The Life-Sized City is a Canadian television documentary series which premiered on TVOntario in 2017. Hosted by Mikael Colville-Andersen, the series visits various world cities, where it profiles innovative local urban development and improvement projects that are changing and revitalizing city life.
The series received five Canadian Screen Award nominations at the 6th Canadian Screen Awards, and two at the 7th Canadian Screen Awards.
The series has been rebroadcast by Knowledge Network in British Columbia, as well as internationally on Finland's Yle (as Ihmisen Kaupunki), Denmark's DR (as Det fantastiske byliv), Austria's ServusTV, Belgium's VRT, Poland's TVN24, Italy's LaEffe (as Racconti dalle citta del futuro), and France's Planète+ (as Des villes à hauteur d'hommes).
Episodes
Season 1
| # | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Medellín" | September 16, 2017 (2017-09-16) | |
| A rose among the thorns in South American cities, few places have been as successful as Medellin in tackling social problems head-on with urbanism, architecture and greening of the urban landscape. Colombia's second-largest city has gone from drug-cartel hovel to urbanist dream. The work is nowhere near done but Medellin can inspire every other city in the world with its visionary political and social choice and its strong network of urban activists. | |||
| 2 | "Toronto" | September 23, 2017 (2017-09-23) | |
| Mikael Colville-Andersen lands in Toronto to meet the urban heroes working to make Canada's largest city more livable. A prominent cultural and artistic hub and a haven for foodies, Toronto is the big city that doesn't feel impersonal. With 239 neighbourhoods and people coming from all over the world, it's a multi-faceted and profoundly diverse metropolis. | |||
| 3 | "Paris" | September 30, 2017 (2017-09-30) | |
| Often perceived as cold and expensive, Paris is a mythical city, one of luxury, gastronomy and haute couture. But beyond the clichés of the Eiffel Tower, there is another Paris - one of solidarity, wittiness, and repurposing public space. This Paris revolves around change, inspiring solutions big and small to improve everyday life for its citizens. It hopes to minimize traffic, give a new life to the banks of the Seine River, and provide adequate lodging and a sense of belonging. | |||
| 4 | "Bangkok" | October 7, 2017 (2017-10-07) | |
| A chaotic mix of skyscrapers, street markets and hidden alleyways, Bangkok is a vibrant hub of life, buzzing day and night. Dubbed the Capital of Gridlock, Bangkok boasts traffic that is among the worst in the world. The city's future seems paralyzed by recurring political upheavals, but social instability hasn't undermined the locals' fierce will to better their city. They're fighting back, not with violence but with creativity and ingenuity. | |||
| 5 | "Tel Aviv" | October 14, 2017 (2017-10-14) | |
| Few modern cities evoke as much division as Tel Aviv, with its reputation as a laid-back and permissive party town in a hotbed of conflict and turmoil. The problems of a rising cost of living, deficient public transport, and development conflicts are often put aside in the face of cyclical religious and cultural struggles that have marked its complex history. But people from both sides of the political and cultural divide are working together to create a more functional and united city. | |||
| 6 | "Tokyo" | October 21, 2017 (2017-10-21) | |
| Modern Tokyo is a fascinating urban mystery. The largest urban agglomeration in the world, it is home to 38 million people - more than the entire population of Canada in one city. On the surface, Tokyo feels like an oversized, human-built environment, full of endless rows of towers, glittering neon and fast-moving citizens. But if you dig deeper, this megacity is much more than its impressive size. | |||
Season 2
| # | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | "Cape Town" | November 10, 2018 (2018-11-10) | |
| On the southwest coast of South Africa, Cape Town makes headlines for its laidback lifestyle and natural beauty. But beneath the sales pitch, traces of a dark past still linger. Amid de facto segregation and violence can also be found bold attempts at unity, and a city striving to use urban projects to create democratic inclusivity. | |||
| 8 | "Mexico City" | November 17, 2018 (2018-11-17) | |
| Mexico City, the largest city in the Western hemisphere, faces challenges ranging from social and economic inequity to environmental issues to its vulnerability to earthquakes. But many still see this megalopolis as a village - or as a patchwork of many villages, each preserving its own identity, yet home to a unique urban solidarity. | |||
| 9 | "Copenhagen" | November 24, 2018 (2018-11-24) | |
| For the past decade, Copenhagen has consistently ranked near the top in dozens of annual global livability surveys. Is Denmark's capital the ultimate life-sized city? Is this model scalable? Urban design expert Mikael Colville-Andersen explores his own city and meets the people working daily to make it live up to its reputation. | |||
| 10 | "Milan" | December 1, 2018 (2018-12-01) | |
