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Something new
is happening on Planet Earth,

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big enough to be seen from space.

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Hot spots, buzzing with the energy
of millions of people.

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For the first time
in human history,

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more of us live in cities
than in the country.

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But these are cities
on a different scale.

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In just 50 years

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we've seen the birth, the growth and
now the dominance of the megacity.

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Sprawling, seething,
noisy, polluted,

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crammed with 10 million, 15,
sometimes even 30 million people.

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These cities are complicated,
fragile places,

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constantly on the edge.

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These are places
of overcrowding, squalor.

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But these are also the most exciting
places on the earth,

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brim with optimism
and fun and energy.

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PEOPLE CHEER
Argh!

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Love them or loathe them,
fear them or embrace them,

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the megacities
are the human future of the planet.

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What is the great story
of our times? It's migration.

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The emptying of countryside,
villages and small towns
into the great cities.

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The tramp of billions of people.

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One of the biggest gambles
the human race has taken.

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In this programme, I'll be
talking to some of the winners.

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I see what you mean about the view.
Good grief!

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9 million quid! Wow!

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And the losers.

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What's this, a government notice
saying get out
before a certain date?

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I'll be living in the middle
of sprawling slums.

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It's about 1.30 in the morning now

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and I'm eaten alive by mosquitoes.

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Where filth and friendliness
live side by side.

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Mr Bean?! Mm-hm.
ANDREW LAUGHS

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I'll climb the mighty new
fingers of the metropolis.

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This is London's way of saying to
people, "Look at me, come to me."

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I'll take bird's-eye view of cities
that just can't stop growing.

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It just goes on for ever,
without form or shape.

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But I'll also ask whether
an ultra-slick and efficient megacity
sucks the life out of its people.

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Who would want to live in a city
with no sense of its own past?

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I wouldn't.

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And I'll find out if the secret of
a really successful metropolis

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means we all need to
bring the village into the city.

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I've got too many friends!

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There are now 21 cities
we can properly call mega.

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That is, they have a population
of more than 10 million people.

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All of them are relentlessly
changing, shifting
and, above all, growing,

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and there are plenty more
on the way.

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Over the course of this series,
I'm going to be journeying to five
of the world's key megacities.

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Shanghai would like to
think of itself as
the new capital of the world -

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right now the most dynamic
megacity on the planet, sprawling
sideways and sprouting upwards.

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Dhaka, where 500,000 new migrants
arrive every year.

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A place of poverty,
pollution and transport chaos,

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so vulnerable to flood and disease
it could be the first megacity
to have to be evacuated.

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Tokyo, which is still
the largest city on the earth -

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33 million people jammed into
the ultimate hi-tech, urban hive.

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And London.

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The grand old man of megacities,
with lots to learn
from the new generations

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and something to teach them too.

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And, last of all, Mexico City -

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one of the most dangerous cities
in the world, but for my money,

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one of the most enjoyable as well,
brimming with surprises.

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This story, though,
doesn't begin in the city at all,

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but tens, if not hundreds of
miles away out in the countryside.

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All around the world
people are hearing the summons,

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but this is nothing
to do with religion.

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They're answering
the call of the city.

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Imagine you're a peasant farmer
and you're leaving the place that
you are known and that you know

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and going to somewhere
where you're unknown.

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And yet, in their tens of millions,

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people are turning
their backs on all of this
and going in one direction only -

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to the city.

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By 2050 the world's cities
will absorb over 3 billion people

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and the population in
the countryside will stop growing.

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By then, 70% of the world
will live in cities,

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and by the end of the century,
three quarters of the entire
planet will be urban.

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This will mark the end of the
biggest shift in human civilisation
since the birth of agriculture.

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And why are these people going?

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For the promise of a better life,
wealth, even luxury.

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I don't know if
the streets of the megacities
are exactly paved with gold,

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but they are splattered
with posh brands

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and adverts selling, in essence,
a better tomorrow.

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And so they act like huge magnets,
every day they bring tens of
thousands of people,

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either driven by desperation
or lured by optimism.

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And, of course, for a lot of them,
it never happens.

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They stay stuck on the edges,
living a pretty miserable life.

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But hundreds of thousands
do make the jump

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and they start to climb
the ladder of opportunity

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and get at least
a bit of what they hoped for.

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They're never the same afterwards.

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In Shanghai, at the top of one
of those ladders, is Tang Jun.

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'The transformative power of
the megacity's worked for him.'

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He's one of the winners.

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His parents were humble workers,
now he is Shanghai's richest man.

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He's made his money from
the millions of people in the city
seeking entertainment.

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Shanghai is the karaoke bar capital
of the world

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and Tang is its emperor.

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I invented some of the cool
kind of ideas stuff.

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For example, you sing karaoke -
you know karaoke? Yes, absolutely.

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I invented one very unique
kind of system.

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Once you sing karaoke, the system
will tell you how good you are,

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basically give you the score.

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I call it the Karaoke Score Machine.

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Ah, so it's an electronic
Simon Cowell? Exactly.

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So I earned, in the first part
of my life, the money.

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I earned the money from Samsung
and then I founded my own
computer company there.

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I came back to Shanghai in 1997.

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What was Shanghai looking like
then? None of these skyscrapers?

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No, not at all.
Actually, you didn't see any
kind of high-rise buildings here.

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So just 10 years?
It's astonishing story.

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Even to me, and I've been
living in Shanghai for 13 years.

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Shanghai is changing almost
on a weekly or monthly basis.

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Tang is the top of the megacity
pile, but he's not unique.

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Shanghai has
over 7,000 billionaires.

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I'll say that again -
7,000 billionaires.

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It's the fastest-growing city
on the planet.

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'If the skyscraper is the ultimate
symbol of a city trying to
tell you it's arrived,

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'well, Shanghai is screaming.

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'It makes Manhattan
look a little dull.' Wow.

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Oh, wow!

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This is, erm...

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This is absolutely astonishing.

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This is the first time I've seen
Shanghai from this high up,

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and it is breathtaking.

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It's a sort of like
a German forest of skyscrapers.

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They're sprouting
almost as you look at them,

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and the minute you see one
that you're told is the tallest...

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And some of them look like
they've been badly drawn
in the wrong perspective

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because they are just dizzyingly,
unsettlingly big.

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And apparently
there's a much, much bigger one

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just arriving,
which is going to dwarf those.

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People say, apparently,

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that Shanghai is the new capital
of the world,

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which sounds a bit over the top,

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until you've been at the top

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and looked down
and it starts to make sense.

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These things are being
built with bamboo scaffolding
and armies of people

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who were once tending rice paddies

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and are now planting
steel and glass instead.

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Just 30 years ago, there were 121
buildings over eight storeys here.

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Now there are more than 10,000.

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Skyscraper fever,

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and it's not just Shanghai
that's infected.

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I am currently at the highest point
of the highest building site
in Europe,

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just one of the extraordinary
new skyscrapers

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leaping out of the urban clutter
below them, all around the world.

