Urbanized: Screening and Conversation with Director, Gary Hustwit

Urbanized is a feature-length documentary about the design of cities, which looks at the issues and strategies behind urban design and features some of the world’s foremost architects, planners, policymakers, builders, and thinkers. Over half the world’s population now lives in an urban area, and 75% will call a city home by 2050. But while some cities are experiencing explosive growth, others are shrinking. The challenges of balancing housing, mobility, public space, civic engagement, economic development, and environmental policy are fast becoming universal concerns. Yet much of the dialogue on these issues is disconnected from the public domain. Who is allowed to shape our cities, and how do they do it? Unlike many other fields of design, cities aren’t created by any one specialist or expert. There are many contributors to urban change, including ordinary citizens who can have a great impact improving the cities in which they live. By exploring a diverse range of urban design projects around the world, Urbanized frames a global discussion on the future of cities. Urbanized is the third part of Gary Hustwit’s design film trilogy, joining Helvetica and Objectified. Penn IUR, PennDesign and Cinema Studies and Urban Studies presented this special screening followed by a discussion with the director, Gary Hustwit, and urbanists featured in the film including James Corner, Chairman of the Department of Landscape Architecture at PennDesign and Principal of James Corner Field Operations and Ricky Burdett, Professor of Urban Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and director of LSE Cities and the Urban Age programme.