| Once considered the bland financial capital of Italy, Milan is proving its capacity to redefine itself. An industrial past had left almost indelible scars on the urban fabric. But Expo 2015 sparked change: skyscrapers, new public and private initiatives, and innumerable urban renewal projects have since popped up on every block. Decades of open-mindedness, and of open doors to immigration, have made Milan the most multicultural hub in all of Italy. | |||
| 11 | "Detroit and Windsor" | December 8, 2018 (2018-12-08) | |
| The southwestern Ontario city of Windsor has always lived in the shadow of its big American neighbour, Detroit, only 3.6 kilometres away. People cross the border every day for work or leisure. In a matter of decades, Detroit went from one of the most prosperous U.S. cities to one of the most distressed, culminating in the municipality's bankruptcy in 2013. How has this affected Windsor, a city trying to make a name of its own in Canada? | |||
| 12 | "Montreal" | December 15, 2018 (2018-12-15) | |
| Although Montreal could be described as half Paris, half Brooklyn - it is after all the most populated francophone city in North America - the city has an identity of its own. Made up of a peculiar mix of creative citizens, cobblestones and potholes, Montreal is not the biggest, nor the richest or boldest. But it's one of the best cities to live in, and it certainly is a happy underdog. | |||
Season 3
| # | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | "Buenos Aires" | September 8, 2020 (2020-09-08) | |
| Despite Argentina's history of political and economic upheaval, the nation's capital Buenos Aires has remained relatively stable. But with millions moving to the city for a better life, the cracks in infrastructure and gaping income inequality are now overwhelming. In order to stem the tide, passionate locals have adopted a grassroots approach to tackling challenges big and small in order to ensure quality of life for all. | |||
| 14 | "Taipei" | September 15, 2020 (2020-09-15) | |
| The capital of Taiwan is a young city undergoing rapid change and development within a fragile governmental framework. While the island boasts one of the highest economic growth rates in Asia, it maintains a tenuous relationship with China that makes its future uncertain. Fortunately, the citizens of Taipei are loud enough for the entire country, and they will do what it takes to make their voices heard to move forward into a more transparent, greener future. | |||
| 15 | "Barcelona" | September 22, 2020 (2020-09-22) | |
| Spain's second-largest city is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe, with around 30 million tourists visiting Barcelona each year. Given the city's small population of roughly 1.5 million citizens, however, the impact of tourism is significant and not all positive. Barcelona's rise in popularity has compelled locals to find solutions to reclaim their city and make it more liveable. | |||
| 16 | "Beirut" | September 29, 2020 (2020-09-29) | |
| Once considered the Paris of the Middle East, the ancient city of Beirut has survived a brutal civil war, ongoing conflicts with Israel, political assassinations, and endless bombings. Amidst crumbling buildings, a major garbage disposal crisis, and frequent blackouts, Beirutis take everything in stride, because they understand better than most that nothing gets done unless you do it yourself. | |||
| 17 | "New Orleans" | October 6, 2020 (2020-10-06) | |
| When Hurricane Katrina ravaged the United States' Gulf Region in 2005, killing over 1800 people, displacing over a million, and causing over 151 billion US dollars in damages, New Orleans was caught in the eye of the storm. The city itself lost nearly half of its population. Fifteen years later, the recovery is ongoing and has taken the form of mass tourism that is pushing out locals. But the city's resilience lies in its strong, multifaceted culture, and in its history of overcoming adversity. | |||
| 18 | "Hamilton" | October 18, 2020 (2020-10-18) | |
| Toronto has always cast a long shadow on the city of Hamilton, Ontario, for a number of reasons: it's bigger, it's more economically successful, and people want to live there. But times are changing. | |||
Season 4
| # | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|
| 19 | "Los Angeles" | 2023 (2023) |
| 20 | "Berlin" | 2023 (2023) |
| 21 | "Calgary" | 2023 (2023) |
| 22 | "Istanbul" | 2023 (2023) |
| 23 | "Antwerp" | 2023 (2023) |
References
- "Seeing Medellín Through the Eyes of a Copenhagener". CityLab, September 9, 2017.
- "TVO show The Life-Sized City to spotlight Detroit-Windsor urban renewal". Kingston Whig-Standard, November 23, 2018.
- "The Life-Sized City". Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, February 7, 2019.
- "The Life-Sized City". Knowledge Network, September 22, 2019.
- "Ihmisen kaupunki". Yle, September 22, 2019.
- "Det fantastiske byliv". DR, September 22, 2019.
- "The Life-Sized City". Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie, September 22, 2019.
- "Racconti dalle citta del futuro". LaEffe, September 22, 2019.
External links
- Mikael Colville-Andersen's Official website
- TVOntario's Official website
- The Life-Sized City at IMDb
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