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This is The Shard in London
and when it's completed,

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it will be the highest building
in the European Union.

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This is London's way
of establishing its power

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as the major megacity
in its bit of the world.

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"Look at me!"

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These skyscrapers
are packages of money,

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technical brilliance,

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engineering and imagination.

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They are the beacons,
the lighthouses
of the modern megacities,

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saying to people all round the
world, "Hey! Hey! Come to me."

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The megacities' frantic gorging on
materials, innovation and change

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is happening
in front of our very eyes.

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The Shard will rise to 1,016 feet.

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And it's growing at a phenomenal,
Jack-And-The-Beanstalk pace.

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Every two weeks,
three floors are added

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and, eventually,
there'll be 87 of them.

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When you're building
a building this high,

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there's one piece of kit
you can't do without, of course.

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Taller than the skyscraper itself -
the crane.

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Look up and you'll spot the unsung
heroes of the skyscraper world,

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the people who spend their working
lives dangling up in the air.

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And getting to meet one of them

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means I have a rather serious
morning's walk to work.

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It's unsettlingly open.

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Good God. Ha!

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I hope I never have to climb up
a ladder that's longer than that one!

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I'm up here to talk to John Young,

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one of the crane drivers who's
building this extraordinary place.

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Um, apart from anything else,
just to find out how he does it.

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Hi, John.
It is an amazing sight up here.

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Is there a big sense of pride
in doing this job? Yeah.

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You never tire of the view. You can
be in a job for a year, two years

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and, all of a sudden, recognise
things you never knew were there.

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You can never tire of the view,

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especially at night time when the
lights come on. Yeah, fantastic.

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Working at these extreme heights
means the operators
often have to work blind,

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delicately shifting
around tons of steel

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with the help of a team
hundreds of feet below them.

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OK, John, fast as you like.

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Just give her a little tap
round to your right, please, John.

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Fast as you like. Keep going up,
keep tapping left.

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As The Shard keeps growing,
so do the cranes have to grow

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because they have to be even taller.

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We're incredibly high up.
Is this as high as you go now?

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No, no, no.
This is only half the height.

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You'll get twice as high?
Twice as high.

191
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But we have to, what we call,
jump the crane. Climb it ourselves,
section by section.

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So you build the crane...?
Yeah, from inside, yeah.

193
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And there's a certain amount
of anxiety when that happens?

194
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There's always a handshake
before we let them bolts go.

195
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A handshake first?
Just in case the worst happens.
Let's do the job properly.

196
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That's seriously dangerous. Yeah.

197
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The most dangerous job you
can undertake in construction
is the jumping of a tower crane.

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Building The Shard
is a global operation.

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It sucks in components
from all around the world -

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lifts from Finland,
doors from Malaysia

201
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and, believe it or not,
the toilets are from Scotland!

202
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Renzo Piano,
the architect behind The Shard,

203
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is selling this dream
as a city in the sky,

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home to offices,
restaurants and hotels.

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On the outside, this will be
a towering expression

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of the megacities' glittering
'come to me' written in glass.

207
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One of the big differences
between the new skyscrapers

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is what they are saying
and how they are saying it.

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If you look over there
at an older building -

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a great, heavy, aggressive,
lump of concrete -

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it's about a city which is rather
dour and old-fashioned and heavy.

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These buildings, as we are seeing,
are all glass,

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it's all light and it's all airy.

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And at some level,
it's meant to suggest that anyone
can rise to any position.

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Everything is transparent.

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The crews putting in the windows
are on a tight schedule.

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They have to put in
20 of these monsters every day.

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By the time this building
is finished,

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this glass shard will be covered
from top to bottom

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with 11,000 panes of glass.

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You think of these big projects
as being entirely routine.

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It's obviously not. It's actually
still about human muscle and skill.

223
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This guy's going to get out here now
through the fencing,

224
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just to lock that into position.

225
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Tiny errors here are very dangerous
and very, very expensive.

226
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Insulation-wise, this wall
is definitely the trickiest,

227
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because you are just totally
out of the building.

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You're leaning so far out. Yeah.

229
00:17:17,360 --> 00:17:20,200
And, obviously, you want the guys
to be safe, you know?

230
00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:25,120
These vertical cities
don't come cheap.

231
00:17:25,120 --> 00:17:28,680
The total cost of the Shard
will be more than £1 billion.

232
00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:34,160
And at its top, a series of
incredible luxury apartments.

233
00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:39,240
Aztecs, cathedrals, the Eiffel Tower
and Manhattan -

234
00:17:39,240 --> 00:17:42,200
powerful people
have always tried to build

235
00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:46,840
as high as they can,
because they can.

236
00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:51,080
But who goes into these buildings?
No gods or emperors here.

237
00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:54,880
Yet one thing hasn't changed.

238
00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:58,240
Around the world,
the most spectacular buildings,

239
00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:01,000
the real jaw-droppers, gob-smackers,

240
00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:06,360
still tend to have
the rich right at the top.

241
00:18:16,560 --> 00:18:18,240
Back in Shanghai,

242
00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:21,360
inside the concrete
and glass forests

243
00:18:21,360 --> 00:18:24,320
are the swanky penthouses
and multinational HQs.

244
00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:28,960
'Andy Lau is estate agent
to the super-rich.

245
00:18:28,960 --> 00:18:31,400
'Business is booming.'

246
00:18:33,360 --> 00:18:35,480
This is about 900 square metre

247
00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:38,880
and it's a four-plus-one apartment.

248
00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:42,040
As you can see,
it has a very high ceiling.

249
00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:44,840
This is what we call a double volume.
It's wonderful.

250
00:18:44,840 --> 00:18:48,640
This is something that,
you know...you have to see.

251
00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:50,400
Good grief!

252
00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:54,240
You have the best of Shanghai.

253
00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:55,600
That is a view!

254
00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:01,440
I'm tempted.
I might well be a buyer, but...

255
00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:06,040
one small, tiny little issue
I need to ask you about.

256
00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:08,360
No worries, nothing is a problem.

257
00:19:08,360 --> 00:19:10,080
The price.

258
00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:11,160
OK, the price...

259
00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:13,560
Nothing is a problem!
THEY LAUGH

260
00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:17,480
For the top, wealthiest people
in Shanghai,

261
00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:21,120
getting a grand apartment
with a lovely view,

262
00:19:21,120 --> 00:19:24,000
what sort of money
are they going to be paying?

263
00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:27,680
I think in the market, talking about
really super-luxury properties,

264
00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:29,640
about 90 million.

265
00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:32,960
90 million, which is about
£9 million. Thereabouts.

266
00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:36,880
9 million quid! Well!

267
00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:40,320
I might have to go back, have a word
with my bank manager first,

268
00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:45,160
just chat, you know, before
I can actually sign the cheque!

269
00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:49,120
Any time, just give me a call,
you know we can work this out.

270
00:19:49,120 --> 00:19:53,960
But the skyline of the megacity
isn't all sleek concrete.

