YSO The Other Side

The world's cities must reinvent themselves. Only in this way will it be possible to achieve climate neutrality in the future. Vicente Guallart, an architect from Barcelona, wants to bring agriculture back to the big cities. Photovoltaics are to be used on roofs and the walls of houses. The top floor will become a greenhouse, and vegetables can be produced where they are eaten: in the city itself.

A similar path could be taken with green hydrogen: Residential buildings would become clean energy suppliers. The surplus hydrogen would then be available for heavy transport, for example. Visions of the future that are being tested in Esslingen's new West City.

Arno Brandlhuber's architectural firm B plus (B+) likes to lure the industry out of its shell with unusual proposals. Intelligent concepts for tomorrow's cities rely on the consistent conversion of existing buildings. Because it is clear that this is the only way to achieve the climate targets.

https://www.zdf.de/dokumentation/planet-e/planet-e-cities-of-the-future-100.html

27.03.2022

A longer version of this documentary was produced for 3sat:

https://www.3sat.de/kultur/kulturdoku/unterwegs-nach-utopia-100.html

30.11.2021

8 years ago we got to know Elisa Chirino. As a young gymnast, she was on the verge of making the German Olympic team. But a double cervical vertebrae fracture she suffered during training made the athlete a nursing case at the age of 16 and ruined her plans for the future. YSO Film accompanied Elisa through her time in hospital and her return to everyday life.

The film "Nur eine falsche Bewegung" (Just one wrong move), which was made as a ZDF documentary in the series 37 Grad, will now receive a sequel.

How is Elisa today? Only one false move 2 is in production.

https://elisa-chirino.de

When Otto Hahn discovered atomic fission in 1938, he had no idea that atoms would also release a lot of energy socially. The world is again discussing the splitting of small parts - German nuclear power plants are to go into reserve operation, a second Chernobyl is threatening at the Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhya. It is precisely the so-called peaceful use of nuclear energy that is proving to be unpeaceful and is currently becoming a target of war and a bone of contention. We talk among others with the environmental author Fred Pearce, who has just written an award-winning book on nuclear accidents. We revisit images from the 2011 documentary "Under Control - An Archaeology of Nuclear Power." Director Volker Sattel had looked into the inner worlds of German nuclear power plants even before Fukushima. On the current debate, also a conversation with the economic expert Claudia Kemfert.

https://www.3sat.de/kultur/kulturzeit/zankapfel-atomkraft-100.html

What will the city of tomorrow look like?

Architecture and urban planning are facing the greatest challenges ever: they must do nothing less than save the world. In the future, building materials should come from the environment. Preferably only from renewable raw materials. Even better: as little new construction as possible. It is better to continue using existing substance. Because that's the only way to achieve the climate targets, as architect Arno Brandlhuber knows.

Vicente Guallart goes one step further. The architect from Barcelona wants to bring agriculture into the big cities themselves. Vegetables are to be produced where they are eaten: in the city. For Xiong'An, a huge new development near Beijing, Guallart is currently planning a city that absorbs Co2 instead of emitting it: "Trees absorb Co2. We want to build buildings that are like trees, and cities that function like forests."

Guallart's preferred building material is wood. Vicente Guallart is also head of Valldaura Labs, an experimental applied architecture department at Catalan University. In the hills above Barcelona, new concepts for combining nature and urbanity are being tested. Most important for this is an understanding of sustainability and cycles as nature dictates.

Home-grown energy - imports were yesterday

Economically efficient yet climate-friendly? That's what people in Esslingen, Baden-Württemberg, are counting on: Green electricity generated by photovoltaics is used there to split hydrogen. This "green hydrogen," which is unique in the world so far, is generated in residential areas. In the long term, this could make it possible to achieve independence from imported energy sources. In Esslingen, the electrolyzer - the device in which the hydrogen is split - is located right next to the underground parking garage in Neue Weststadt. The hydrogen is used for transporting loads and for industry. The houses in the Weststadt, however, feed their heating and hot water needs from the cooling water of the electrolyzer. In this way, energy generated in residential areas could enable emission-free mobility and industry for the city in the future.

Laboratory cities - the way to the future

How the cities of tomorrow develop is also an important topic for corporations. Some large companies are even building their own cities to act as laboratory cities.

Japan is at the forefront here: "Woven City" is being built directly on Mount Fuji for the mobility giant Toyota, a "woven" city in which traffic levels are separated and overlapped. Built with a lot of wood. 2000 people are to live in this "living laboratory". Animations at least show an idyllic coexistence with a lot of greenery, but in which movements of the inhabitants are measured. It's a similar story in Panasonic's cities. The Japanese electrical company has already inaugurated its third sustainable smart city. Cities like these allow the company to do field research on product decisions, directly with consumers. James Kuffner, CEO of Woven Planet Holdings, is optimistic: "We're using artificial intelligence... We can make a kind of digital twin that allows us to draw conclusions about the city of the future, for example, in terms of transportation planning or food or energy supply." Digital twin sisters and brothers help plan tomorrow's cities.

On behalf of the Goethe-Institut we were in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. We made a film there about the collaboration between the German techno trio Brandt Brauer Frick and the Orchestra Simon Bolivar.

The famous ensemble is part of El Sistema, a groundbreaking project that aims to give everyone in Venezuela access to an instrument and a musical education. El Sistema continues to inspire 45 years after its founding. Fortunately, "the system" continues to work, despite galloping inflation and political tensions in Venezuela. Brandt Brauer Frick and El Sistema - electronic music meets classical music. A wonderful concert at the end of the Humboldt Year in Caraca

Africa dreams of acting in unity. Despite its more than 50 countries, over 2100 languages and many different interests that exist here. A festival like AfriCourage, which organizers from Gambia have now launched together with the Goethe-Institut, brings musicians and ideas from Africa and Europe together. It shows that Africa is not a Messi continent with permanent problems, but a continent full of ideas, with many opportunities, a fast-growing young population and lots of enthusiasm. On behalf of the Goethe-Institut, YSO-Film accompanied the artists at "AfriCourage" and also delivered magazine reports about it for 3sat and ARTE. We met reggae musician Felwine Sarr from Senegal, who we knew beforehand mainly as an economist and important voice in the debate about the return of art objects stolen during the colonial era. Also present: Killa Ace from Gambia and Smockey from Burkina Faso.

The Treuhand: for some it is the symbol of Western greed, for others a mere authority that was supposed to privatize the GDR's national assets. Even now, 30 years after the fall of the Wall, Germans from East and West are still searching for the common narrative for their growing together. With the book author and journalist Norbert F. Pötzl, who was allowed to look around the archives of the authority for the first time, and the sociologist Wolfgang Engler, we take a look at the united Germany.

https://www.3sat.de/kultur/kulturzeit/ddr-treuhand-102.html

Sooner or later it comes: the last day at work. And then retirement begins. The farewell to working life: Is it the beginning of something new? Is it the beginning of something new? Is it the start of something you've wanted to do for a long time, but never found the time for? Or maybe it's just the beginning - of the end? For the ZDF editorial team of 37 degrees, we accompanied our protagonists for a year on the last meters of their professional careers: Tamara Preiss from the Festo company in Stuttgart, Dieter Driller van Loo, a school principal from Lower Saxony, and the restaurateur couple Annemarie and Hans-Werner Broderius from the Schlei. It was an emotional journey that showed us: it is not easy for anyone to let go.

https://www.zdf.de/dokumentation/37-grad/37-grad-mein-letzter-tag-im-betrieb-102.html