The Life-Sized City
The Global Documentary Series about Urbanism
It's no secret that cities are changing faster than ever. On all continents, in every city big or small, individuals and groups are taking the lead and bringing ideas to the streets. Together, they are creating modern, resilient cities focused on the vision of the humans who inhabit them.
The Life-Sized City is a ground-breaking documentary series that explores the anatomy and vibrancy of the modern city, highlighting pockets of life-sized goodness in cities around the world.
Hosted by the boldly outspoken and charismatic Mikael Colville-Andersen, often referred to as the Anthony Bourdain of urbanism, the series reveals inspiring stories from everyday citizens yearning for change and urban renewal.
Ideas once limited to a single neighbourhood, somewhere halfway around the world, are brought to the screen to inspire people from just about everywhere. The Life-Sized City is a catalyst for organic urban change, a gallery of the best and the brightest minds and actions that are making our daily life better, from Medellin to Montreal, Bangkok to Buenos Aires, Toronto to Tel Aviv/Jaffa.
Each episode focuses on one city and on what makes it liveable (or not) for its residents.
Mikael gives a voice to those who go above and beyond stereotypes and who dare to make a difference, from ordinary citizens to urban activists and political leaders. He is at the helm of intriguing and creative encounters with those who make up the social fabric that redefines city life, talking about public space, transport, family life, urban sprawl, bikeability and green initiatives- all on a human scale. Interacting with true urban heroes, he gets dirt under his fingernails and puts theory to practice as he takes part in surprising urban innovations.
The Host
Mikael Colville-Andersen has been working passionately to transform and improve cities for over a decade. He has worked tirelessly on urban planning projects in over 100 cities around the world. A much sought-after speaker, Mikael has given his inspirational keynotes in scores of cities, combining his many urban philosophies with his work experience in cities in entertaining and thought-provoking presentations.
Mikael is best known for his philosophy about simplifying urban planning and urban cycling and how we should be designing our cities and streets instead of relying on traffic engineering. Using design - a human-to-human process - to make better the urban landscape will get more results quicker and teaming design up with anthropology, sociology and transport psychology first will ensure effective urban transformation.
One of the things Mikael gets asked the most is if the tattoos he gets in some episodes are real. They are. Mikael had already started an urban map on his shoulder when the series started and he got the idea to continue to develop it - on camera at the end of an episode. The decision to get a tattoo is made during shooting an episode. If there is a segment that really hits Mikael emotionally, he’ll make the call and decide to get one. He sketches them himself and a local tattoo artist is found.
Mikael’s parents emigrated from Denmark to Canada in 1953, where he was born. He left Canada at a young age and lived in cities around the world including Los Angeles, Suva, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Moscow, Paris and London. He settled in Copenhagen in the mid 1990s. He has two children, Felix and Lulu-Sophia, who are co-hosts in one episode each season.
Origins
Before The Life-Sized City became a documentary series, the phrase and Mikael’s philosophies have their root back in 2011. With a four-year old on a street corner in Copenhagen.
DOES YOUR CITY FIT YOU?
Mikael’s daughter, Lulu-Sophia, began a career as “the world’s youngest urbanist“ when she was three and a half years old. She started simply blurting out observations about her urban landscape that Mikael kept writing down. One of them was on a street corner in their neighbourhood in Copenhagen when Lulu-Sophia was four and a half. She was looking pensively around her city when she suddenly turned and looked up at her dad, saying, “when is my city going to fit me, Daddy?“
Mikael assured her that she would grow and she nodded. But at the moment she felt small. Mikael was obsessed with this statement and spent weeks thinking about it. Did his city - and others he travelled to - fit him? Some places, yes. Other, no. What was the difference? Mikael decided to honour Lulu-Sophia’s idea with a name. The Life-Sized City. Every citizen should feel as though their city fits them. As though it was designed for them. Mikael continues to develop his ideas about how to make cities life-sized.
THE IDEA FOR A TV SHOW
A few years ago Mikael was drinking wine with tv producer Nic Boucher in Montreal. They discussed the lack of tv programs about urbanism and started to brainstorm about what a series might look like, based on Mikael’s ideas about life-sized cities. One thing led to another and Mikael and Nic started development of the series.
THE BROADCASTER
Canadian public service broadcaster TV Ontario (TVO) found the idea of the series appealing and agreed to finance the production, which began in 2014 with six episodes. That led to Season 2 and 3 and currently Season 4 - delayed by COVID - is still being planned.
Nominated for two Canadian Screen Awards in 2019. Editing and Research. Nominated for 5 Canadian Screen Awards in 2018. Editing, Writing, Music, Research and Cinematography
Social Media
You can follow The Life-Sized City on the YouTube channel.