271
00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:05,120
Welcome to Dhaka in Bangladesh,
in all its unstructured,

272
00:20:05,120 --> 00:20:08,720
unregulated glory.

273
00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:12,640
Not only are 12 million people
already living here,

274
00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:18,320
there's half a million new arrivals
from the countryside
pouring in every year.

275
00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:26,520
That's like a city the size of
Liverpool moving in next door.

276
00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:30,760
Whatever the dream of a better life,
many people start here in the slums.

277
00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:35,800
It's estimated that the Dhaka slums
are home to four million people.

278
00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:38,080
It might seem vast and daunting,

279
00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:43,160
but when you're on the ground
in this place, you discover
it's still highly organised.

280
00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:50,240
So this is a slum,
like thousands around the world.

281
00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:55,080
It's a slum, however, not a dump.

282
00:20:55,080 --> 00:20:59,400
It's complicated, well organised.

283
00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:03,680
Television area there, where
they're watching the cricket.

284
00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:05,320
Firewood stall.

285
00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:07,520
There's a school down here.

286
00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:11,120
Hairdresser's shop.

287
00:21:11,120 --> 00:21:13,560
Cigarette shop.

288
00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:19,280
Just like Shanghai, this place
has its own social structure.

289
00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:22,960
One thing I've noticed,
wherever you are in the world,

290
00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:30,400
if you come to a new city and you're
trying to find where the posh bits,
the better-off bits are,

291
00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:33,640
there are a couple
of infallible signs.

292
00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:40,440
One is better roads,
a better class of roadwork.

293
00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:44,000
And the other? Trees, greenery.

294
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:47,640
The more greenery, by and large,
the better off.

295
00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:51,640
It seems to be the case
even in the slum.

296
00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:57,280
The houses might be made from
plasterboard and discarded wood,

297
00:21:57,280 --> 00:22:01,960
but that doesn't mean
that their owners can't make them
very comfortable.

298
00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:05,360
Sohil and his family have
been here for 15 years.

299
00:22:05,360 --> 00:22:10,160
He's made a life for himself in the
slum and he's decided to stay here.

300
00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:12,040
So this is a lovely house.

301
00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:15,200
You've got lots of lovely
things here. Thank you.

302
00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:19,720
It's not what people would expect
from being inside a slum house.

303
00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:23,960
IN TRANSLATION: We're very proud
to be living like this.

304
00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:28,600
We built this ourselves, supported
ourselves and supported our family.

305
00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:34,240
We have everything we need to live.

306
00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:38,520
Can you tell me a bit
about this community, this area?
About how many people,

307
00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:41,600
how many families
are living here now?

308
00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:46,840
IN TRANSLATION: 10,000 people
live in this slum.

309
00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:49,320
10,000 people? That's a lot, yeah.

310
00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:52,440
It's a proper-sized town, isn't it?

311
00:22:54,720 --> 00:23:01,560
But for many of the 10,000 people
in this particular slum, conditions
are a lot less comfortable.

312
00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:05,360
This way? We'll go this way? OK.

313
00:23:05,360 --> 00:23:10,920
'Just round the corner 14-year-old
Musharraf and his family
are putting me up for the night.'

314
00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:15,560
You've only been speaking
English for two years? Yeah.
That's amazing! You're very good.

315
00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:18,040
You're really good at it.
That's fantastic.

316
00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:21,520
'Musharraf was a slumdog,
a street hawker,

317
00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:25,640
'until two years ago when a charity
helped to pay for his education.

318
00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:29,840
'He's very bright,
but the conditions he lives in
are still pretty daunting.'

319
00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:35,200
If you want to take a bath,
there it is. That's the bath?

320
00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:36,920
Yeah. I'm not sure about the bath.

321
00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:39,360
That is toilet. Down that way? OK.

322
00:23:39,360 --> 00:23:41,040
I'd better just dump this. Oh, God.

323
00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:43,440
Straight into the lake!
Straight into the lake.

324
00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:45,880
This is the room
where we're going to live.

325
00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:48,280
It's a big house.

326
00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:51,200
Because lots of people
are living here, almost nine.

327
00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:55,240
Nine people in here?
That's why it's a big room.
Yeah. Nine people living here.

328
00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:58,400
Let's get out
and get ready for our cook.

329
00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:00,200
Get ready for our cooking. Yes.

330
00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:02,520
'With my sleeping quarters sorted,

331
00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:06,040
'we're off to buy dinner in the
market, the hub of the community.'

332
00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:08,640
What's this? Dried fish.

333
00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:11,760
No, no. I think not. Chilli maybe.

334
00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:15,080
Garlic. And onion.

335
00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:17,120
Garlic, onion.

336
00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:21,160
Thank you.

337
00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:23,880
Big shopping. Yeah.

338
00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:25,640
Cross the road. OK.

339
00:24:25,640 --> 00:24:30,920
'To cook the dinner, we're going
to need some water, obviously,
but the nearest pump's a mile away.'

340
00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:40,680
Maybe it's a little bit
hard for you to carry?

341
00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:46,240
It's all right. I've got to
kind of experience the full thing.

342
00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:49,080
Can I help you?
No, it's fine, Musharraf!

343
00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:51,520
Just give it to me.
No! We both can take it.

344
00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:53,480
No, no, no. Honestly.

345
00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:55,400
Honestly. There we go, look.

346
00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:57,080
That's better. Not like this.

347
00:24:57,080 --> 00:24:58,680
What's wrong with that?

348
00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:00,080
What's wrong with that?!

349
00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:03,960
Like this. Carry like this.

350
00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:06,640
Like this? Between the two of us?

351
00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:09,240
All right, OK. Shared labour.

352
00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:11,240
'Musharraf's a remarkable boy,

353
00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:15,640
'the more so, I thought, after
I'd asked him how he landed here.'

354
00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:19,760
So, Musharraf,
a bit about your family.

355
00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:21,480
Where did they come from?

356
00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:24,680
First when I was four years old
we were in the village.

357
00:25:24,680 --> 00:25:28,200
Then there were some problems.

358
00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:31,400
What problems? We lost our land
and we moved to Dhaka.

359
00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:37,200
1998, the biggest flood
of Bangladesh.

360
00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:39,000
The worst flood? Yes.

361
00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:42,760
Did the family lose everything? Yes.

362
00:25:42,760 --> 00:25:48,880
And then we move to another place
when the farms were burning.

363
00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:51,520
The homes were burned down?

364
00:25:51,520 --> 00:25:54,360
Was that because of an accident?
It was accident.

365
00:25:54,360 --> 00:25:56,240
This is the fourth slum for you?

366
00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:58,480
This is the last one. The last slum.

367
00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:01,720
A lot's happened to
you and you're just 13.

368
00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:04,320
Yes. I'm 14.

369
00:26:04,320 --> 00:26:07,320
14, sorry. I beg your pardon.
How old do you think I am?

370
00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:09,560
45. 45, that'll do.

