Urbanized-A Film About Cities

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco (YBCA) presents a one-week run of Gary Hustwit’s latest documentary, Urbanized, beginning this Friday, November 4th. In the film Hustwit examines how cities are created-they are the design products of their inhabitants, from the authorities that be to the most marginalized of the polis. However, not all cities are created equally. Some are better designed than others, and Hustwit shows this by providing vistas from 40 different cities, from New York City to Mumbai, on his jam-packed journey across the globe.

The challenges to these cities are similar-how to balance the competing interests of housing, mobility, public space, civic engagement, economic development and environmental policy. The question then is how do cities go about meeting these challenges, and quickly? (The film opens with the statistic that 75% of the world’s population will live in urban centers by 2050.) Leading architects, city planners, policy makers, and activists present their insights, and Huswit showcases the best solutions being pursued by cities today.

Urbanized has been receiving positive reviews internationally since its initial release earlier this year. It is the third documentary in Hustwit’s design trilogy: Helvetica (2007), Objectified (2009) and Urbanized (2011). All three films will be showing at YBCA.

Ticket  prices for Urbanized are $10. YBCA is located at 701 Mission Street in San Francisco, just a few blocks from the Powell and Montgomery Street BART/Muni stations.