0:00:05 > 0:00:09Something new is happening on Planet Earth,
0:00:09 > 0:00:11big enough to be seen from space.
0:00:13 > 0:00:19Hot spots, buzzing with the energy of millions of people.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22For the first time in human history,
0:00:22 > 0:00:25more of us live in cities than in the country.
0:00:25 > 0:00:30But these are cities on a different scale.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33In just 50 years
0:00:33 > 0:00:39we've seen the birth, the growth and now the dominance of the megacity.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47Sprawling, seething, noisy, polluted,
0:00:47 > 0:00:53crammed with 10 million, 15, sometimes even 30 million people.
0:00:53 > 0:00:58These cities are complicated, fragile places,
0:00:58 > 0:01:00constantly on the edge.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06These are places of overcrowding, squalor.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12But these are also the most exciting places on the earth,
0:01:12 > 0:01:16brim with optimism and fun and energy.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19- PEOPLE CHEER - Argh!
0:01:19 > 0:01:23Love them or loathe them, fear them or embrace them,
0:01:23 > 0:01:28the megacities are the human future of the planet.
0:01:30 > 0:01:35What is the great story of our times? It's migration.
0:01:35 > 0:01:42The emptying of countryside, villages and small towns into the great cities.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44The tramp of billions of people.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47One of the biggest gambles the human race has taken.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53In this programme, I'll be talking to some of the winners.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56I see what you mean about the view. Good grief!
0:01:56 > 0:01:589 million quid! Wow!
0:01:58 > 0:02:00And the losers.
0:02:00 > 0:02:04What's this, a government notice saying get out before a certain date?
0:02:04 > 0:02:07I'll be living in the middle of sprawling slums.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10It's about 1.30 in the morning now
0:02:10 > 0:02:13and I'm eaten alive by mosquitoes.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17Where filth and friendliness live side by side.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21- Mr Bean?!- Mm-hm. - ANDREW LAUGHS
0:02:21 > 0:02:25I'll climb the mighty new fingers of the metropolis.
0:02:25 > 0:02:30This is London's way of saying to people, "Look at me, come to me."
0:02:30 > 0:02:35I'll take bird's-eye view of cities that just can't stop growing.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39It just goes on for ever, without form or shape.
0:02:39 > 0:02:46But I'll also ask whether an ultra-slick and efficient megacity sucks the life out of its people.
0:02:46 > 0:02:52Who would want to live in a city with no sense of its own past?
0:02:52 > 0:02:53I wouldn't.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57And I'll find out if the secret of a really successful metropolis
0:02:57 > 0:03:01means we all need to bring the village into the city.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04I've got too many friends!
0:03:21 > 0:03:25There are now 21 cities we can properly call mega.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30That is, they have a population of more than 10 million people.
0:03:30 > 0:03:35All of them are relentlessly changing, shifting and, above all, growing,
0:03:35 > 0:03:38and there are plenty more on the way.
0:03:39 > 0:03:44Over the course of this series, I'm going to be journeying to five of the world's key megacities.
0:03:47 > 0:03:52Shanghai would like to think of itself as the new capital of the world -
0:03:52 > 0:03:58right now the most dynamic megacity on the planet, sprawling sideways and sprouting upwards.
0:04:04 > 0:04:09Dhaka, where 500,000 new migrants arrive every year.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13A place of poverty, pollution and transport chaos,
0:04:13 > 0:04:18so vulnerable to flood and disease it could be the first megacity to have to be evacuated.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30Tokyo, which is still the largest city on the earth -
0:04:30 > 0:04:3633 million people jammed into the ultimate hi-tech, urban hive.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43And London.
0:04:45 > 0:04:50The grand old man of megacities, with lots to learn from the new generations
0:04:50 > 0:04:52and something to teach them too.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58And, last of all, Mexico City -
0:04:58 > 0:05:01one of the most dangerous cities in the world, but for my money,
0:05:01 > 0:05:06one of the most enjoyable as well, brimming with surprises.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13This story, though, doesn't begin in the city at all,
0:05:13 > 0:05:19but tens, if not hundreds of miles away out in the countryside.
0:05:19 > 0:05:24All around the world people are hearing the summons,
0:05:24 > 0:05:26but this is nothing to do with religion.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30They're answering the call of the city.
0:05:30 > 0:05:36Imagine you're a peasant farmer and you're leaving the place that you are known and that you know
0:05:36 > 0:05:40and going to somewhere where you're unknown.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43And yet, in their tens of millions,
0:05:43 > 0:05:51people are turning their backs on all of this and going in one direction only -
0:05:51 > 0:05:52to the city.
0:05:52 > 0:05:57By 2050 the world's cities will absorb over 3 billion people
0:05:57 > 0:06:02and the population in the countryside will stop growing.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07By then, 70% of the world will live in cities,
0:06:07 > 0:06:12and by the end of the century, three quarters of the entire planet will be urban.
0:06:12 > 0:06:20This will mark the end of the biggest shift in human civilisation since the birth of agriculture.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22And why are these people going?
0:06:22 > 0:06:27For the promise of a better life, wealth, even luxury.
0:06:29 > 0:06:35I don't know if the streets of the megacities are exactly paved with gold,
0:06:35 > 0:06:38but they are splattered with posh brands
0:06:38 > 0:06:43and adverts selling, in essence, a better tomorrow.
0:06:43 > 0:06:50And so they act like huge magnets, every day they bring tens of thousands of people,
0:06:50 > 0:06:55either driven by desperation or lured by optimism.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58And, of course, for a lot of them, it never happens.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02They stay stuck on the edges, living a pretty miserable life.
0:07:02 > 0:07:07But hundreds of thousands do make the jump
0:07:07 > 0:07:11and they start to climb the ladder of opportunity
0:07:11 > 0:07:14and get at least a bit of what they hoped for.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17They're never the same afterwards.
0:07:21 > 0:07:26In Shanghai, at the top of one of those ladders, is Tang Jun.
0:07:26 > 0:07:31'The transformative power of the megacity's worked for him.'
0:07:31 > 0:07:32He's one of the winners.
0:07:32 > 0:07:38His parents were humble workers, now he is Shanghai's richest man.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42He's made his money from the millions of people in the city seeking entertainment.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46Shanghai is the karaoke bar capital of the world
0:07:46 > 0:07:49and Tang is its emperor.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53I invented some of the cool kind of ideas stuff.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57- For example, you sing karaoke - you know karaoke?- Yes, absolutely.
