William H. Whyte

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.

In 1969, The Department of City Planning in New York City developed a new city-wide plan. This documentary, produced and written by John Peer Nugent and narrated by notable urbanist William H. Whyte, was released on public television to provide a behind-the-scenes peek at the planning process. There's a lot that is gone from contemporary New York in this documentary: a gritty Hell's Kitchen, a robust Model Cities program, and acres of slums in Bedford-Stuyvesant. But there's a lot that, for better or worse, is still the same: poverty and prosperity, diversity and wealth, greed and good intentions.

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