Over a billion people around the world now live in high-rise towers, many of which are falling into disrepair. This trailer for a unique documentary video by the National Film Board of Canada looks at how the power of imagination (and technology) can transform a dilapidated high-rise neighbourhood.

As a Canadian and a community advocate, I found this video especially cool, because it showcases a Canadian community — a highrise on Kipling Avenue in suburban Toronto, Canada. The project is a concrete result of a community collaboration between residents, architects, documentarians and animators to re-imagine the particular spaces around these particular highrises.

This is a timely video for all cities, particularly Vancouver.  There has been a noticeable push back in recent years against new condo developments in the city.  One of reasons given for the opposition to more high-rise towers is that they lack community and lead to neighborhood decay.

For Vancouver tocontinue to be livable (and hopefully become more lovable), we need to find ways to accommodate more people while enhancing our local community ties. Hopefully this project will given tower advocates and opponents alike some ideas to begin a dialogue.  I know it gave me some food for thought!

Long time readers of this site may recall a post on Arcade Fire’s Wilderness Downtown, another immersive video experience.   Videos like these are revolutionizing film as we know it by making the viewer a participant in the action. For their cutting edge efforts, both videos were selected by Google as Chrome Experiments.

For more information or to interact with the full experience, including viewing the full 6 minute documentary, visit the One Millionth Tower site.

[HT to Urban Times for the find]