Strip the City
Season 1
TV-PG
Explores the engineering feats buried beneath major cities, unveiling ingenious solutions that enable metropolises like London, Rome, and Dubai to flourish despite harsh environments and geological challenges.
Where to Watch Season 1
6 Episodes
- Ancient City - Rome
E1Ancient City - RomeAncient Rome is the prototype of all modern cities. 2,000 years ago it was the biggest in the world - home to a million people. It has survived better than any ancient city on earth. How have its geological foundations both helped and hindered the city's longevity and growth? - Earthquake City - San Francisco
E2Earthquake City - San FranciscoSan Francisco is standing on the brink of disaster - it sits on one of the world's most infamous earthquake hotspots – the San Andreas Fault. How do the city's buildings and infrastructure survive the onslaught of a destructive earthquake? This film looks beneath the city's skin to discover the engineering wonders and geological forces that make it possible. Stunning CGI animation peels back the glass of its skyscrapers and steel off its bridges to reveal their inner workings. The engineers and geologists who know this city the best reveal the secrets inside San Francisco's skyscrapers that keep them standing, protect them from raging fires and keep residents safe during the deadliest quakes. The film explores the geology that shaped the city's past and challenges its future, from the valleys that hold the city's fire-fighting water to the fault line that is overdue for a massive earthquake. - Desert City - Dubai
E3Desert City - DubaiDubai is a gleaming metropolis, grown from the desert sands in just a few decades - yet it sits in one of the driest places on Earth, is pummelled by raging sandstorms, and its skyscrapers are resting on top of sand. This episode looks beneath the city's skin to discover what keeps Dubai's buildings standing, protects them from desert storms, and keeps residents alive in the searing heat. - Harbour City - Sydney
E4Harbour City - SydneySydney is home to a fifth Australia's entire population and is trapped between the Blue Mountains and the ocean, sitting on the driest inhabited continent on Earth, and surrounding one the planet's largest natural harbours. This episode uncovers what is inside Sydney's buildings and beneath its streets that allow the city to function - from the concealed contours of the harbour that allow super-sized ships to sail into the heart of the city, to the underground caverns that store its water. - Ice City - Toronto
E5Ice City - TorontoPerched on the shores of Lake Ontario, Toronto is a city of extremes. This sprawling metropolis was carved out by ancient glaciers. Today it is filled with a concrete jungle of towering skyscrapers. Each winter temperatures plummet to an arctic minus 40 degrees and the city is pummeled by savage snowstorms. How did this metropolis grow to become the largest city in Canada in such an extreme environment? This episode looks beneath the city's skin to discover the secret engineering wonders and geological forces that make it possible. Stunning CGI animation peels back the glass and concrete off its skyscrapers to reveal their inner workings and sucks the water up out of its lakes to explore their origins. The city's leading engineers and geologists reveal the secrets hidden inside the iconic CN Tower that keep it standing, protect Toronto's buildings from snowstorms and keep residents alive in the bone chilling cold. This film explores the geology that shaped the city's past and challenges its future, from the rich salt reserves that power its industry to the colossal falls that fuel the expanding mega-city. - Underground City - London
E6Underground City - LondonBeneath the streets of London, lies a parallel universe. As its buildings soar higher, so its tunnels go deeper. London has more infrastructures built underground than any city in the world. They hold the key the city’s success. This episode strips away the ground to reveal the city's inner workings and explores the ingenious technologies that helped engineers to build one of the biggest cities on Earth. We join engineers working in this vast underground city – from tunnel builders digging a brand new underground train line 40m beneath the city to squads of workers scrubbing its sewer tunnels to prevent outbreaks of disease. We lift up Buckingham Palace to reveal a "lost" river and show the innovative engineering behind the city’s brand new port under construction. We peel away the Tower of London to reveal the true scale of the river Thames – far from being quiet and obedient, it was once a tidal torrent. And we strip back the steel and glass from Europe's tallest skyscraper - the Shard – to reveal its hidden inner workings. This episode explores the geology that shaped the city's past and challenges its future, from the rich clay that it sits on to the river that may one day consume it.