0:07:57 > 0:08:02I invented one very unique kind of system.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05Once you sing karaoke, the system will tell you how good you are,
0:08:05 > 0:08:07basically give you the score.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10I call it the Karaoke Score Machine.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13- Ah, so it's an electronic Simon Cowell?- Exactly.
0:08:13 > 0:08:18So I earned, in the first part of my life, the money.
0:08:18 > 0:08:23I earned the money from Samsung and then I founded my own computer company there.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26I came back to Shanghai in 1997.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30What was Shanghai looking like then? None of these skyscrapers?
0:08:30 > 0:08:35No, not at all. Actually, you didn't see any kind of high-rise buildings here.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39So just 10 years? It's astonishing story.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42Even to me, and I've been living in Shanghai for 13 years.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46Shanghai is changing almost on a weekly or monthly basis.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52Tang is the top of the megacity pile, but he's not unique.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56Shanghai has over 7,000 billionaires.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00I'll say that again - 7,000 billionaires.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10It's the fastest-growing city on the planet.
0:09:10 > 0:09:15'If the skyscraper is the ultimate symbol of a city trying to tell you it's arrived,
0:09:15 > 0:09:18'well, Shanghai is screaming.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22'It makes Manhattan look a little dull.' Wow.
0:09:24 > 0:09:25Oh, wow!
0:09:27 > 0:09:29This is, erm...
0:09:29 > 0:09:31This is absolutely astonishing.
0:09:38 > 0:09:43This is the first time I've seen Shanghai from this high up,
0:09:43 > 0:09:47and it is breathtaking.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50It's a sort of like a German forest of skyscrapers.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54They're sprouting almost as you look at them,
0:09:54 > 0:09:57and the minute you see one that you're told is the tallest...
0:09:57 > 0:10:01And some of them look like they've been badly drawn in the wrong perspective
0:10:01 > 0:10:06because they are just dizzyingly, unsettlingly big.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09And apparently there's a much, much bigger one
0:10:09 > 0:10:13just arriving, which is going to dwarf those.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16People say, apparently,
0:10:16 > 0:10:19that Shanghai is the new capital of the world,
0:10:19 > 0:10:22which sounds a bit over the top,
0:10:22 > 0:10:24until you've been at the top
0:10:24 > 0:10:27and looked down and it starts to make sense.
0:10:28 > 0:10:33These things are being built with bamboo scaffolding and armies of people
0:10:33 > 0:10:35who were once tending rice paddies
0:10:35 > 0:10:39and are now planting steel and glass instead.
0:10:42 > 0:10:47Just 30 years ago, there were 121 buildings over eight storeys here.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51Now there are more than 10,000.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57Skyscraper fever,
0:10:57 > 0:11:00and it's not just Shanghai that's infected.
0:11:10 > 0:11:17I am currently at the highest point of the highest building site in Europe,
0:11:17 > 0:11:21just one of the extraordinary new skyscrapers
0:11:21 > 0:11:25leaping out of the urban clutter below them, all around the world.
0:11:38 > 0:11:43This is The Shard in London and when it's completed,
0:11:43 > 0:11:46it will be the highest building in the European Union.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49This is London's way of establishing its power
0:11:49 > 0:11:53as the major megacity in its bit of the world.
0:11:53 > 0:11:54"Look at me!"
0:12:01 > 0:12:05These skyscrapers are packages of money,
0:12:05 > 0:12:07technical brilliance,
0:12:07 > 0:12:11engineering and imagination.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15They are the beacons, the lighthouses of the modern megacities,
0:12:15 > 0:12:19saying to people all round the world, "Hey! Hey! Come to me."
0:12:21 > 0:12:25The megacities' frantic gorging on materials, innovation and change
0:12:25 > 0:12:28is happening in front of our very eyes.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40The Shard will rise to 1,016 feet.
0:12:42 > 0:12:47And it's growing at a phenomenal, Jack-And-The-Beanstalk pace.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50Every two weeks, three floors are added
0:12:50 > 0:12:52and, eventually, there'll be 87 of them.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58When you're building a building this high,
0:12:58 > 0:13:01there's one piece of kit you can't do without, of course.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06Taller than the skyscraper itself - the crane.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12Look up and you'll spot the unsung heroes of the skyscraper world,
0:13:12 > 0:13:17the people who spend their working lives dangling up in the air.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20And getting to meet one of them
0:13:20 > 0:13:24means I have a rather serious morning's walk to work.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27It's unsettlingly open.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31Good God. Ha!
0:13:31 > 0:13:36I hope I never have to climb up a ladder that's longer than that one!
0:13:36 > 0:13:39I'm up here to talk to John Young,
0:13:39 > 0:13:43one of the crane drivers who's building this extraordinary place.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46Um, apart from anything else, just to find out how he does it.
0:13:49 > 0:13:54Hi, John. It is an amazing sight up here.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57- Is there a big sense of pride in doing this job?- Yeah.
0:13:57 > 0:14:03You never tire of the view. You can be in a job for a year, two years
0:14:03 > 0:14:07and, all of a sudden, recognise things you never knew were there.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09You can never tire of the view,
0:14:09 > 0:14:13- especially at night time when the lights come on.- Yeah, fantastic.
0:14:13 > 0:14:18Working at these extreme heights means the operators often have to work blind,
0:14:18 > 0:14:21delicately shifting around tons of steel
0:14:21 > 0:14:25with the help of a team hundreds of feet below them.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27OK, John, fast as you like.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31Just give her a little tap round to your right, please, John.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37Fast as you like. Keep going up, keep tapping left.
0:14:37 > 0:14:42As The Shard keeps growing, so do the cranes have to grow
0:14:42 > 0:14:44because they have to be even taller.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49We're incredibly high up. Is this as high as you go now?
0:14:49 > 0:14:51No, no, no. This is only half the height.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54- You'll get twice as high? - Twice as high.
0:14:54 > 0:14:59But we have to, what we call, jump the crane. Climb it ourselves, section by section.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02- So you build the crane...? - Yeah, from inside, yeah.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05And there's a certain amount of anxiety when that happens?
0:15:05 > 0:15:08There's always a handshake before we let them bolts go.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12- A handshake first? Just in case the worst happens. - Let's do the job properly.
0:15:12 > 0:15:14- That's seriously dangerous.- Yeah.
0:15:14 > 0:15:19The most dangerous job you can undertake in construction is the jumping of a tower crane.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22Building The Shard is a global operation.
0:15:22 > 0:15:26It sucks in components from all around the world -
0:15:26 > 0:15:29lifts from Finland, doors from Malaysia
0:15:29 > 0:15:32and, believe it or not, the toilets are from Scotland!