371
00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:12,280
How old? 50. 50? Almost near.

372
00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:17,520
'Here they cook with clever stoves
they've dug out of the earth.

373
00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:21,520
'They have only one knife
and they cook better than
most television chefs.'

374
00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:23,440
No! No?

375
00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:25,040
No.

376
00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:28,760
ANDREW LAUGHS

377
00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:33,000
'And embarrassingly, it
seems I'm a dead ringer
for somebody else off the box.'

378
00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:37,440
Mr Bean. Mr Bean?!

379
00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:39,120
ANDREW LAUGHS

380
00:26:41,120 --> 00:26:42,760
You look like Mr Bean.

381
00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:49,320
Mr Bean. She says I'm Mr Bean.

382
00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:51,480
Fair point.

383
00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:59,320
After darkness falls, they watch
television with electricity expertly
nicked from the official grid.

384
00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:04,400
'But it's still a long way
from the posh end of the slums.'

385
00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:07,120
OK.

386
00:27:07,120 --> 00:27:08,640
They're better at it than me.

387
00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:12,560
Mmm, yeah.

388
00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:14,080
Very good.

389
00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:19,200
He's struggling now.
It's too hot. It's very hot.

390
00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:21,960
Now Musharraf.

391
00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:25,720
OK.

392
00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:27,800
THEY LAUGH

393
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:32,160
I think it's time for me
to go to bed. I'm exhausted.

394
00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:34,200
It's been a long, long day.

395
00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:37,320
One last...
Oh, I get my hands washed as well.

396
00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:41,960
I'm going to spend the rest of
the night here

397
00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:46,240
in one of the shacks in the slum
and say goodbye now, goodnight,
to the camera crew.

398
00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:48,400
There they are.
Good night, camera crew.

399
00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:51,120
See you in the morning!
Night-night. Off you go.

400
00:27:51,120 --> 00:27:58,080
It's about 1.30 in the morning now
and I'm eaten alive by mosquitoes.

401
00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:01,080
I've put on all sorts of stuff
and got a mosquito net

402
00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:03,480
and it's absolutely
no difference at all.

403
00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:06,720
I'm just covered in bites
and they're keeping on going.

404
00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:10,280
There's also some
very large rats just underneath me.

405
00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:14,200
I've spotted them. More like
the size of cats, I would say.

406
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:16,080
And cockroaches as well.

407
00:28:16,080 --> 00:28:20,760
The rats are a doddle
compared with nipping out for a pee.

408
00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:22,440
This is the slightly...

409
00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:25,840
..forbidding-looking toilet.

410
00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:31,160
Not only forbidding, I think...
pretty difficult underfoot,

411
00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:32,480
if I can put it that way.

412
00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:41,040
The main thing, the first thing is
not to drop either of my sandals.

413
00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:50,520
You don't really
want to see the next bit!

414
00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:55,760
I might be in a city of
more than 13 million people,
but it feels a lot smaller.

415
00:28:57,520 --> 00:28:59,800
It's the deep dead of night now.

416
00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:04,280
Just the occasional muttering
and coughing, dog barking.

417
00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:06,280
I'm wondering how many
of these people

418
00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:08,000
are really city-dwellers at all.

419
00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:13,920
They seem bound together
by close ties of mutual obligation,

420
00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:18,520
family ties, looking out for each
other and each other's children.

421
00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:27,800
I think the village is the natural
unit and perhaps every megacity

422
00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:34,680
is like a huge body crammed with
millions of ghostly villages,

423
00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:37,040
of which this is just one.

424
00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:50,960
Dawn, and the cycle
of the slum continues.

425
00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:58,400
One thing I suppose we think
we know about slum-dwellers,

426
00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:03,440
is that they are the passive,
put-upon victims of the modern city.

427
00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:07,200
Well, if one thing is clear
from being here for a short time,

428
00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:10,800
it's that these people may be
victims, but they are not passive.

429
00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:13,640
They work fantastically hard.

430
00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:17,080
They are resourceful
and full of ingenuity.

431
00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:21,960
Simply getting together the fuel and
the food to keep themselves going,

432
00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:26,520
keeping the structures upright,
looking after the children,

433
00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:30,520
running little schools,
and THEN going to work

434
00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:33,240
for long and back-breaking days

435
00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:35,920
is an extraordinary
human achievement.

436
00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:38,800
You are welcome as a guest again.

437
00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:40,520
I'll be back.

438
00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:42,880
Mr Bean. Mr Bean comes back.

439
00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:45,080
Mr Bean comes back! All right.

440
00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:46,920
Thank you very much.

441
00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:50,000
Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

442
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:53,040
Bye-bye.
We will miss you so much. Thank you.

443
00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:54,560
Bye-bye.

444
00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:59,440
CHEERING

445
00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:01,960
'Good, tough people.

446
00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:04,400
'But this is still a rotten city.

447
00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:07,480
'It's a lesson in how
not to run our urban futures.'

448
00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:12,600
The trouble is, when you build
a shiny new metropolis,

449
00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:14,520
knocking down the slums,

450
00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:19,080
you can end up destroying places
where real communities
still hang on.

451
00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:26,000
Back in Shanghai, I carried round
a little book to try to learn

452
00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:29,280
some basic Chinese characters
but I soon began to wonder

453
00:31:29,280 --> 00:31:34,560
if they had words
for heritage and conservation.

454
00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:38,120
So here we are in old Shanghai

455
00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:44,800
but many of the buildings
here have a kind of
plague symbol stamped on them.

456
00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:49,160
This means simply one word -

457
00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:50,400
demolish.

458
00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:55,880
Demolish.

459
00:31:55,880 --> 00:31:57,440
Demolish.

460
00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:02,960
And so on.

461
00:32:02,960 --> 00:32:05,840
Don't need a symbol
that side any more.

462
00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:07,640
Demolish.

463
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:14,560
Here is

464
00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:18,720
a rather nice new building,
or at least a new building. Newish.

465
00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:20,480
I think it's a school.

466
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:23,560
So that's all right, then.

467
00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:28,240
Oh, no...

468
00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:29,600
Demolish.

469
00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:35,640
The massive rebuilding programme
ordered by the Chinese authorities

470
00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:41,280
requires the residents of
Shanghai's old town to be relocated

471
00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:42,720
by order.

472
00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:43,800
What's this?

473
00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:47,440
Can he explain what this is?

474
00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:50,280
Government notice.
A government notice? Saying?

475
00:32:50,280 --> 00:32:56,160
Saying that you should move
before a certain date.

476
00:32:56,160 --> 00:33:00,240
Right, so this is
a government notice saying
get out before a certain date

477
00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:03,840
or presumably your house
will be knocked down anyway?

478
00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:08,520
Um, yeah, you should move out.

479
00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:10,600
And you got that one?

480
00:33:10,600 --> 00:33:15,560
THEY CONVERSE IN MANDARIN CHINESE

481
00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:18,160
They are not happy with the policy.

482
00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:23,240
Like, the house they are supposed
to get it's very far away.

