Movies

Black and white still set photograph from Fritz Lang's Metropolis film.

Francis Ford Copolla’s Urban Planning Swan Song

Legendary director Francis Ford Coppola’s likely final major film, Megalopolis, celebrates design and urban planning. It is a dazzling mishmash of architectural, cinematic, and literary history.

October 29, 2024 - CommonEdge Collaborative

Dusty desert landscape with low visibility and few scraggly plants.

Racing Toward Dystopia

The latest installment in the Mad Max franchise is a more urgent warning about the perils of climate change and megalomania than ever before.

August 14, 2024 - Common Edge Collaborative

A group of Latino dancers and musicians perform in front of the Love sculpture in Philadelphia.

New Film, Set on a Philly Bus, Celebrates the Magic of the Latino Community

The Latino community gathers on a bus, and joy ensues, in the new short film "La Guagua 47."

September 15, 2022 - WHYY

Robert Moses

Robert Moses Inspires 'Motherless Brooklyn'

A new movie starring Edward Norton, based on the novel of the same name by Lionel Essrog, gives a central role to a Robert Moses doppelgänger, as portrayed by Alec Baldwin.

October 23, 2019 - Slate

Ghostbusters

Pop Quiz: Can You Name These Movies Where the NYC Subway Plays a Role?

You're allowed to guess.

April 26, 2019 - Gothamist

The red carpet at the Oscars

Friday Fun: Oscars-Nominated Films Featuring Place in a Starring Role

Many of the movies nominated for Oscars this year gain a great deal of thematic and storytelling meaning from their locations.

February 22, 2019 - Brookings

Black Panther's Many Lessons in Urbanism

Black Panther is a smash hit with critics and audiences. In addition to long-needed perspective about race, the movie has presented urbanism in a new light.

February 24, 2018 - CityLab

MARTA Interrupting Bus

Why Can't Public Transit Get a Role on the Silver Screen?

Or even Netflix, for that matter.

February 16, 2018 - Mobility Lab

Hollywood

Blade Runner Goes Back to the Future

Los Angeles appears in Blade Runner 2049 in name only. But the film still provides an arresting vision of a high-density future and is a reminder of the eternal ambiguity that surrounds Los Angeles.

October 18, 2017 - California Planning & Development Report

Jane Jacobs

Reviews for 'Citizen Jane: Battle for the City'

Two publications likely to find an audience with people sympathetic to the cause of Jane Jacobs reviewed the latest film about her political battles with Robert Moses for the soul of New York.

April 24, 2017 - NPR

Modern high speed bullet train in China

The Pop Culture Verdict: Transit Is Hip

Several decades ago, public transit was a distinctly low-quality way of getting around. Now, if we can believe TV and movies depicting the near future, all that has changed. Transit has become aspirational.

April 29, 2016 - Governing

Peachtree Plaza

Atlanta's Favorite Architect Inspires Science Fiction

Even movies set long ago and far, far away have to be filmed somewhere. With uncanny frequency, many of them, including "The Hunger Games" and "Insurgent," have been filmed in the futuristic/dystopian landscape designed by John Portman in Atlanta.

April 2, 2015 - The Atlantic

Study: Youth Learn Reckless Driving Habits at the Movies

Researchers in the Behavioral Science Institute at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands produced evidence that movies like Fast and the Furious influence the driving of young people.

December 19, 2014 - Pacific Standard

The red carpet at the Oscars

And the Feel-Good Oscar Goes To...

Discussing some of the most pro-urban movies ever made.

March 1, 2014 - Michael Lewyn

Movie Marquee

Ranking the Top Movies About Urbanism

The Oscars are this weekend, so its an appropriate time to turn to movie magic as a powerful force for how American’s perceive environments—from rural to urban and everything between.

February 28, 2014 - Next City

Film Makes the Walls Talk for Six Famous Buildings

An expansive new 3D film, shown recently at the Berlin Film Festival, collects a series of vignettes that anthropomorphize buildings like the Berlin Philharmonic, the National Library of Russia, and the Salk Institute.

February 13, 2014 - Variety

Friday Funny: Disney Planning More Vehicle-Themed Movies

If you love the transportation-related puns you've been subjected to over repeated viewings of Cars, Cars 2, and, now, Planes with your children, you're going to be excited to hear about what Disney is working on now.

August 23, 2013 - Funny Or Die

"Urbanized" Seeks To Chart The Future Of Planning

A.O. Scott reviews the final installment of Gary Hustwit's design trilogy, "Urbanized," and concludes that even those with a deep knowledge of urban planning are likely to learn something from the carefully selected images and interviews.

October 31, 2011 - The New York Times

Friday Funny - Top Ten Cities That Need Statues from 80's Movies

While Philadelphia has a real-life statue of the famous underdog Rocky Balboa, an online campaign in Detroit wants a similar RoboCop statue put up. TIME Magazine has other must-have icons from the 80s era it thinks cities should adopt in stone.

February 25, 2011 - Time

Urban Favorites

The Polis Blog presents a huge list of "urban favorites" -- songs, movies, initiatives and places that explain or highlight the best of the world's urban areas.

January 15, 2011 - The Polis Blog

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.