Great shows about city planning: The Wire

“It’s a strange world isn’t?” - never would I have imagined how that Jeffrey Beaumont quote from Blue Velvet would resonate with me in real life. We are talking virus-lockdown mode. It is all very surreal. The empty streets and not least; the isolation and the sudden surplus of time on hand. Sure there are plenty of lists out there about shows to watch during the quarantine, but what about those of us who want to learn something and be entertained?

Text by: Tina Lam.

First show out in this series is David Simon’s masterpiece from 2002. It has been described as a visual novel because of how it is structured and the lack of cinematic features such as flashbacks or voiceovers. However, don’t get discouraged (remember you got the time now) because the quotes alone are worth watching all five seasons. This is a social realism piece about the people in Baltimore. It follows drug dealers, the police force, politicians and other B-more residents in their lives in a modern urban America. It differs from other shows in that it never moralizes, which in my opinion makes it so refreshing to watch. The characters are portrayed with real life nuances; you could be a cop trying to catch a drug king pin, but you are also a drunken womanizer or a drug dealer with a good conscience. This dynamic and the well-scripted dialogues, makes The Wire a show you constantly would go back to. Very much like a good book.

I would argue that The Wire is as much about city planning as it is about modern day America. Even though it is over fifteen years old, it is still very relevant, thus making it a mandatory piece of work. Each season focus on one topic and with that different aspects of city planning. Here are some city planning highlights from the show:

In season one we are first introduced with the Barksdale drug crew and the Baltimore police department. Most of the interactions occur outside in an urban landscape. Urban decay is depicted through scenes from troubled living areas such as the lowrises and streets where drugs are being solicited in the open. Broken windows, vacated buildings, overgrown green spaces and litter paints a situation of systemic neglect and hopelessness. It is an urban landscape that testifies to decades of failed housing policies and a socio-economic system that is inherently unfair.

Season two focuses on a group of blue-collar dock workers. Frank Sobotka, the boss of the docks and the union leader is trying to lobby local politicians to support a project for improving the infrastructure at the docks. This effort however is just the backdrop; the real story is about the urban poor. Deindustrialization and job insecurity leads to shortsighted solutions and desperation.

Season three revisits the drug scene. We see more of the forgotten neighborhoods such as boarded up the rowhouses that essentially invites to crime. Pressed with red numbers one senior police office decides to legalize drug dealing in a social-anarchic experiment; welcome to Hamsterdam. Meanwhile the Barksdale crew’s Stringer Bell is trying to become legit by getting into the real-estate business, flipping properties for profit with the drug money.

Season four is perhaps the most gut-wrenching season because it focuses on kids. It is a tragic depiction of a system that does not care for its children. There is something heartbreaking about seeing a kid realizing that he has no other options than the street-life. The kids here roam the streets (with the dealers and addicts) in the lack of a safer option - looking for something to do or just a place to be. Parallel to this storyline is the mayoral race in which one of the candidates, Carcetti a white man in a black city as he himself points out, runs on the platform of crime.

I strongly recommend every student and practitioner of the field to watch The Wire at least once. Not just because it is by far the best television that was ever made, but because it depicts a complex field in ways that makes us reflect over our own profession. Not just in terms of what not to do, but also what are needed to create a humane city.