483
00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:28,600
Oh, that's interesting.
So they're being moved a long way
away and this is their home here?

484
00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:30,120
Yeah.

485
00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:36,920
'In theory, such is the fear about
speaking out against the government,

486
00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:40,880
'we were firmly told nobody would
say a word with a camera nearby.

487
00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:42,480
'Well, ha!

488
00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:45,080
'Cheeringly,
plenty of people were eager to talk.

489
00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:49,360
'They seem a direct and
stroppy lot, the Shanghai locals.'

490
00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:52,520
We talked to a lot of people
who suddenly congregated.

491
00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:56,040
They were very angry and upset
that they were being forcibly moved.

492
00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:59,520
One of them is now
leading us to see his house.

493
00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:05,960
'Just like in Dhaka, these houses
might look grim but they are homes.'

494
00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:08,600
There are six people
registered in this address.

495
00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:11,320
Six people? Goodness.

496
00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:13,200
Was that him?

497
00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:15,640
His marriage photograph?

498
00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:21,160
20 years ago.
20 years ago, yeah, yeah.

499
00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:23,000
A Shanghai man.

500
00:34:25,640 --> 00:34:27,960
They grew up here.
Yeah, I understand.

501
00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:35,400
For the older residents, this
big land grab means being kicked out
of your home and your neighbourhood.

502
00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:40,080
But many people are being provided
with new homes and hot running water

503
00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:42,640
and toilets for the
first time in their lives.

504
00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:51,320
They're being relocated here,
on vast, new estates mushrooming
on the edge of the city.

505
00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:57,840
100,000 new homes being
built here every month.

506
00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:02,560
Xiong and his wife, Nee,
have just picked up
the keys to their new flat.

507
00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:06,800
Oh, I love the lights, yes.

508
00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:10,880
Kitchen. Kitchen, yes.

509
00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:13,000
Everything is absolutely new.

510
00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:17,520
How does this compare
with their old house?

511
00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:20,920
THEY CONVERSE

512
00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:29,600
They used to live with their son
in a 20-square-metre room.
Now they have two apartments.

513
00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:33,600
This apartment belongs to the couple
and their son is married

514
00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:35,400
and his wife is pregnant.

515
00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:38,400
They are expecting a baby.

516
00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:44,400
They moved for the construction
of a metro line, line 13.

517
00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:48,400
So they had to move and were
given this instead, or they
were able to buy this instead?

518
00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:56,800
There will be 100,000 families
moving here.

519
00:35:56,800 --> 00:35:59,000
100,000 families?!

520
00:36:20,720 --> 00:36:25,000
It's really nice.
It's a bit like a salty, sesame,

521
00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:27,760
pita bread kind of thing. Nice.

522
00:36:29,960 --> 00:36:35,560
I've just been walking around
and looking at the street food
and the stalls and the markets

523
00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:40,320
and the neighbours chatting
and kids running around,

524
00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:42,920
and I feel that it's very sad.

525
00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:50,000
Then I ask myself, is this simply
kind of soppy sentimental?

526
00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:55,800
Is it in some way merely,
I suppose, decadent, to say,

527
00:36:55,800 --> 00:37:01,000
"But wasn't it lovely, wasn't it
pretty, wasn't it different,
wasn't it special?"

528
00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:05,600
It's really, really hard to
make a judgement about this

529
00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:09,440
because for a lot of people,
this is the best thing that
has ever happened to them.

530
00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:17,200
There are lessons to be learned in
trying to house the citizens
of a metropolis.

531
00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:21,680
This kind of mass living
does bring huge new challenges.

532
00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:30,120
In Tokyo, which is the most advanced
megacity city in world,

533
00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:36,040
they're struggling with where to
put 33 million people and that's
transforming how they live.

534
00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:42,280
If we're looking for answers,

535
00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:48,240
one place we might try is
the great granddaddy of megacities.

536
00:37:48,240 --> 00:37:50,000
Tokyo is so big,

537
00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:56,840
it makes the world's other
megacities look almost modest,

538
00:37:56,840 --> 00:38:04,120
but this gargantuan structure
is built up of very small cells.

539
00:38:09,640 --> 00:38:14,160
Take a bird's-eye view and down
below you'll see football pitches,

540
00:38:14,160 --> 00:38:20,280
playgrounds, even driving schools
constructed on top of buildings.

541
00:38:20,280 --> 00:38:22,440
Living here comes at a cost.

542
00:38:22,440 --> 00:38:28,120
Property prices are so exorbitant
and space is so short

543
00:38:28,120 --> 00:38:32,480
that it's changing what people
expect a home to be.

544
00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:36,320
These flats are built on the same
area it would take

545
00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:38,000
to park just two cars,

546
00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:40,800
but they provide homes
for six people

547
00:38:40,800 --> 00:38:43,800
each living in
25-square-metre boxes.

548
00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:48,480
My goodness me.

549
00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:52,200
It's not very big.

550
00:38:53,720 --> 00:38:56,400
A bed

551
00:38:56,400 --> 00:38:58,920
and not much...
Oh, a washing machine.

552
00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:04,320
I have a horrible feeling
this is the kitchen.

553
00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:08,800
It's more like a little cupboard.
And look at this.

554
00:39:08,800 --> 00:39:11,720
This is good.

555
00:39:11,720 --> 00:39:14,840
About as small a basin
as you can imagine.

556
00:39:14,840 --> 00:39:18,240
And a small, and it has to
be said, very public bath.

557
00:39:18,240 --> 00:39:20,440
I would feel like

558
00:39:20,440 --> 00:39:25,440
a kind of nude frog in a box.

559
00:39:25,440 --> 00:39:27,600
Nasty thought.

560
00:39:27,600 --> 00:39:30,800
I suppose there are
blinds of some kind.

561
00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:34,920
Yeah, blinds of
some kind, but still.

562
00:39:36,440 --> 00:39:42,720
It's basically a small walkway
with glass all around it

563
00:39:42,720 --> 00:39:44,600
and not much else.

564
00:39:44,600 --> 00:39:47,000
I mean, how you're supposed...

565
00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:51,280
You can boil a kettle here but
not much else, I'd have thought.

566
00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:54,040
There's one thing
that's strangely missing.

567
00:39:54,040 --> 00:39:57,080
I don't want to be too personal
about this but there isn't,

568
00:39:57,080 --> 00:40:02,320
for instance, I can tell,
a toilet at all. Unless it's hidden.

569
00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:06,120
Oh, yes, there is. And here it is.

570
00:40:07,960 --> 00:40:10,200
This is really deeply weird.

571
00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:15,240
I've been in some small places
in my time, I've seen a few
small flats, but this is

572
00:40:15,240 --> 00:40:19,880
like the shaving
or corner of a flat.

573
00:40:19,880 --> 00:40:22,320
I suppose I could live here.

574
00:40:22,320 --> 00:40:26,800
Anyone could live here. It would be
very depressing, I think.

575
00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:31,480
I would go bonkers very quickly.