0:15:33 > 0:15:36Renzo Piano, the architect behind The Shard,
0:15:36 > 0:15:40is selling this dream as a city in the sky,
0:15:40 > 0:15:42home to offices, restaurants and hotels.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46On the outside, this will be a towering expression
0:15:46 > 0:15:50of the megacities' glittering 'come to me' written in glass.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00One of the big differences between the new skyscrapers
0:16:00 > 0:16:03is what they are saying and how they are saying it.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07If you look over there at an older building -
0:16:07 > 0:16:11a great, heavy, aggressive, lump of concrete -
0:16:11 > 0:16:17it's about a city which is rather dour and old-fashioned and heavy.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20These buildings, as we are seeing, are all glass,
0:16:20 > 0:16:24it's all light and it's all airy.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28And at some level, it's meant to suggest that anyone can rise to any position.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30Everything is transparent.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36The crews putting in the windows are on a tight schedule.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39They have to put in 20 of these monsters every day.
0:16:39 > 0:16:41By the time this building is finished,
0:16:41 > 0:16:44this glass shard will be covered from top to bottom
0:16:44 > 0:16:46with 11,000 panes of glass.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50You think of these big projects as being entirely routine.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54It's obviously not. It's actually still about human muscle and skill.
0:16:54 > 0:16:59This guy's going to get out here now through the fencing,
0:16:59 > 0:17:01just to lock that into position.
0:17:01 > 0:17:06Tiny errors here are very dangerous and very, very expensive.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11Insulation-wise, this wall is definitely the trickiest,
0:17:12 > 0:17:15because you are just totally out of the building.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17- You're leaning so far out.- Yeah.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20And, obviously, you want the guys to be safe, you know?
0:17:22 > 0:17:25These vertical cities don't come cheap.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28The total cost of the Shard will be more than £1 billion.
0:17:28 > 0:17:34And at its top, a series of incredible luxury apartments.
0:17:34 > 0:17:39Aztecs, cathedrals, the Eiffel Tower and Manhattan -
0:17:39 > 0:17:42powerful people have always tried to build
0:17:42 > 0:17:46as high as they can, because they can.
0:17:46 > 0:17:51But who goes into these buildings? No gods or emperors here.
0:17:53 > 0:17:54Yet one thing hasn't changed.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58Around the world, the most spectacular buildings,
0:17:58 > 0:18:01the real jaw-droppers, gob-smackers,
0:18:01 > 0:18:06still tend to have the rich right at the top.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18Back in Shanghai,
0:18:18 > 0:18:21inside the concrete and glass forests
0:18:21 > 0:18:24are the swanky penthouses and multinational HQs.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28'Andy Lau is estate agent to the super-rich.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31'Business is booming.'
0:18:33 > 0:18:35This is about 900 square metre
0:18:35 > 0:18:38and it's a four-plus-one apartment.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42As you can see, it has a very high ceiling.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44- This is what we call a double volume. - It's wonderful.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48This is something that, you know...you have to see.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50Good grief!
0:18:51 > 0:18:54You have the best of Shanghai.
0:18:54 > 0:18:55That is a view!
0:18:58 > 0:19:01I'm tempted. I might well be a buyer, but...
0:19:01 > 0:19:06one small, tiny little issue I need to ask you about.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08No worries, nothing is a problem.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10The price.
0:19:10 > 0:19:11OK, the price...
0:19:11 > 0:19:13- Nothing is a problem! - THEY LAUGH
0:19:13 > 0:19:17For the top, wealthiest people in Shanghai,
0:19:17 > 0:19:21getting a grand apartment with a lovely view,
0:19:21 > 0:19:24what sort of money are they going to be paying?
0:19:24 > 0:19:27I think in the market, talking about really super-luxury properties,
0:19:27 > 0:19:29about 90 million.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32- 90 million, which is about £9 million.- Thereabouts.
0:19:32 > 0:19:369 million quid! Well!
0:19:36 > 0:19:40I might have to go back, have a word with my bank manager first,
0:19:40 > 0:19:45just chat, you know, before I can actually sign the cheque!
0:19:45 > 0:19:49Any time, just give me a call, you know we can work this out.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53But the skyline of the megacity isn't all sleek concrete.
0:20:00 > 0:20:05Welcome to Dhaka in Bangladesh, in all its unstructured,
0:20:05 > 0:20:08unregulated glory.
0:20:08 > 0:20:12Not only are 12 million people already living here,
0:20:12 > 0:20:18there's half a million new arrivals from the countryside pouring in every year.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26That's like a city the size of Liverpool moving in next door.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30Whatever the dream of a better life, many people start here in the slums.
0:20:30 > 0:20:35It's estimated that the Dhaka slums are home to four million people.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38It might seem vast and daunting,
0:20:38 > 0:20:43but when you're on the ground in this place, you discover it's still highly organised.
0:20:45 > 0:20:50So this is a slum, like thousands around the world.
0:20:50 > 0:20:55It's a slum, however, not a dump.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59It's complicated, well organised.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03Television area there, where they're watching the cricket.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05Firewood stall.
0:21:05 > 0:21:07There's a school down here.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11Hairdresser's shop.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13Cigarette shop.
0:21:13 > 0:21:19Just like Shanghai, this place has its own social structure.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22One thing I've noticed, wherever you are in the world,
0:21:22 > 0:21:30if you come to a new city and you're trying to find where the posh bits, the better-off bits are,
0:21:30 > 0:21:33there are a couple of infallible signs.
0:21:33 > 0:21:40One is better roads, a better class of roadwork.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44And the other? Trees, greenery.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47The more greenery, by and large, the better off.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51It seems to be the case even in the slum.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57The houses might be made from plasterboard and discarded wood,
0:21:57 > 0:22:01but that doesn't mean that their owners can't make them very comfortable.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05Sohil and his family have been here for 15 years.
0:22:05 > 0:22:10He's made a life for himself in the slum and he's decided to stay here.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12So this is a lovely house.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15- You've got lots of lovely things here.- Thank you.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19It's not what people would expect from being inside a slum house.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23IN TRANSLATION: We're very proud to be living like this.
0:22:23 > 0:22:28We built this ourselves, supported ourselves and supported our family.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34We have everything we need to live.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38Can you tell me a bit about this community, this area? About how many people,
0:22:38 > 0:22:41how many families are living here now?
0:22:41 > 0:22:46IN TRANSLATION: 10,000 people live in this slum.
0:22:46 > 0:22:4910,000 people? That's a lot, yeah.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52It's a proper-sized town, isn't it?
