internal migrants in Athens, after the Greek Civil War colonize the tops of the Tourkovounia hills.

Chicago in Time Lapse

Mon, 01 Jan 1996

"At the beginning of the 19th century there is no Chicago. There was a fort that was set on fire by Indians shortly thereafter. Later, the turbulent expansion of a settlement began, which became a center for the immigrant workforce, traditional industry, slaughterhouses, and, in 1941, armaments for war. The Windy City on Lake Michigan is the fastest changing city in the world. This 35mm Arriflex film time-lapse footage is annotated with classic techno cuts and information about the tunnels under Chicago, the slaughterhouses, organized crime, Sears & Roebuck catalogs and other peculiarities of this strange city."