If you are deeply missing city life as you shelter in place, watch Urbanized this weekend. The 2011 documentary from award-winning filmmaker Gary Hustwit (Helvetica) features a who’s who of designers and planners, from Alejandro Aravena and Jan Gehl to Rem Koolhass—as well as an appearance from our late colleague Michael Sorkin.
Hustwit spent three years on the film, and admits that “tackling a massive subject like global cities in an 85-minute film was pretty ridiculous to begin with.” But re-watching it now, he says, “I'm struck by so many aspects of it that are relevant to our current pandemic ... the film looks at the increased density of urban areas, the same density that's accelerating the spread of this virus ... But also that cities foster the innovation we need to come up with solutions to global problems like we’re experiencing now.”
Watch a trailer below, and stream the film for free through April 7, 2020. Each week of the pandemic, Hustwit will make another one of his films publicly available online.