0:22:54 > 0:23:01But for many of the 10,000 people in this particular slum, conditions are a lot less comfortable.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05This way? We'll go this way? OK.
0:23:05 > 0:23:10'Just round the corner 14-year-old Musharraf and his family are putting me up for the night.'
0:23:10 > 0:23:15- You've only been speaking English for two years?- Yeah. - That's amazing! You're very good.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18You're really good at it. That's fantastic.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21'Musharraf was a slumdog, a street hawker,
0:23:21 > 0:23:25'until two years ago when a charity helped to pay for his education.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29'He's very bright, but the conditions he lives in are still pretty daunting.'
0:23:31 > 0:23:35- If you want to take a bath, there it is.- That's the bath?
0:23:35 > 0:23:36- Yeah.- I'm not sure about the bath.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39- That is toilet.- Down that way? OK.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41I'd better just dump this. Oh, God.
0:23:41 > 0:23:43- Straight into the lake! - Straight into the lake.
0:23:43 > 0:23:45This is the room where we're going to live.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48It's a big house.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51Because lots of people are living here, almost nine.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55- Nine people in here? - That's why it's a big room. - Yeah. Nine people living here.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58Let's get out and get ready for our cook.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00Get ready for our cooking. Yes.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02'With my sleeping quarters sorted,
0:24:02 > 0:24:06'we're off to buy dinner in the market, the hub of the community.'
0:24:06 > 0:24:08- What's this?- Dried fish.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11No, no. I think not. Chilli maybe.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15- Garlic.- And onion.
0:24:15 > 0:24:17Garlic, onion.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21Thank you.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23- Big shopping.- Yeah.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25- Cross the road.- OK.
0:24:25 > 0:24:30'To cook the dinner, we're going to need some water, obviously, but the nearest pump's a mile away.'
0:24:38 > 0:24:40Maybe it's a little bit hard for you to carry?
0:24:40 > 0:24:46It's all right. I've got to kind of experience the full thing.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49- Can I help you? - No, it's fine, Musharraf!
0:24:49 > 0:24:51- Just give it to me. - No!- We both can take it.
0:24:51 > 0:24:53No, no, no. Honestly.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55- Honestly.- There we go, look.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57- That's better.- Not like this.
0:24:57 > 0:24:58What's wrong with that?
0:24:58 > 0:25:00What's wrong with that?!
0:25:01 > 0:25:03Like this. Carry like this.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06Like this? Between the two of us?
0:25:06 > 0:25:09All right, OK. Shared labour.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11'Musharraf's a remarkable boy,
0:25:11 > 0:25:15'the more so, I thought, after I'd asked him how he landed here.'
0:25:17 > 0:25:19So, Musharraf, a bit about your family.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21Where did they come from?
0:25:21 > 0:25:24First when I was four years old we were in the village.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28Then there were some problems.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31- What problems?- We lost our land and we moved to Dhaka.
0:25:31 > 0:25:371998, the biggest flood of Bangladesh.
0:25:37 > 0:25:39The worst flood? Yes.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42- Did the family lose everything?- Yes.
0:25:42 > 0:25:48And then we move to another place when the farms were burning.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51The homes were burned down?
0:25:51 > 0:25:54- Was that because of an accident? - It was accident.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56This is the fourth slum for you?
0:25:56 > 0:25:58- This is the last one.- The last slum.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01A lot's happened to you and you're just 13.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04Yes. I'm 14.
0:26:04 > 0:26:0714, sorry. I beg your pardon. How old do you think I am?
0:26:07 > 0:26:09- 45.- 45, that'll do.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12- How old?- 50.- 50? Almost near.
0:26:12 > 0:26:17'Here they cook with clever stoves they've dug out of the earth.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21'They have only one knife and they cook better than most television chefs.'
0:26:21 > 0:26:23- No!- No?
0:26:23 > 0:26:25No.
0:26:26 > 0:26:28ANDREW LAUGHS
0:26:28 > 0:26:33'And embarrassingly, it seems I'm a dead ringer for somebody else off the box.'
0:26:34 > 0:26:37- Mr Bean.- Mr Bean?!
0:26:37 > 0:26:39ANDREW LAUGHS
0:26:41 > 0:26:42You look like Mr Bean.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49- Mr Bean.- She says I'm Mr Bean.
0:26:50 > 0:26:51Fair point.
0:26:53 > 0:26:59After darkness falls, they watch television with electricity expertly nicked from the official grid.
0:26:59 > 0:27:04'But it's still a long way from the posh end of the slums.'
0:27:04 > 0:27:07OK.
0:27:07 > 0:27:08They're better at it than me.
0:27:11 > 0:27:12Mmm, yeah.
0:27:12 > 0:27:14Very good.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19- He's struggling now. - It's too hot.- It's very hot.
0:27:20 > 0:27:21Now Musharraf.
0:27:24 > 0:27:25OK.
0:27:25 > 0:27:27THEY LAUGH
0:27:29 > 0:27:32I think it's time for me to go to bed. I'm exhausted.
0:27:32 > 0:27:34It's been a long, long day.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37One last... Oh, I get my hands washed as well.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41I'm going to spend the rest of the night here
0:27:41 > 0:27:46in one of the shacks in the slum and say goodbye now, goodnight, to the camera crew.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48There they are. Good night, camera crew.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51- See you in the morning! - Night-night. Off you go.
0:27:51 > 0:27:58It's about 1.30 in the morning now and I'm eaten alive by mosquitoes.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01I've put on all sorts of stuff and got a mosquito net
0:28:01 > 0:28:03and it's absolutely no difference at all.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06I'm just covered in bites and they're keeping on going.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10There's also some very large rats just underneath me.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14I've spotted them. More like the size of cats, I would say.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16And cockroaches as well.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20The rats are a doddle compared with nipping out for a pee.
0:28:20 > 0:28:22This is the slightly...
0:28:23 > 0:28:25..forbidding-looking toilet.
0:28:25 > 0:28:31Not only forbidding, I think... pretty difficult underfoot,
0:28:31 > 0:28:32if I can put it that way.
0:28:35 > 0:28:41The main thing, the first thing is not to drop either of my sandals.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50You don't really want to see the next bit!
0:28:50 > 0:28:55I might be in a city of more than 13 million people, but it feels a lot smaller.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59It's the deep dead of night now.
0:28:59 > 0:29:04Just the occasional muttering and coughing, dog barking.
0:29:04 > 0:29:06I'm wondering how many of these people
0:29:06 > 0:29:08are really city-dwellers at all.
0:29:08 > 0:29:13They seem bound together by close ties of mutual obligation,
0:29:13 > 0:29:18family ties, looking out for each other and each other's children.
