Extreme Cities

Discover how these cities struggle against the toughest environmental conditions on our planet to provide their populations with an acceptable level of existence.

Part 1: Yakutsk
The coldest city on the planet. In this place known as “the cold pole”, the biggest challenge relates to the nature of the soil: the “permafrost”. With the warming of the climate, this frozen soil is melting and the buildings are threatened with collapse. [Video Link]


Part 2: La Paz
The highest capital in the world. Surrounded by 5000 meter peaks, the city has always fought against nature to develop. Living at such an altitude is a permanent challenge to the human body. [Video Link]


Part 3: Hammerfest
A city in the dark. In the northernmost city in the world, the sun disappears for 2 months every winter. This perpetual night causes extreme effects on people, known as “polar stress syndrome”. [Video Link]


Part 4: Bangkok
The drowning city. With deadly typhoons, increasing rainfall, the rising of the sea level and a land subsiding at 4 cm per year, water has become the biggest threat to the city's survival. [Video Link]

1. WATER IS LIFE

Life in deserts and life without surface water, extreme heat.

2. TAMING THE NATURE

Living under the threat of earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tsunamis ...

3. ABOVE THE CLOUDS

Living in extreme heights above sea level

4. MINUS ZERO

Living under extreme cold

5. LIFE IN A DROP

Living under extreme rainfall

6. INTO THE POLES

Living without light or without night

7. RADIOACTIVITY

Living under the influence of extreme radioactivity

8. NO LAND AHEAD

Living on stilts over the water or without solid ground

9. TOXIC LIFE

Living under the effects of extreme pollution

[Source]