576
00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:34,040
I think, actually,

577
00:40:34,040 --> 00:40:40,520
I would prefer to be in that shack
in the slum in Dhaka in Bangladesh,

578
00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:43,720
because your feet are
at least on the ground.

579
00:40:43,720 --> 00:40:49,400
There's bits of green
and there's people and noise

580
00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:51,720
and
a bit of human merriment about.

581
00:40:53,080 --> 00:40:55,840
This is just bleak,
isn't it, really?

582
00:40:57,360 --> 00:41:02,440
Tokyo is the embodiment
of the highly-efficient,
slick, uber-modern city.

583
00:41:02,440 --> 00:41:07,440
For some people it's the incarnation
of the metropolis of the
coming century.

584
00:41:07,440 --> 00:41:13,120
The megacity that runs like
digital clockwork.

585
00:41:13,120 --> 00:41:18,120
Take the super-efficient automated
subway that's able to shift

586
00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:20,600
nearly eight million people
every day.

587
00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:27,400
This is a system so well-organised
that on rare occasions when it
does mess up, nobody believes you.

588
00:41:30,320 --> 00:41:34,240
Do you want to know how good
the Tokyo train system is?

589
00:41:34,240 --> 00:41:40,080
If you fail to turn up for work
on time, you say, "Really sorry.
The train was late."

590
00:41:40,080 --> 00:41:45,800
You have to provide special written
proof from the train company

591
00:41:45,800 --> 00:41:49,440
because it is, frankly,
so unthinkable.

592
00:41:54,720 --> 00:42:01,480
Unlike communist Shanghai,
capitalist Tokyo is one of the
most equal cities in the world.

593
00:42:01,480 --> 00:42:04,680
It's got very little poverty
or homelessness.

594
00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:06,480
Crime levels are very low.

595
00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:08,680
There's almost no gun crime at all.

596
00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:12,400
It can be a mesmerising
and enthralling city,

597
00:42:12,400 --> 00:42:15,840
a bit like an old sci-fi comic
come to life.

598
00:42:19,360 --> 00:42:24,920
But there's a price to pay. So much
of it looks exactly the same.

599
00:42:24,920 --> 00:42:29,440
There's a mechanical coldness and
an unsettling, robotic uniformity.

600
00:42:29,440 --> 00:42:33,280
Maybe I was just a bad mood,
but I find myself searching for

601
00:42:33,280 --> 00:42:36,040
corners of friendliness
and normality.

602
00:42:44,640 --> 00:42:46,920
Some Tokyo dwellers
feel just the same,

603
00:42:46,920 --> 00:42:51,680
falling between the cracks of this
highly rigid, pressurised society

604
00:42:51,680 --> 00:42:54,240
is a weird and growing phenomenon.

605
00:42:54,240 --> 00:42:57,120
Hikikomori, reclusive individuals

606
00:42:57,120 --> 00:43:00,560
who have totally withdrawn
from social life

607
00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:03,160
and turned their backs on Tokyo.

608
00:43:03,160 --> 00:43:07,840
Rarely, sometimes never venturing
outside the confines of their homes,

609
00:43:07,840 --> 00:43:12,320
they are unable to face up to life
in this city.

610
00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:21,840
HE SPEAKS JAPANESE

611
00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:25,760
TRANSLATION: I started to become
reclusive in the fourth year
of primary school.

612
00:43:25,760 --> 00:43:27,600
I was the kind of kid who got teased.

613
00:43:31,320 --> 00:43:34,880
At home I'd mostly watch TV
or just mope around.

614
00:43:36,400 --> 00:43:39,520
My links with the outside world were
completely cut off

615
00:43:39,520 --> 00:43:43,720
and with the loss of those links,
I became reclusive.

616
00:43:47,120 --> 00:43:52,040
28-year-old Yugo barely
left his bedroom for 13 years.

617
00:43:55,440 --> 00:43:58,960
Since I couldn't go out of
the house myself any more,

618
00:43:58,960 --> 00:44:03,960
I just kept ordering things
through my parents,
things I wanted to eat, get, watch.

619
00:44:03,960 --> 00:44:06,720
My parents would fetch them
all for me.

620
00:44:08,200 --> 00:44:16,000
The alienating megacity that forces
people like Yugo into his bedroom
is spawning a strange new business.

621
00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:17,760
You can now rent people.

622
00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:22,720
Not for sex, simply for friendship.

623
00:44:23,760 --> 00:44:26,320
Today, I'm meeting Uhay.

624
00:44:27,840 --> 00:44:30,640
Aha, my friend.

625
00:44:30,640 --> 00:44:32,720
Uhay!
It's a great pleasure to see you.

626
00:44:32,720 --> 00:44:33,960
Nice to see you as well!

627
00:44:33,960 --> 00:44:37,320
'He rents himself out
to the lonely.

628
00:44:37,320 --> 00:44:43,840
'Uhay's promised me a surprise,
something to remind me of Scotland,
but also something very Tokyo.'

629
00:44:43,840 --> 00:44:46,440
ANDREW LAUGHS

630
00:44:46,440 --> 00:44:48,720
'Golf in the sky.'

631
00:44:48,720 --> 00:44:51,280
Japanese, eh!
They'll play golf anywhere.

632
00:44:52,600 --> 00:44:54,160
Oh! Oh!

633
00:44:54,160 --> 00:44:55,800
THEY LAUGH

634
00:45:01,360 --> 00:45:02,680
ANDREW LAUGHS

635
00:45:06,240 --> 00:45:08,840
What sort of people hire you?

636
00:45:08,840 --> 00:45:12,480
Usually, I go to the wedding
as a wedding guest.

637
00:45:12,480 --> 00:45:17,480
And that's somebody who doesn't have
enough friends of their own, maybe?
Maybe, yes.

638
00:45:19,760 --> 00:45:22,520
It's not just weddings
they get hired for.

639
00:45:22,520 --> 00:45:25,720
One of the popular jobs
for these rent-a-friends

640
00:45:25,720 --> 00:45:31,920
is to accompany people to bars
after work to show colleagues that
they're popular and interesting.

641
00:45:31,920 --> 00:45:34,080
It's a very funny business,
isn't it?

642
00:45:34,080 --> 00:45:36,640
Yes, because...

643
00:45:36,640 --> 00:45:42,560
not many Japanese people
want to tell true things to others.

644
00:45:42,560 --> 00:45:45,520
They're quite private?
They're quite private, yeah.

645
00:45:47,840 --> 00:45:49,440
Oh, that's good!

646
00:45:49,440 --> 00:45:52,240
Excellent!

647
00:45:54,440 --> 00:45:56,880
Renting a friend

648
00:45:56,880 --> 00:46:02,880
because you haven't got a friend is
a really bizarre, unsettling idea,

649
00:46:02,880 --> 00:46:08,200
weird beyond belief, and it does say
something about a city like this,

650
00:46:08,200 --> 00:46:10,400
where people can be so lonely

651
00:46:10,400 --> 00:46:14,840
that purely to get
some human companionship,

652
00:46:14,840 --> 00:46:21,040
to have someone alongside them,
not to lose face, they have to pay.