0:29:20 > 0:29:27I think the village is the natural unit and perhaps every megacity
0:29:27 > 0:29:34is like a huge body crammed with millions of ghostly villages,
0:29:34 > 0:29:37of which this is just one.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50Dawn, and the cycle of the slum continues.
0:29:54 > 0:29:58One thing I suppose we think we know about slum-dwellers,
0:29:58 > 0:30:03is that they are the passive, put-upon victims of the modern city.
0:30:03 > 0:30:07Well, if one thing is clear from being here for a short time,
0:30:07 > 0:30:10it's that these people may be victims, but they are not passive.
0:30:10 > 0:30:13They work fantastically hard.
0:30:13 > 0:30:17They are resourceful and full of ingenuity.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21Simply getting together the fuel and the food to keep themselves going,
0:30:21 > 0:30:26keeping the structures upright, looking after the children,
0:30:26 > 0:30:30running little schools, and THEN going to work
0:30:30 > 0:30:33for long and back-breaking days
0:30:33 > 0:30:35is an extraordinary human achievement.
0:30:35 > 0:30:38You are welcome as a guest again.
0:30:38 > 0:30:40I'll be back.
0:30:40 > 0:30:42- Mr Bean.- Mr Bean comes back.
0:30:42 > 0:30:45Mr Bean comes back! All right.
0:30:45 > 0:30:46Thank you very much.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50Bye-bye. Bye-bye.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53- Bye-bye. - We will miss you so much. Thank you.
0:30:53 > 0:30:54Bye-bye.
0:30:56 > 0:30:59CHEERING
0:30:59 > 0:31:01'Good, tough people.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04'But this is still a rotten city.
0:31:04 > 0:31:07'It's a lesson in how not to run our urban futures.'
0:31:07 > 0:31:12The trouble is, when you build a shiny new metropolis,
0:31:12 > 0:31:14knocking down the slums,
0:31:14 > 0:31:19you can end up destroying places where real communities still hang on.
0:31:21 > 0:31:26Back in Shanghai, I carried round a little book to try to learn
0:31:26 > 0:31:29some basic Chinese characters but I soon began to wonder
0:31:29 > 0:31:34if they had words for heritage and conservation.
0:31:34 > 0:31:38So here we are in old Shanghai
0:31:38 > 0:31:44but many of the buildings here have a kind of plague symbol stamped on them.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49This means simply one word -
0:31:49 > 0:31:50demolish.
0:31:53 > 0:31:55Demolish.
0:31:55 > 0:31:57Demolish.
0:32:00 > 0:32:02And so on.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05Don't need a symbol that side any more.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07Demolish.
0:32:13 > 0:32:14Here is
0:32:14 > 0:32:18a rather nice new building, or at least a new building. Newish.
0:32:18 > 0:32:20I think it's a school.
0:32:22 > 0:32:23So that's all right, then.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28Oh, no...
0:32:28 > 0:32:29Demolish.
0:32:32 > 0:32:35The massive rebuilding programme ordered by the Chinese authorities
0:32:35 > 0:32:41requires the residents of Shanghai's old town to be relocated
0:32:41 > 0:32:42by order.
0:32:42 > 0:32:43What's this?
0:32:43 > 0:32:47Can he explain what this is?
0:32:47 > 0:32:50- Government notice. - A government notice? Saying?
0:32:50 > 0:32:56Saying that you should move before a certain date.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00Right, so this is a government notice saying get out before a certain date
0:33:00 > 0:33:03or presumably your house will be knocked down anyway?
0:33:05 > 0:33:08Um, yeah, you should move out.
0:33:08 > 0:33:10And you got that one?
0:33:10 > 0:33:15THEY CONVERSE IN MANDARIN CHINESE
0:33:15 > 0:33:18They are not happy with the policy.
0:33:18 > 0:33:23Like, the house they are supposed to get it's very far away.
0:33:23 > 0:33:28Oh, that's interesting. So they're being moved a long way away and this is their home here?
0:33:28 > 0:33:30Yeah.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36'In theory, such is the fear about speaking out against the government,
0:33:36 > 0:33:40'we were firmly told nobody would say a word with a camera nearby.
0:33:40 > 0:33:42'Well, ha!
0:33:42 > 0:33:45'Cheeringly, plenty of people were eager to talk.
0:33:45 > 0:33:49'They seem a direct and stroppy lot, the Shanghai locals.'
0:33:49 > 0:33:52We talked to a lot of people who suddenly congregated.
0:33:52 > 0:33:56They were very angry and upset that they were being forcibly moved.
0:33:56 > 0:33:59One of them is now leading us to see his house.
0:33:59 > 0:34:05'Just like in Dhaka, these houses might look grim but they are homes.'
0:34:05 > 0:34:08There are six people registered in this address.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11Six people? Goodness.
0:34:11 > 0:34:13Was that him?
0:34:13 > 0:34:15His marriage photograph?
0:34:18 > 0:34:21- 20 years ago. - 20 years ago, yeah, yeah.
0:34:21 > 0:34:23A Shanghai man.
0:34:25 > 0:34:27- They grew up here. - Yeah, I understand.
0:34:29 > 0:34:35For the older residents, this big land grab means being kicked out of your home and your neighbourhood.
0:34:35 > 0:34:40But many people are being provided with new homes and hot running water
0:34:40 > 0:34:42and toilets for the first time in their lives.
0:34:45 > 0:34:51They're being relocated here, on vast, new estates mushrooming on the edge of the city.
0:34:51 > 0:34:57100,000 new homes being built here every month.
0:34:57 > 0:35:02Xiong and his wife, Nee, have just picked up the keys to their new flat.
0:35:04 > 0:35:06Oh, I love the lights, yes.
0:35:08 > 0:35:10- Kitchen.- Kitchen, yes.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13Everything is absolutely new.
0:35:13 > 0:35:17How does this compare with their old house?
0:35:18 > 0:35:20THEY CONVERSE
0:35:24 > 0:35:29They used to live with their son in a 20-square-metre room. Now they have two apartments.
0:35:29 > 0:35:33This apartment belongs to the couple and their son is married
0:35:33 > 0:35:35and his wife is pregnant.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38They are expecting a baby.
0:35:40 > 0:35:44They moved for the construction of a metro line, line 13.
0:35:44 > 0:35:48So they had to move and were given this instead, or they were able to buy this instead?
0:35:52 > 0:35:56There will be 100,000 families moving here.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59100,000 families?!
0:36:20 > 0:36:25It's really nice. It's a bit like a salty, sesame,
0:36:25 > 0:36:27pita bread kind of thing. Nice.
