Monday, September 3, 2012

Urbanized




Gary Hutswit is cornering the market when it comes to nerdy-design-documentaries. First, he did the most excellent, Helvetica, later he did Objectified, and now we have Urbanized. Helvetica ruled hard, Objectified was worth watching, and Urbanized was really good. All of his films employ top notch camerawork, editing, and production value. He knows how to tell a tale.

It's a movie about city planning and design. There are interviews with city planners, architects, designers, etc. He did a good job co-producing it cuz Urbanized is filmed all over the freakin world. They focus on different projects in foreign cities. How urban design can help the people. How urban design can benefit the planet, and how urban design can go wrong. It's fascinating stuff even though I'm making it sound boring.

They go to Detroit. Of course they do. But it's not all ruin porn. Don't cringe. Thankfully it showcases Detroit's urban farming and DIY culture, rather than its blight. There's a great opening scene on the People Mugger, errr...People Mover.

I really enjoyed it. I don't want to regurgitate some of the super interesting facts and concepts...just watch it and be surprised yourself.

Streaming on Netflix. Or click the video above to watch on YouTube.

Great stuff. I'm definitely a fan of Hutswit.


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