653
00:46:21,040 --> 00:46:22,800
I mean,

654
00:46:22,800 --> 00:46:25,120
it's just very sad, actually.

655
00:46:27,320 --> 00:46:32,240
All round the world,
different megacities struggle
to get this tricky balance right,

656
00:46:32,240 --> 00:46:37,160
between community and warmth
on the one hand
and efficiency on the other.

657
00:46:37,160 --> 00:46:42,760
If you want a contrast with Tokyo,
welcome to Mexico City.

658
00:46:45,520 --> 00:46:51,040
A colourful and dangerous sprawl
of around 20 million people,

659
00:46:51,040 --> 00:46:54,760
where life on almost every level
is lived on the street.

660
00:46:54,760 --> 00:46:59,760
The thing about seeing
Mexico City like this,

661
00:46:59,760 --> 00:47:05,760
floating just a few hundred yards,
or 20 or 30 yards, above it,

662
00:47:05,760 --> 00:47:11,160
is that it just goes on forever
without form or shape.

663
00:47:11,160 --> 00:47:16,840
It's like an incrustation
or an invasion

664
00:47:16,840 --> 00:47:19,320
on the land below.

665
00:47:19,320 --> 00:47:25,160
The only places that are untouched
are where the slopes are so steep

666
00:47:25,160 --> 00:47:28,280
that the builders
simply can't get there.

667
00:47:31,680 --> 00:47:35,320
If Mexico City's two-and-a-half-hour
commute in choking car fumes

668
00:47:35,320 --> 00:47:39,520
doesn't kill you, then
the spiralling crime rate might.

669
00:47:39,520 --> 00:47:42,720
Let's make no bones about this,
this is a dangerous place.

670
00:47:42,720 --> 00:47:50,840
There are three murders in the city
every week and an estimated
500 kidnaps a month in the country.

671
00:47:50,840 --> 00:47:55,360
When you take to the air,
you can see a yawning social divide.

672
00:47:55,360 --> 00:47:59,480
It's much more unequal than Tokyo.

673
00:47:59,480 --> 00:48:05,080
Here are penthouse suites closed off
behind razor wire on one hillside

674
00:48:05,080 --> 00:48:09,080
and vast barrios of slum housing
clinging to another.

675
00:48:14,080 --> 00:48:19,440
At night, there's an edgy
feel to the streets. You're never
quite sure what's going to happen.

676
00:48:19,440 --> 00:48:22,520
A lot of the city
is controlled by gangs,

677
00:48:22,520 --> 00:48:26,520
but this is also an exuberant place.

678
00:48:26,520 --> 00:48:31,400
A city that's not being told
what to do and whose citizens

679
00:48:31,400 --> 00:48:34,920
live life to the full on the streets
amongst one another.

680
00:48:39,360 --> 00:48:44,880
Countless mariachi bands
stroll the boulevards and squares
playing for money.

681
00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:48,360
They're not here for the tourists.
They're proud of their music,

682
00:48:48,360 --> 00:48:51,440
for reasons which seem, to my ears,
a little bit obscure.

683
00:48:57,480 --> 00:49:00,600
So many to choose from,
so many different bands.

684
00:49:00,600 --> 00:49:02,160
An impossible choice.

685
00:49:10,160 --> 00:49:14,640
We certainly didn't find this kind
of mood on the streets of Tokyo

686
00:49:14,640 --> 00:49:15,680
or Shanghai.

687
00:49:15,680 --> 00:49:17,480
HE SINGS IN SPANISH

688
00:49:19,800 --> 00:49:22,920
In Mexico City's
communal street culture,

689
00:49:22,920 --> 00:49:30,680
food and friendship go hand-in-hand.
There's around 25,000 taco stands

690
00:49:30,680 --> 00:49:34,240
and cafes, where people meet
and socialise over breakfast tacos,

691
00:49:34,240 --> 00:49:37,360
lunch tacos and supper tacos.

692
00:49:37,360 --> 00:49:40,080
Have you ever eaten grasshoppers?
Grasshoppers?

693
00:49:40,080 --> 00:49:43,880
No, I've not eaten grasshoppers. Are
you going to offer me a grasshopper?

694
00:49:43,880 --> 00:49:47,360
How would you like me to cook some
grasshoppers for you? All right.

695
00:49:47,360 --> 00:49:51,600
Here we go. Is this them?
That's not them. Oh, they're tiny!

696
00:49:51,600 --> 00:49:54,440
Do you get the same people
every day, coming in?

697
00:49:54,440 --> 00:50:00,360
There are lots of regular customers.
But there are always new faces.

698
00:50:00,360 --> 00:50:05,160
They come to tacos to eat,
but you can make also friends.

699
00:50:05,160 --> 00:50:09,880
Like we do now. Do people talk
politics or do they talk religion?

700
00:50:09,880 --> 00:50:13,520
They talk about politics and how
they are angry with the government.

701
00:50:13,520 --> 00:50:16,320
You're angry with the government?
Yeah. Normally.

702
00:50:16,320 --> 00:50:18,000
It's the same the world over!

703
00:50:18,000 --> 00:50:21,640
We read all this stuff
about how Mexico is really violent

704
00:50:21,640 --> 00:50:25,760
and they're all these problems
and so on, is that not really true?

705
00:50:25,760 --> 00:50:31,040
Unfortunately, we only get to see
a part of the whole thing, you know.

706
00:50:31,040 --> 00:50:34,960
We have to defend Mexicans. We're all
friendly, and we are all nice people.

707
00:50:34,960 --> 00:50:40,680
Grasshopper tortilla, coming up!
There you go. Gracias.

708
00:50:42,400 --> 00:50:45,400
All right, here we go.

709
00:50:51,280 --> 00:50:55,840
It's all right. Very nice, actually.
Is it hot? Hmm? Is it hot?

710
00:50:55,840 --> 00:51:00,920
Mmm. It's hot, it's garlicky,
a bit crunchy.

711
00:51:00,920 --> 00:51:03,680
And it doesn't taste like
anything else, does it?

712
00:51:07,720 --> 00:51:12,040
BAND PLAYS
But one of the strangest things
about Mexico City's

713
00:51:12,040 --> 00:51:15,200
street culture happens on a Sunday,
which is dancing day,

714
00:51:15,200 --> 00:51:21,200
Danzon, and in the squares, the
killer grannies are on the prowl.

715
00:51:21,200 --> 00:51:25,360
It's fantastically sociable,
in a rather unselfconscious way.

716
00:51:26,760 --> 00:51:29,360
Do you know, Mexico City...
Usted puede bailar conmigo?

717
00:51:29,360 --> 00:51:32,120
Excuse me, I'm talking
to the camera. Si. Camera.

718
00:51:32,120 --> 00:51:35,320
I was talking to camera. Escusi!
Una momente, OK?