0:36:29 > 0:36:35I've just been walking around and looking at the street food and the stalls and the markets
0:36:35 > 0:36:40and the neighbours chatting and kids running around,
0:36:40 > 0:36:42and I feel that it's very sad.
0:36:42 > 0:36:50Then I ask myself, is this simply kind of soppy sentimental?
0:36:50 > 0:36:55Is it in some way merely, I suppose, decadent, to say,
0:36:55 > 0:37:01"But wasn't it lovely, wasn't it pretty, wasn't it different, wasn't it special?"
0:37:01 > 0:37:05It's really, really hard to make a judgement about this
0:37:05 > 0:37:09because for a lot of people, this is the best thing that has ever happened to them.
0:37:12 > 0:37:17There are lessons to be learned in trying to house the citizens of a metropolis.
0:37:17 > 0:37:21This kind of mass living does bring huge new challenges.
0:37:25 > 0:37:30In Tokyo, which is the most advanced megacity city in world,
0:37:30 > 0:37:36they're struggling with where to put 33 million people and that's transforming how they live.
0:37:40 > 0:37:42If we're looking for answers,
0:37:42 > 0:37:48one place we might try is the great granddaddy of megacities.
0:37:48 > 0:37:50Tokyo is so big,
0:37:50 > 0:37:56it makes the world's other megacities look almost modest,
0:37:56 > 0:38:04but this gargantuan structure is built up of very small cells.
0:38:09 > 0:38:14Take a bird's-eye view and down below you'll see football pitches,
0:38:14 > 0:38:20playgrounds, even driving schools constructed on top of buildings.
0:38:20 > 0:38:22Living here comes at a cost.
0:38:22 > 0:38:28Property prices are so exorbitant and space is so short
0:38:28 > 0:38:32that it's changing what people expect a home to be.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36These flats are built on the same area it would take
0:38:36 > 0:38:38to park just two cars,
0:38:38 > 0:38:40but they provide homes for six people
0:38:40 > 0:38:43each living in 25-square-metre boxes.
0:38:46 > 0:38:48My goodness me.
0:38:48 > 0:38:52It's not very big.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56A bed
0:38:56 > 0:38:58and not much... Oh, a washing machine.
0:39:01 > 0:39:04I have a horrible feeling this is the kitchen.
0:39:04 > 0:39:08It's more like a little cupboard. And look at this.
0:39:08 > 0:39:11This is good.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14About as small a basin as you can imagine.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18And a small, and it has to be said, very public bath.
0:39:18 > 0:39:20I would feel like
0:39:20 > 0:39:25a kind of nude frog in a box.
0:39:25 > 0:39:27Nasty thought.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30I suppose there are blinds of some kind.
0:39:32 > 0:39:34Yeah, blinds of some kind, but still.
0:39:36 > 0:39:42It's basically a small walkway with glass all around it
0:39:42 > 0:39:44and not much else.
0:39:44 > 0:39:47I mean, how you're supposed...
0:39:47 > 0:39:51You can boil a kettle here but not much else, I'd have thought.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54There's one thing that's strangely missing.
0:39:54 > 0:39:57I don't want to be too personal about this but there isn't,
0:39:57 > 0:40:02for instance, I can tell, a toilet at all. Unless it's hidden.
0:40:02 > 0:40:06Oh, yes, there is. And here it is.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10This is really deeply weird.
0:40:10 > 0:40:15I've been in some small places in my time, I've seen a few small flats, but this is
0:40:15 > 0:40:19like the shaving or corner of a flat.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22I suppose I could live here.
0:40:22 > 0:40:26Anyone could live here. It would be very depressing, I think.
0:40:26 > 0:40:31I would go bonkers very quickly.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34I think, actually,
0:40:34 > 0:40:40I would prefer to be in that shack in the slum in Dhaka in Bangladesh,
0:40:40 > 0:40:43because your feet are at least on the ground.
0:40:43 > 0:40:49There's bits of green and there's people and noise
0:40:49 > 0:40:51and a bit of human merriment about.
0:40:53 > 0:40:55This is just bleak, isn't it, really?
0:40:57 > 0:41:02Tokyo is the embodiment of the highly-efficient, slick, uber-modern city.
0:41:02 > 0:41:07For some people it's the incarnation of the metropolis of the coming century.
0:41:07 > 0:41:13The megacity that runs like digital clockwork.
0:41:13 > 0:41:18Take the super-efficient automated subway that's able to shift
0:41:18 > 0:41:20nearly eight million people every day.
0:41:20 > 0:41:27This is a system so well-organised that on rare occasions when it does mess up, nobody believes you.
0:41:30 > 0:41:34Do you want to know how good the Tokyo train system is?
0:41:34 > 0:41:40If you fail to turn up for work on time, you say, "Really sorry. The train was late."
0:41:40 > 0:41:45You have to provide special written proof from the train company
0:41:45 > 0:41:49because it is, frankly, so unthinkable.
0:41:54 > 0:42:01Unlike communist Shanghai, capitalist Tokyo is one of the most equal cities in the world.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04It's got very little poverty or homelessness.
0:42:04 > 0:42:06Crime levels are very low.
0:42:06 > 0:42:08There's almost no gun crime at all.
0:42:08 > 0:42:12It can be a mesmerising and enthralling city,
0:42:12 > 0:42:15a bit like an old sci-fi comic come to life.
0:42:19 > 0:42:24But there's a price to pay. So much of it looks exactly the same.
0:42:24 > 0:42:29There's a mechanical coldness and an unsettling, robotic uniformity.
0:42:29 > 0:42:33Maybe I was just a bad mood, but I find myself searching for
0:42:33 > 0:42:36corners of friendliness and normality.
0:42:44 > 0:42:46Some Tokyo dwellers feel just the same,
0:42:46 > 0:42:51falling between the cracks of this highly rigid, pressurised society
0:42:51 > 0:42:54is a weird and growing phenomenon.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57Hikikomori, reclusive individuals
0:42:57 > 0:43:00who have totally withdrawn from social life
0:43:00 > 0:43:03and turned their backs on Tokyo.
0:43:03 > 0:43:07Rarely, sometimes never venturing outside the confines of their homes,
0:43:07 > 0:43:12they are unable to face up to life in this city.
0:43:17 > 0:43:21HE SPEAKS JAPANESE
0:43:21 > 0:43:25TRANSLATION: I started to become reclusive in the fourth year of primary school.
0:43:25 > 0:43:27I was the kind of kid who got teased.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34At home I'd mostly watch TV or just mope around.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39My links with the outside world were completely cut off
0:43:39 > 0:43:43and with the loss of those links, I became reclusive.
