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Urban Planning (17)

  • Boomsville
    Boomsville
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    Yvon Mallette 1968 10 min
    An amusing diagnosis of big-city growing pains, Boomsville is an ironic view of town planning, or rather, the lack of it, and what has happened to our cities as a result. Done in cartoon animation, the film traces the growth of the typical city, from a tiny settlement in the vast North American wilderness to the car-clogged metropolis that so many cities are today. Film without words.
  • Chairs for Lovers
    Chairs for Lovers
    Barrie Howells 1973 28 min
    In this documentary short, Vancouver architect Stanley King demonstrates his method for involving the public in urban design. Called the "draw-in/design-in”, the method is applied to a downtown Vancouver area slated for redevelopment. How can it be made to best serve the needs of the people who will use it? Here, sketches prepared by students and refined by adults are used to guide city planners.
  • The Coldspring Project
    The Coldspring Project
    Pierre Letarte  &  Kenneth McCready 1974 27 min
    The human side of town planning, as exemplified in Baltimore, Maryland. The Coldspring Project concerned a proposed housing development for lower and upper income levels on a three hundred-acre site adjoining a wildlife sanctuary. The film records the differences aired in meetings of various interest groups that tried to modify the plan according to their views, and the compromise reached, based on plans drawn up by Montréal architect Moishe Safdie.
  • City Center and Pedestrians
    City Center and Pedestrians
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    Michel Régnier 1974 56 min
    This film focusses on the approaches that several cities have taken to one problem. Through various examples, it examines the implications and options for a pedestrian-oriented city core.
  • A Capital Plan
    A Capital Plan
    Bernard Devlin 1949 11 min
    This short documentary features a portrait of Ottawa in the mid-20th century, as the nascent Canadian capital grew with force but without direction. Street congestion, air pollution, and rail traffic were all the negative results of a city that had grown without being properly planned. French architect and urban designer Jacques Gréber stepped in to create a far-sighted plan for the future development of Ottawa. With tracks moved, factories relocated, and neighbourhoods redesigned as separate communities, Ottawa became the capital city of true beauty and dignity we know today.
  • Düsseldorf - Balanced Urban Growth
    Düsseldorf - Balanced Urban Growth
    Michel Régnier 1974 56 min
    Individualized for profit, yet harmonious in its whole, Düsseldorf has met and largely conquered the conflicting demands of economic growth and human environment.
  • Design Innovations for Canadian Settlements
    Design Innovations for Canadian Settlements
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    Bruce Mackay 1976 17 min
    A 1976 documentary about innovative housing and community design as a way to conserve energy. Two planned mining towns, one in Quebec and another in Manitoba, are examined, as well as solar-heated homes in Ontario and Prince Edward Island. This film was produced by the NFB for the Canadian Habitat Secretariat, Urban Affairs.
  • Encounter on Urban Environment
    Encounter on Urban Environment
    Roger Hart 1971 1 h 48 min
    This feature documentary takes a look at how the Halifax/Dartmouth community in Nova Scotia was stimulated by a week-long session held by a panel of specialists from different fields who met with members of this urban community to consider the future of the area and the responsibility of the citizens and government in planning the future.
  • Lewis Mumford on the City, Part 6: The City and the Future
    Lewis Mumford on the City, Part 6: The City and the Future
    Mogens Gander Jacques Giraldeau , … 1963 28 min
    This short documentary is part of a series hosted by American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology, and literary critic Lewis Mumford, who was particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture. In this episode, Mumford considers the “loss of vitality” that he perceives in contemporary cities that have become crowded and resulted in suburban flight. “The overfilled urban container has burst,” he proclaims. What will become of the faceless, formless contemporary city? This mid-20th century film is a prescient look at today’s urban landscapes.
  • Mexico Today
    Mexico Today
    1947 10 min
    The film provides a short history of Mexico and then looks at its current situation and its expectations for future development. Trade ties between Canada and Mexico are outlined.
  • Promises, Promises ...
    Promises, Promises ...
    Reevan Dolgoy 1973 29 min
    This short film explores the problems and potentials of small towns in the Drumheller Valley region of Alberta. Citizen participation in the growth and improvement of the region is encouraged through the Task Force on Urbanization and the Future. However, the Task Force initiative is eventually curtailed, as unemployment and uncertainty enter the picture. The film provides an interesting portrait of a region in socio-economic flux.
  • Radiant City
    Radiant City
    Gary Burns  &  Jim Brown 2006 1 h 25 min
    In this feature length film Gary Burns, Canada's king of surreal comedy, joins journalist Jim Brown on an outing to the suburbs. Venturing into territory both familiar and foreign, they turn the documentary genre inside out, crafting a vivid account of life in The Late Suburban Age.
  • Sapporo - Planned Growth
    Sapporo - Planned Growth
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    Michel Régnier 1974 56 min
    This feature documentary zooms in on the city of Sapporo, on the Island of Hokkaïdo in southern Japan. In contrast to the unplanned sprawl of neighbouring industrialized cities, Sapporo appears to be one of the best-planned large cities in the world, combining growth and technology with town planning and the preservation of green spaces.
  • Saskatoon: Land and Growth Control
    Saskatoon: Land and Growth Control
    Michel Régnier 1974 56 min
    In the city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, an effective government policy of controlling land investment prevents speculation, keeps land prices down, and provides a good balance between commercial, residential and public areas.
  • Toronto Boom Town
    Toronto Boom Town
    Leslie McFarlane 1951 10 min
    This short documentary studies the contrast between the sedate Toronto of the turn of the century and the thriving, expanding metropolis of 1951. Aerial views give evidence of the conversion of the old Toronto into the new--the city with towering skyscrapers, teeming traffic arteries, vast industrial developments and far-reaching residential areas housing over a million people.

    Toronto's mid-century progress is also Canada's, as manifested in the building of Canada's first subway, and in the bustle of the nation's greatest trading centre--the Toronto Stock Exchange.
  • There’s No Place Like This Place, Anyplace
    There’s No Place Like This Place, Anyplace
    Lulu Wei 2020 1 h 16 min
    There’s No Place Like This Place, Anyplace chronicles the transformation of a much-loved Toronto landmark, the Honest Ed’s block, through the stories of its community members who are forced to relocate when it is sold to a developer.
  • The Weight of the World
    The Weight of the World
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    Glynis Whiting 2003 51 min
    This fascinating documentary looks at obesity. Stockholm’s Dr. Stephan Rossner, an obesity specialist, proves beyond doubt that obesity is a man-made epidemic. Super-sized fast foods and a $12 billion ad industry are proving to be lethal when mixed with a car-dominated culture, urban sprawl and labour-saving technologies. This film was launched by the NFB and the CBC in partnership with the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and Physical and Health Education Canada.