Radiant City

SUBHEAD: Watch film "Radiant City" - how urban sprawl is eating the planet.  

By Lloyd Alter on 4 April 2011 in Treehugger -  
(http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/04/watch-radiant-city-sprawl.php)

 
Image above: Still frame from film "Radiant City". See video below.

Four years ago I reviewed Radiant City, a sort of cross between documentary and drama by Gary Burns and journalist Jim Brown. Spacing describes how "together they demonstrate how urban sprawl is eating the planet. They look at the brutalizing aesthetic of strip malls and listen to fears about the soul-eating suburbs. Making heavy use of cultural references, they riff off sitcoms and reality TV and drop names from Jane Jacobs to The Sopranos while all the while using a wide range of cinematic devices to examine what happens when cities get sick and mutate."

Now it is free and online.

At the time I found it to be a strange mix, combining Jim Kunstler, Ken Greenberg, Andreas Duany and Mark Kingwell with - the Moss family, trying to survive in suburban Calgary. The poor family has a hard time keeping up with Kunstler, gleefully chewing up the scenery.

Definitely worth a watch, courtesy of Canada's National Film Board.

Video above: Trailer for "Radiant City". From (http://www.nfb.ca/film/radiant_city/).

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