0:43:47 > 0:43:5228-year-old Yugo barely left his bedroom for 13 years.
0:43:55 > 0:43:58Since I couldn't go out of the house myself any more,
0:43:58 > 0:44:03I just kept ordering things through my parents, things I wanted to eat, get, watch.
0:44:03 > 0:44:06My parents would fetch them all for me.
0:44:08 > 0:44:16The alienating megacity that forces people like Yugo into his bedroom is spawning a strange new business.
0:44:16 > 0:44:17You can now rent people.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22Not for sex, simply for friendship.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26Today, I'm meeting Uhay.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30Aha, my friend.
0:44:30 > 0:44:32- Uhay! - It's a great pleasure to see you.
0:44:32 > 0:44:33Nice to see you as well!
0:44:33 > 0:44:37'He rents himself out to the lonely.
0:44:37 > 0:44:43'Uhay's promised me a surprise, something to remind me of Scotland, but also something very Tokyo.'
0:44:43 > 0:44:46ANDREW LAUGHS
0:44:46 > 0:44:48'Golf in the sky.'
0:44:48 > 0:44:51Japanese, eh! They'll play golf anywhere.
0:44:52 > 0:44:54- Oh!- Oh!
0:44:54 > 0:44:55THEY LAUGH
0:45:01 > 0:45:02ANDREW LAUGHS
0:45:06 > 0:45:08What sort of people hire you?
0:45:08 > 0:45:12Usually, I go to the wedding as a wedding guest.
0:45:12 > 0:45:17- And that's somebody who doesn't have enough friends of their own, maybe? - Maybe, yes.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22It's not just weddings they get hired for.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25One of the popular jobs for these rent-a-friends
0:45:25 > 0:45:31is to accompany people to bars after work to show colleagues that they're popular and interesting.
0:45:31 > 0:45:34It's a very funny business, isn't it?
0:45:34 > 0:45:36Yes, because...
0:45:36 > 0:45:42not many Japanese people want to tell true things to others.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45- They're quite private? - They're quite private, yeah.
0:45:47 > 0:45:49Oh, that's good!
0:45:49 > 0:45:52Excellent!
0:45:54 > 0:45:56Renting a friend
0:45:56 > 0:46:02because you haven't got a friend is a really bizarre, unsettling idea,
0:46:02 > 0:46:08weird beyond belief, and it does say something about a city like this,
0:46:08 > 0:46:10where people can be so lonely
0:46:10 > 0:46:14that purely to get some human companionship,
0:46:14 > 0:46:21to have someone alongside them, not to lose face, they have to pay.
0:46:21 > 0:46:22I mean,
0:46:22 > 0:46:25it's just very sad, actually.
0:46:27 > 0:46:32All round the world, different megacities struggle to get this tricky balance right,
0:46:32 > 0:46:37between community and warmth on the one hand and efficiency on the other.
0:46:37 > 0:46:42If you want a contrast with Tokyo, welcome to Mexico City.
0:46:45 > 0:46:51A colourful and dangerous sprawl of around 20 million people,
0:46:51 > 0:46:54where life on almost every level is lived on the street.
0:46:54 > 0:46:59The thing about seeing Mexico City like this,
0:46:59 > 0:47:05floating just a few hundred yards, or 20 or 30 yards, above it,
0:47:05 > 0:47:11is that it just goes on forever without form or shape.
0:47:11 > 0:47:16It's like an incrustation or an invasion
0:47:16 > 0:47:19on the land below.
0:47:19 > 0:47:25The only places that are untouched are where the slopes are so steep
0:47:25 > 0:47:28that the builders simply can't get there.
0:47:31 > 0:47:35If Mexico City's two-and-a-half-hour commute in choking car fumes
0:47:35 > 0:47:39doesn't kill you, then the spiralling crime rate might.
0:47:39 > 0:47:42Let's make no bones about this, this is a dangerous place.
0:47:42 > 0:47:50There are three murders in the city every week and an estimated 500 kidnaps a month in the country.
0:47:50 > 0:47:55When you take to the air, you can see a yawning social divide.
0:47:55 > 0:47:59It's much more unequal than Tokyo.
0:47:59 > 0:48:05Here are penthouse suites closed off behind razor wire on one hillside
0:48:05 > 0:48:09and vast barrios of slum housing clinging to another.
0:48:14 > 0:48:19At night, there's an edgy feel to the streets. You're never quite sure what's going to happen.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22A lot of the city is controlled by gangs,
0:48:22 > 0:48:26but this is also an exuberant place.
0:48:26 > 0:48:31A city that's not being told what to do and whose citizens
0:48:31 > 0:48:34live life to the full on the streets amongst one another.
0:48:39 > 0:48:44Countless mariachi bands stroll the boulevards and squares playing for money.
0:48:44 > 0:48:48They're not here for the tourists. They're proud of their music,
0:48:48 > 0:48:51for reasons which seem, to my ears, a little bit obscure.
0:48:57 > 0:49:00So many to choose from, so many different bands.
0:49:00 > 0:49:02An impossible choice.
0:49:10 > 0:49:14We certainly didn't find this kind of mood on the streets of Tokyo
0:49:14 > 0:49:15or Shanghai.
0:49:15 > 0:49:17HE SINGS IN SPANISH
0:49:19 > 0:49:22In Mexico City's communal street culture,
0:49:22 > 0:49:30food and friendship go hand-in-hand. There's around 25,000 taco stands
0:49:30 > 0:49:34and cafes, where people meet and socialise over breakfast tacos,
0:49:34 > 0:49:37lunch tacos and supper tacos.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40- Have you ever eaten grasshoppers? - Grasshoppers?
0:49:40 > 0:49:43No, I've not eaten grasshoppers. Are you going to offer me a grasshopper?
0:49:43 > 0:49:47- How would you like me to cook some grasshoppers for you?- All right.
0:49:47 > 0:49:51Here we go. Is this them? That's not them. Oh, they're tiny!
0:49:51 > 0:49:54Do you get the same people every day, coming in?
0:49:54 > 0:50:00There are lots of regular customers. But there are always new faces.
0:50:00 > 0:50:05They come to tacos to eat, but you can make also friends.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09- Like we do now.- Do people talk politics or do they talk religion?
0:50:09 > 0:50:13They talk about politics and how they are angry with the government.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16- You're angry with the government? - Yeah. Normally.
0:50:16 > 0:50:18It's the same the world over!
