The Ailing City: Crime Prevention and Future Cities in Minority Report

Cities are modernity's ever-changing hubs of people, architectures and culture. Time and time again, the intense urban environment has been perceived as causing sickness or influencing the experiences of illness. The metaphorical rhetoric of disease has also been applied to unwanted transformations of city architecture and culture.

Organised by the Ephemeral Cities Research Group, the screening series "The Ailing City" explores how film engages with (and reflects) illness and perceptions of sickness and health in urban space. Over the course of five Thursday evenings in May and June 2016, we will explore bodily illness, states of mind, and urban decay and rejuvenation through film. 

The popular Hollywood blockbuster Minority Report (Steven Spielberg, 2002) invites viewers to think about how surveillance and technology influence (urban) space through its narrative about crime prevention. Indeed, crime - murder, illegal drugs - is an illness that must be eradicated from the future city that promotes high-tech towers and seeks to deny the existence of deteriorated urban spaces.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Dr Rodrigo Firmino, Honorary Senior Research Associate at UCL Urban Laboratory. A wine reception will follow the discussion. The series is generously supported by the IAS-Octagon Research fund.

Places are free but limited. Please book via Eventbrite.