Summary: 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. The film spotlights fully modernized public transportation and recycling systems, a "Citizenship Street"...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: This program examines types of conflict that can occur at the local level, whether that locality is a single town, a region, or an entire country. After generally addressing armed conflict-different types of war, where they tend to proliferate, and kinds of weaponry used-Conflict on a Local Scale illustrates unarmed conflict through five examples. They include a clash of recreational interests...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: 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. With the Japanese crime rate increasing in 90 percent of the nation, a data map based on locations and peak times of criminal activity sheds light on deteriorating conditions in city outskirts. Opposite...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Every year, at least two million people are packed in shipping containers, pulled through sewage tunnels, secreted in car chassis, and ferried across frigid waters. Among this human cargo, an alarming number end up as prostitutes, thieves, or sweatshop laborers. This Wide Angle documentary explores the worldwide boom in illicit migration and human trafficking, recording the stories of those who...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: With hundreds of thousands of employees worldwide, a net worth in the billions, and a dozen brands, General Motors is at the center of the political debate over globalization, the environment, and the future of the U.S. economy. In this program, GM President and CEO Rick Wagoner talks with BBC Chief Washington Correspondent Matt Frei. Topics under discussion include America's unending love...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: In 1950, only two of the world's urban centers boasted populations of eight million or more. Today, dozens of cities contain at least that many people, with dozens more pushing to join the list. 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...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Each year, more than one million people try to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, contending with dangerous forces that prey on their hopes and exploit their gullibility. This program exposes the most painful, disturbing, and hidden dimension of illegal immigration: the growing black market trade in human beings. Shedding light on the poverty that causes so many to risk everything by leaving their...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Ireland never had an industrial revolution-its economy leaped from agrarian gloom into high-tech high-gear almost overnight. This Wide Angle case study visits Limerick, one of the country's largest cities and the epitome of the Celtic Tiger's rise. Once the blighted setting of Angela's Ashes, today's Limerick boasts the glories and the growing pains of all economic boomtowns: heavy foreign...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: The fictional locale known as Eagle Bay is breathtakingly beautiful. First home to a handful of modest houses, over the decades it has transitioned into a neighborhood of stately mansions-except for one 50-acre parcel, whose owners now want to sell it for subdivision. This Fred Friendly Seminar moderated by Harvard Law School's Arthur Miller explores the complexities that arise when a family's...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: In Rajasthan, an extraordinary school teaches rural women and men, many of them illiterate, to become solar engineers, artisans, dentists, and doctors. It's called the Barefoot College, and in this TEDTalk founder Bunker Roy explains its creation, and how it's helping impoverished rural communities becomes self-sufficient. Working against much skepticism, Roy has successfully brought...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
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Summary: 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...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Are humans genetically disposed to live in large, dense groups-or are we actually unfit as a species to do so? In this program, psychologist John Marsden dissects the behavior of city dwellers, analyzing why some people are capable of living shoulder-to-shoulder with thousands or even millions of their fellow humans-while others clearly are not. Dr. Marsden inquires into the dangers of city...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Stretching over 4,000 miles across South America, the Amazon River has long defied human efforts to tame it. Not a single bridge crosses it, and not one dam halts its flow. This program visits urban centers on the banks of the Amazon and examines new attempts to harness-or exploit-the river's energy and natural abundance. The journey begins at Iquitos-a Peruvian city blighted by poverty and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: City planning that puts people before cars, sculptural museums that are as artistic as the masterpieces they contain, commercial spaces that redefine retail—these are some of the paradigm-shaking ideas of today’s architects at work. This compilation of recent NewsHour segments introduces viewers to Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas, Daniel Libeskind, Vincent Scully, and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: As the world's population reaches staggering numbers, the populations of Europe, Japan, and Canada have fallen to unprecedented lows. This program analyzes why more and more young women and men from these regions are postponing or altogether skipping having children. But as many twenty-somethings opt to pursue career ambitions, enjoy the pleasures of leisure time, or seek the comfort of living...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program examines how urbanization, industrialization, and overreaching agriculture are depleting the Earth of its natural resources. Citing environmental changes in Morocco, Ghana, Ukraine, Mexico, and Vietnam, the program studies the impact of population growth and profiles organizations that respond to ecological crises stemming from such growth. With a focus on educational outreach...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program features data-mapping techniques that shed light on inner-city conditions in America and England. With an overview of manufacturing declines that took place during the 20th century and their effect on densely populated urban centers, the video compares and contrasts situations in Philadelphia and Birmingham, England. Studying these cities from a human angle, the program delves into...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Satisfying one's hunger is a primal act which most Westerners never connect to global issues. But the diets and farming systems of wealthy countries can be directly linked to starvation in the underdeveloped world. This program sheds light on the international tragedy of hunger and malnutrition, emphasizing that the problem is one of distribution, not production. Filmed in Asia, South America,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: As the 21st century unfolds, how are Americans adapting to urgent issues involving sustainable growth, quality of life, and community planning? Segment one of this NewsHour program examines the effect of urban sprawl on Atlanta's population, job and housing markets, the environment, and commuters. Segment two addresses the need for affordable housing in Burlington, Vermont, where the disparity...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Thirst, starvation, claustrophobia-all three await the whole of humanity, if global population and consumption rates continue unchanged. This program explores the looming crisis in practical terms, measuring as accurately as possible our planet's capacity for human habitation. Host Sir David Attenborough guides viewers through the core problems of water scarcity, shortsighted agricultural...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: 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...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program defines Mexico City's globalization in terms of winners and losers, examining how, in the world's largest metropolis, immigration challenges are linked to poverty and population influx from surrounding rural areas. Contrasting the city's high-tech facilities and fashionable neighborhoods with its sprawling slums and their struggling inhabitants, the program outlines the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: On the surface, New York and Los Angeles are quintessentially American cities, and although each is recognizable by its media image, both are little understood. This program transcends that superficial imagery through the fascinating story of how both cities responded to, and were reshaped by, the pervasive forces of economic and social change that characterized late-20th-century America. The...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: 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. Viewers are shown the lives and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007