0:50:18 > 0:50:21We read all this stuff about how Mexico is really violent
0:50:21 > 0:50:25and they're all these problems and so on, is that not really true?
0:50:25 > 0:50:31Unfortunately, we only get to see a part of the whole thing, you know.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34We have to defend Mexicans. We're all friendly, and we are all nice people.
0:50:34 > 0:50:40- Grasshopper tortilla, coming up! - There you go.- Gracias.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45All right, here we go.
0:50:51 > 0:50:55- It's all right. Very nice, actually. - Is it hot?- Hmm?- Is it hot?
0:50:55 > 0:51:00Mmm. It's hot, it's garlicky, a bit crunchy.
0:51:00 > 0:51:03And it doesn't taste like anything else, does it?
0:51:07 > 0:51:12- BAND PLAYS - But one of the strangest things about Mexico City's
0:51:12 > 0:51:15street culture happens on a Sunday, which is dancing day,
0:51:15 > 0:51:21Danzon, and in the squares, the killer grannies are on the prowl.
0:51:21 > 0:51:25It's fantastically sociable, in a rather unselfconscious way.
0:51:26 > 0:51:29- Do you know, Mexico City... - Usted puede bailar conmigo?
0:51:29 > 0:51:32Excuse me, I'm talking to the camera. Si. Camera.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35I was talking to camera. Escusi! Una momente, OK?
0:51:38 > 0:51:41- Erm... Erm... - LADIES TALK OVER EACH OTHER
0:51:42 > 0:51:44HE LAUGHS
0:51:44 > 0:51:46I've got too many friends!
0:51:48 > 0:51:51OK. And then you. Escusi!
0:52:01 > 0:52:02MUSIC STOPS
0:52:02 > 0:52:04APPLAUSE
0:52:04 > 0:52:07BAND BEGINS TO PLAY
0:52:11 > 0:52:13This is SUCH a friendly city.
0:52:13 > 0:52:18Every time I try to say something, I get pounced on.
0:52:18 > 0:52:22This is the kind of rich, street culture
0:52:22 > 0:52:27that no commissar, no planner, no town hall could give you.
0:52:27 > 0:52:31It comes from the streets up.
0:52:31 > 0:52:33And as a result, despite the crime,
0:52:33 > 0:52:36despite the mesmerisingly bad traffic,
0:52:36 > 0:52:42despite the pollution, Mexico City is a friendly, liveable place.
0:52:56 > 0:53:00And now, even old London is getting a twist of this sociability.
0:53:00 > 0:53:01It's a small trend, really,
0:53:01 > 0:53:04but it's a very interesting one, which shows how technology
0:53:04 > 0:53:08can bring some warmth and zip, because the streets here are lighting up
0:53:08 > 0:53:11with spontaneous outbursts -
0:53:11 > 0:53:15viral events called flash mobs, there are raves in railway stations,
0:53:15 > 0:53:20there are instant protests.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22This lot call themselves "free runners".
0:53:27 > 0:53:30And every weekend, in the heart of London,
0:53:30 > 0:53:33the traffic starts to come to a standstill as the tourists
0:53:33 > 0:53:38- and shoppers have to look where they're going for once, because... - OK! Changing!
0:53:38 > 0:53:42The streets are transformed into a mega skate park.
0:53:56 > 0:54:00This mass gathering of hundreds of skaters is as much about freedom
0:54:00 > 0:54:04and thrills as it is about community or empowerment.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10One of the best bits, in a way, is that for one day,
0:54:10 > 0:54:12for a couple of hours, the road's ours.
0:54:12 > 0:54:18- We don't stop for no-one. - We ARE the traffic.- Yes.
0:54:23 > 0:54:26The excitement, the friendship, the fun.
0:54:29 > 0:54:34OK, first of all, I'm Australian, I'm in London, I'm skating with double-decker buses and taxis! Yeah!
0:54:34 > 0:54:36CHEERING
0:54:38 > 0:54:42We get to go outside and play on our skates,
0:54:42 > 0:54:47and that, in itself, is exhilarating, being able to do that. I think we're very lucky.
0:54:47 > 0:54:51- And lucky that we have a city that lets us do it. - CHEERING
0:55:02 > 0:55:07Megacities are places that could threaten
0:55:07 > 0:55:08a decent way of human living.
0:55:08 > 0:55:11Cold and grim and spiritless.
0:55:11 > 0:55:14Or, if they have enough social mobility
0:55:14 > 0:55:17and enough warmth and not too much order
0:55:17 > 0:55:20and grow more like coral reefs composed of little villages,
0:55:20 > 0:55:23they'll be fine.
0:55:23 > 0:55:28The world's great cities are where the world's human future will be decided.
0:55:28 > 0:55:31The choices that are made in these places
0:55:31 > 0:55:36will dictate whether the future is vile or enjoyable,
0:55:36 > 0:55:41short or sustainable, free or frightened.
0:55:41 > 0:55:46The planet has become a series of urban experiments.
0:55:47 > 0:55:52Tokyo, with its Japanese conformity.
0:55:52 > 0:55:56Shanghai, still under the thumb of Communist bosses.
0:55:56 > 0:56:01Dakar, mired in corruption, for all of its exuberance.
0:56:01 > 0:56:07Mexico City, with its extraordinary extremes of colour and violence.
0:56:07 > 0:56:10So, here's the good news.
0:56:10 > 0:56:15London, the nearest we have to a megacity, has, Lord knows,
0:56:15 > 0:56:20plenty of problems. It has some terrible housing, huge inequalities,
0:56:20 > 0:56:25transport nightmares, but compared to many of its rivals,
0:56:25 > 0:56:30it does feel more open, more mixed,
0:56:30 > 0:56:34more of a genuinely "world" city.
0:56:34 > 0:56:38Sometimes, you have to go pretty far away to realise
0:56:38 > 0:56:40how lucky you are back home.
0:56:41 > 0:56:45Next time, protecting and controlling the megacity.
0:56:45 > 0:56:47Uno! GUNSHOT
0:56:47 > 0:56:51How do you avoid disappearing in Mexico City,
0:56:51 > 0:56:53the kidnap capital of the world.
0:56:53 > 0:56:56TYRES SCREECH
0:56:56 > 0:57:00I'll be signing up as a new recruit in London's riot academy.
0:57:00 > 0:57:04There's nothing quite like being hailed with bricks and petrol bombs
0:57:04 > 0:57:07to make you see things differently.
0:57:07 > 0:57:12And discover how Tokyo defends itself against disaster.
0:57:12 > 0:57:14This is now not funny!
0:57:24 > 0:57:28Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:57:28 > 0:57:31Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk