Lewis Mumford on the city

This series illustrates what Mumford first explained in his celebrated book ‘The City in History : its origins, its transformation and its prospects’. These films comprise an engrossing study of the city as it once was, the city as we know it now and the city as it may be if it survives the dangers which Mr. Mumford points out on the screen. Filmed in eleven countries, a master view is presented of the city, and the glories of city life with the achievements, failures and promises of our urban culture made plain. Throughout the films you feel the warm attachment to cities which underlies Mr. Mumford’s conviction that “the city is man’s most precious collective invention”. He asks and tries to answer: What has the city done to ennoble man in the past? What is it doing now to rob him of rewards that urban life should give him? Challenges all concerned about the way we live and about the legacy we leave to our children.