Et Cetera

Now Streaming: Keeping It Short and Sweet

Created by four student animators from France, Home Sweet Home follows sentient houses as they search for a new home. Photo courtesy Supinfocom.

By Ezra Haber Glenn, AICP

Given that February is the shortest month, we're featuring some short films — one sweet, one soulful, and one silly and scatological.

Home Sweet Home

Two whimsical old wooden houses embark on a magical adventure across various natural and urban landscapes, overcoming setbacks and finding friendship as they seek a new spot to sink their foundations. With a 10-minute running time, this film is beautifully animated with the loving architectural details of a historic preservationist. Watch.

Into My Life

Part memoir, part archival record, part labor-of-filial-love, codirector Cassandra Bromfield explores imagery from her own richly documented childhood through the perceptive lens of her mother's photography and Super 8 footage. These scenes of everyday life in Brooklyn's largest affordable housing cooperative in the 1960s and '70s showcase a deep wealth of community, memorialized as a silent testimony to the fact that, in Cassandra's own words, "these are people who matter." Watch.

Meet Mr. Toilet

In a world where 40 percent of the population does not have access to toilets, Jack Sim is a hero. His superpower? A willingness to speak frankly about bathrooms, potty language and all. Using humor to great effect, this disarmingly irreverent, three-minute short raises awareness and motivates action on a very serious topic. Watch.

Ezra Haber Glenn, AICP, is Planning's regular film reviewer. He teaches at MIT's Department of Urban Studies & Planning and writes on cities and film at urbanfilm.org.

Ranked: The World's Most Inclusive Economies

Zurich by Alexsander Georgiev, iStock/Getty Images.

The Prosperity & Inclusion City Seal and Awards Index has released its very first annual report, an analysis of 113 global cities. Billed as the first effort to rank economies by their inclusivity, the index takes into account income per capita, quality of life, safety, internet access, affordability, environmental quality, and access to health care.

The results offer some valuable insights. Europe dominates the list overall, the U.S. only managed to crack the top 20 (with Washington, D.C., Seattle, and Boston), and some of the wealthiest cities in the world had the poorest showings. Find the top five below, then get the full list and a takeaways report.

1. Zurich (above)

2. Vienna

3. Copenhagen

4. Luxembourg City

5. Helsinki

Planners Playlist: Minnesota on the Street

In 2012, the nonprofit Streets.MN decided that coverage of Minnesota's transportation and land-use news needed an overhaul. In the years since, they've delivered thought-provoking, forward-reaching reporting on the most pressing planning issues facing the state. The podcast closed out 2019 with a look at climate action, parking, and economic sustainability. Go to streets.mn for the entire catalog of episodes.