Cities on the Edge • 2011 • episode "S1E2" • Andrew Marr's Megacities

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Safety and security are two of the biggest challenges faced by each and every metropolis. Whether earthquake, terrorism, flood or just crime, it's the geology, politics and social makeup of the megacities that make them some of the most profitable and dangerous places to live. Andrew starts in Mexico City, the kidnap capital of the world. The compactness of the megacity often means that the super rich must live closely beside the super poor. Andrew finds out how evasive driving and bulletproof vests are protecting Mexico's super rich and middle classes. In London, he joins a Metropolitan Police riot unit on a practice routine, and hangs out with boy racers in Tokyo. And he meets the canine helpers responsible for saving lives in the event of terrorist attack. Tokyo, Mexico City, Dhaka - the megacities are victims of their shifting geologies. Andrew explores how sea levels, earthquakes and floods are putting some of our most promising cities at risk.

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Andrew Marr's Megacities • 2011 • 3 episodes •

Living in the City

Living in the City

In the first episode, Andrew looks at how people live in five of the world's biggest megacities: London, one of the world's oldest megacities; Dhaka, the world's fastest-growing megacity; Tokyo, the largest megacity on Earth; Mexico City, one of the most dangerous cities in the world; and Shanghai, arguably the financial capital of the world. Andrew compares the sleek skyscrapers and rapid modernisation of Shanghai to the colourful street culture and geographic sprawl of Mexico City. He spends a night living in a one-room shack in Dhaka's toughest slum, taking his turn to fetch water, cook and clean; and he rents a friend in the efficient and high-tech, but alienating, city of Tokyo. As he gets under the skin of each unique metropolis, Andrew discovers how the structure of each megacity defines every aspect of its inhabitants' daily lives. And he considers what the megacities of the future can learn from the metropolises of today.

2011 • Technology

Cities on the Edge

Cities on the Edge

Safety and security are two of the biggest challenges faced by each and every metropolis. Whether earthquake, terrorism, flood or just crime, it's the geology, politics and social makeup of the megacities that make them some of the most profitable and dangerous places to live. Andrew starts in Mexico City, the kidnap capital of the world. The compactness of the megacity often means that the super rich must live closely beside the super poor. Andrew finds out how evasive driving and bulletproof vests are protecting Mexico's super rich and middle classes. In London, he joins a Metropolitan Police riot unit on a practice routine, and hangs out with boy racers in Tokyo. And he meets the canine helpers responsible for saving lives in the event of terrorist attack. Tokyo, Mexico City, Dhaka - the megacities are victims of their shifting geologies. Andrew explores how sea levels, earthquakes and floods are putting some of our most promising cities at risk.

2011 • Technology

Sustaining the City

Sustaining the City

Like human arteries, motorways, roads and train-lines are the lifeblood of any healthy megacity. Whether smoothly flowing or clogged, a city's transport routes affect its inhabitants' quality of life. Andrew Marr finds out how the monstrous megacities stay fed. He also finds out just how hard it is to ride a rickshaw taxi in Dhaka, and discovers how the London tube, once the most ground-breaking transport system in the world, has been usurped by modern transport like Shanghai's 400km/hour magnetic railway. Andrew joins Mexico City's traffic cops in the air, then finds out who is in charge of unblocking Mexico's most filthy canals. He looks into Dhaka's waste management problems, and sees what Britain's fast food obsession is doing to London's sewers.

2011 • Technology

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Sustaining the City

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Like human arteries, motorways, roads and train-lines are the lifeblood of any healthy megacity. Whether smoothly flowing or clogged, a city's transport routes affect its inhabitants' quality of life. Andrew Marr finds out how the monstrous megacities stay fed. He also finds out just how hard it is to ride a rickshaw taxi in Dhaka, and discovers how the London tube, once the most ground-breaking transport system in the world, has been usurped by modern transport like Shanghai's 400km/hour magnetic railway. Andrew joins Mexico City's traffic cops in the air, then finds out who is in charge of unblocking Mexico's most filthy canals. He looks into Dhaka's waste management problems, and sees what Britain's fast food obsession is doing to London's sewers.

S1E3 • Andrew Marr's Megacities • 2011 • Technology

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Computer Says No

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Volkswagen Mega Factory

Volkswagen Mega Factory

Volkswagen’s Chattanooga facility, situated on 1,400 acres, is more than 3 million square feet. It employs about 3,500 people. In 2011, the Chattanooga plant became the first automobile manufacturing facility in the world to be certified LEED Platinum. More than 100,000 Atlas SUVs and 700,000 Passats have been manufactured at the plant.

S1E4 • Super Factories • 2020 • Technology

Metal

From the Stone Age to the Silicon Age, materials have helped drive forward our civilisation. By manipulating materials we have been able to transform our world and our lives - and never more so than in the past century when we have discovered and designed more materials than at any other time in human history. (Part 1: Metal) Professor Mark Miodownik travels to Israel to trace the history of our love affair with gleaming, lustrous metal. He learns how we first extracted glinting copper from dull rock and used it to shape our world and reveals how our eternal quest for lighter, stronger metals led us to forge hard, sharp steel from malleable iron and to create complex alloys in order to conquer the skies. He investigates metals at the atomic level to reveal mysterious properties such as why they get stronger when they are hit, and he discovers how metal crystals can be grown to survive inside one of our most extreme environments - the jet engine.

S1E1 • How It Works • 2012 • Technology

The Airliner

The years following the First World War saw flying take off as serious business. Previously unimagined opportunities opened up, among them, skywriting and sightseeing tours. Flying became a bigger feature of life all around the world, not just as a novelty "adventure" for rich people but as a mode of transport available to just about anyone.

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