719
00:51:38,080 --> 00:51:41,840
Erm... Erm...
LADIES TALK OVER EACH OTHER

720
00:51:42,840 --> 00:51:44,960
HE LAUGHS

721
00:51:44,960 --> 00:51:46,440
I've got too many friends!

722
00:51:48,840 --> 00:51:51,880
OK. And then you. Escusi!

723
00:52:01,680 --> 00:52:02,840
MUSIC STOPS

724
00:52:02,840 --> 00:52:04,600
APPLAUSE

725
00:52:04,600 --> 00:52:07,360
BAND BEGINS TO PLAY

726
00:52:11,600 --> 00:52:13,960
This is SUCH a friendly city.

727
00:52:13,960 --> 00:52:18,480
Every time I try to say something,
I get pounced on.

728
00:52:18,480 --> 00:52:22,200
This is the kind of
rich, street culture

729
00:52:22,200 --> 00:52:27,440
that no commissar, no planner,
no town hall could give you.

730
00:52:27,440 --> 00:52:31,040
It comes from the streets up.

731
00:52:31,040 --> 00:52:33,920
And as a result, despite the crime,

732
00:52:33,920 --> 00:52:36,720
despite the mesmerisingly
bad traffic,

733
00:52:36,720 --> 00:52:42,720
despite the pollution, Mexico City
is a friendly, liveable place.

734
00:52:56,480 --> 00:53:00,000
And now, even old London is getting
a twist of this sociability.

735
00:53:00,000 --> 00:53:01,440
It's a small trend, really,

736
00:53:01,440 --> 00:53:04,600
but it's a very interesting one,
which shows how technology

737
00:53:04,600 --> 00:53:08,520
can bring some warmth and zip,
because the streets here
are lighting up

738
00:53:08,520 --> 00:53:11,680
with spontaneous outbursts -

739
00:53:11,680 --> 00:53:15,840
viral events called flash mobs,
there are raves in railway stations,

740
00:53:15,840 --> 00:53:20,000
there are instant protests.

741
00:53:20,000 --> 00:53:22,400
This lot call themselves
"free runners".

742
00:53:27,440 --> 00:53:30,760
And every weekend,
in the heart of London,

743
00:53:30,760 --> 00:53:33,880
the traffic starts to come
to a standstill as the tourists

744
00:53:33,880 --> 00:53:38,840
and shoppers have to look where
they're going for once, because...
OK! Changing!

745
00:53:38,840 --> 00:53:42,520
The streets are transformed
into a mega skate park.

746
00:53:56,840 --> 00:54:00,920
This mass gathering of hundreds
of skaters is as much about freedom

747
00:54:00,920 --> 00:54:04,480
and thrills as it is
about community or empowerment.

748
00:54:07,320 --> 00:54:10,280
One of the best bits, in a way,
is that for one day,

749
00:54:10,280 --> 00:54:12,480
for a couple of hours,
the road's ours.

750
00:54:12,480 --> 00:54:18,160
We don't stop for no-one.
We ARE the traffic. Yes.

751
00:54:23,360 --> 00:54:26,520
The excitement, the friendship,
the fun.

752
00:54:29,280 --> 00:54:34,800
OK, first of all, I'm Australian,
I'm in London, I'm skating with
double-decker buses and taxis! Yeah!

753
00:54:34,800 --> 00:54:36,920
CHEERING

754
00:54:38,720 --> 00:54:42,080
We get to go outside
and play on our skates,

755
00:54:42,080 --> 00:54:47,480
and that, in itself, is
exhilarating, being able to do that.
I think we're very lucky.

756
00:54:47,480 --> 00:54:51,440
And lucky that we have a city
that lets us do it.
CHEERING

757
00:55:02,920 --> 00:55:07,280
Megacities are places
that could threaten

758
00:55:07,280 --> 00:55:08,800
a decent way of human living.

759
00:55:08,800 --> 00:55:11,760
Cold and grim and spiritless.

760
00:55:11,760 --> 00:55:14,240
Or, if they have enough
social mobility

761
00:55:14,240 --> 00:55:17,720
and enough warmth
and not too much order

762
00:55:17,720 --> 00:55:20,960
and grow more like coral reefs
composed of little villages,

763
00:55:20,960 --> 00:55:23,120
they'll be fine.

764
00:55:23,120 --> 00:55:28,400
The world's great cities
are where the world's human future
will be decided.

765
00:55:28,400 --> 00:55:31,800
The choices that are made
in these places

766
00:55:31,800 --> 00:55:36,280
will dictate whether the future
is vile or enjoyable,

767
00:55:36,280 --> 00:55:41,720
short or sustainable,
free or frightened.

768
00:55:41,720 --> 00:55:46,640
The planet has become
a series of urban experiments.

769
00:55:47,760 --> 00:55:52,400
Tokyo, with its Japanese conformity.

770
00:55:52,400 --> 00:55:56,640
Shanghai, still under the thumb
of Communist bosses.

771
00:55:56,640 --> 00:56:01,400
Dakar, mired in corruption,
for all of its exuberance.

772
00:56:01,400 --> 00:56:07,120
Mexico City, with its extraordinary
extremes of colour and violence.

773
00:56:07,120 --> 00:56:10,640
So, here's the good news.

774
00:56:10,640 --> 00:56:15,520
London, the nearest we have to
a megacity, has, Lord knows,

775
00:56:15,520 --> 00:56:20,360
plenty of problems. It has some
terrible housing, huge inequalities,

776
00:56:20,360 --> 00:56:25,320
transport nightmares,
but compared to many of its rivals,

777
00:56:25,320 --> 00:56:30,760
it does feel more open, more mixed,

778
00:56:30,760 --> 00:56:34,560
more of a genuinely "world" city.

779
00:56:34,560 --> 00:56:38,040
Sometimes, you have to go
pretty far away to realise

780
00:56:38,040 --> 00:56:40,640
how lucky you are back home.

781
00:56:41,080 --> 00:56:45,680
Next time, protecting
and controlling the megacity.

782
00:56:45,680 --> 00:56:47,800
Uno!
GUNSHOT

783
00:56:47,800 --> 00:56:51,960
How do you avoid disappearing
in Mexico City,

784
00:56:51,960 --> 00:56:53,920
the kidnap capital of the world.

785
00:56:53,920 --> 00:56:56,520
TYRES SCREECH

786
00:56:56,520 --> 00:57:00,800
I'll be signing up as a new recruit
in London's riot academy.

787
00:57:00,800 --> 00:57:04,760
There's nothing quite like being
hailed with bricks and petrol bombs

788
00:57:04,760 --> 00:57:07,400
to make you see things differently.

789
00:57:07,400 --> 00:57:12,240
And discover how Tokyo
defends itself against disaster.

790
00:57:12,240 --> 00:57:14,800
This is now not funny!

791
00:57:24,680 --> 00:57:28,040
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

792
00:57:28,040 --> 00:57:31,000
Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk