The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces

Jan 1, 1980

0h 58m

★ 10.0

Overview

This witty and original film is about the open spaces of cities and why some of them work for people while others don't. Beginning at New York's Seagram Plaza, one of the most used open areas in the city, the film proceeds to analyze why this space is so popular and how other urban oases, both in New York and elsewhere, measure up. Based on direct observation of what people actually do, the film presents a remarkably engaging and informative tour of the urban landscape and looks at how it can be made more hospitable to those who live in it.

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

The Municipal Art Society of New York

The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Trailers

Cast

Self

William H. Whyte

This documentary exposes housing injustice in New York City, following the David-and-Goliath battles between ordinary renters and powerful developers. Through stories from neighborhoods across the boroughs, the film reveals the harsh realities of unsafe housing, unethical landlords, and an overwhelmed housing court system.

0.5

1:1 Thierry Henry

Nov 13, 2011

Global soccer hero Thierry Henry stars in this up-close sports documentary that covers his 2010 move from Barcelona to the New York Red Bulls.

6.0

La Malédiction de la Grande Arche

Jan 1, 2023

No overview available.

0.0

The Three Failures

Jan 1, 2006

A fairy tale about communism, social-democracy, and capitalism. (The sequel to Wandering Marxwards)

6.0

Rikers

Nov 12, 2016

This film from Bill Moyers is the first documentary to focus exclusively on people formerly detained in New York City’s notorious Rikers Island Jail. They tell their compelling stories direct to the camera, revealing the violent arc of the Rikers experience – from the trauma of entry to extortion and control by inmates, to oppressive corrections officers, violence and solitary confinement.

0.0

Fading City

Dec 16, 2020

A docu-art film about Kyiv and the contemporary problems of the capital. The film raises the issue of the dilapidated state of Kyiv's old buildings and the search for effective mechanisms to preserve the city's architectural heritage.

No Image

0.0

52 Blocks: Show and Prove

Jan 1, 2007

As beautiful and sleek as it is deadly, 52 Blocks merits special conservation efforts as the United States' only existing native martial culture, as it is indeed, the jazz of the martial arts world. Across the African diaspora, there are manifestations of African-derived warrior-dances, capoeira in brazil, mani in Cuba, ladja in Martinique, pinge in Haiti- yet the US offshoot has remained esoteric, because it was suppressed throughout slavery, Reconstruction and Jim Crow and then obscured in the criminal justice system. The history, interviews and training of the martial arts style that created Breakdance and boxing greats like Mike Tyson.

6.0

Marcel Duchamp: The Art of the Possible

Oct 23, 2020

A remarkable walk through the life and work of the French artist Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), one of the most important creators of the 20th century, revolutionary of arts, aesthetics and pop culture.

7.0

Globe Trekker: Chinatown

Apr 2, 2007

In this special edition of Globe Trekker Chinatown, Lavinia Tan, Justine Shapiro and Megan McCormick travel worldwide to explore the magic and mystery of Chinatowns across the globe. Lavinia Tan begins the journey in Malaysia and Singapore where overseas traders led the earliest migrations of Chinese people. The journey continues from there to the United States, where Justine Shapiro visits San Francisco. Megan McCormick explores New York s Lower East Side, home to the largest Chinatown in the Western Hemisphere. After a short trip to London s Soho district, Lavinia Tan ends this journey with a visit to Hong Kong exploring the world famous film industry and the 21st century migration of Chinese back to their homeland.

0.0

Gaudi, Catalunya

Jan 1, 1959

In 1959 Hiroshi Teshigahara shot the following 16 mm footage of he and his father’s first trip to Barcelona and the outlying Catalonian countryside, including a visit to the home of Salvador Dali in Port Lligat. The footage was recorded without sound.

0.0

Gunnar's Last Project

Sep 25, 2025

At 85, Icelandic design icon Gunnar Magnússon begins a final project with help from his daughter Tinna. As his health suddenly fails, she is left to complete the work herself, turning her father’s last creation into a daughter’s final gesture of love.

4.0

Tales of the American

Nov 30, 2017

Seemayer Studios presents a new documentary about the American Hotel in downtown Los Angeles and the Arts District that surrounds it. Since 1979, the American Hotel has been the beating heart of a rich community of artists who began moving into the deserted factory buildings between Alameda and the Los Angeles River.

No Image

0.0

Die Menschenfischer

Oct 19, 2004

No overview available.

6.8

This Is the Bowery

May 31, 1941

In this somewhat whitewashed documentary on Manhattan's Bowery a newcomer to the area takes his first step toward redemption after a meal, bed, and inspiring talk.

5.9

The Capote Tapes

Sep 10, 2021

A portrait of the brilliant American writer Truman Capote (1924-84) and the New York high society of his time.

0.0

Hodgepodge

Apr 30, 2025

Andrew Richter shares odd celebrity encounters from his years of working in hotels.

6.0

Alvar Aalto: Technology and Nature

Dec 28, 1987

The Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898–1976) is one of the great figures of modern architecture, ranked alongside Gropius, Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe. This film analyses Aalto’s uniquely successful resolution of the demands and possibilities created by new technology and construction materials with the need to make his buildings sympathetic both to their users and to their natural surroundings. His inventive use of timber in particular represents both a reference to the forest landscape of Finland and a building material that is ‘warm’ and extremely adaptable. Filmed in Finland, Italy, Germany and the USA, this documentary shows how the Finnish natural environment and art traditions were essential elements in Aalto’s pioneering harmonization of technology and nature.

2.0

The Hermits

May 20, 2019

In the midst of the chaos of México City, a group of eight bachelor millennials who call themselves ´The Hermits´, open the doors to their tiny apartments in the historic Ermita Building, in the yet-to-be gentrified neighborhood of Tacubaya, and share their life experiences in a time when precarity changes the way in which we love, feel and relate to each other. As we explore the homes of these eight neighbors, we also witness their personalities intersect in a Whatsapp chat, a virtual space that functions as a supporting system that helps them face the adversities that living alone in this city brings.

8.0

Étienne Robial, un spécimen de caractère(s)

May 17, 2023

Documentary on the French graphic and visual artist and designer, editor, artistic director, and teacher who is known for his widely-used fonts.

The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces

Overview

Genres

Production Companies

The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Trailers