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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Weekly discussion programme, setting the cultural agenda every Monday

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Amol Rajan

Richard Sennett

David Farr

Roma Agrawal

Edward Burman

Hannah Sander

Start the Week: Rise and Fall of the City

Rise and Fall of the City

12/02/2018

BBC Radio 4 - Start the Week, Rise and Fall of the City

Amol Rajan with Richard Sennett, David Farr, Roma Agrawal and Edward Burman.

Amol Rajan plans the ideal city with sociologist Richard Sennett, screenwriter David Farr, historian Edward Burman and structural engineer Roma Agrawal.

What would the perfect city look like? 

Today more people live in cities than ever before and that shapes the way we think, says sociologist Richard Sennett. He lays out a vision for a city of the future based not on ancient Greece but on new 'open' streets.

Structural engineer Roma Agrawal charts the growth of cities from simple mud huts to the modern metropolis. She tells Amol Rajan about the engineering magic that holds towering city skylines in place, and recalls the eccentric engineers whose visions called our cities into being. 

The Chinese built a city for the dead more than two thousand years ago and now its relics are on display again. Historian Edward Burman describes how the Terracotta Army found in a necropolis shows a ruler planning for life after death. 

David Farr depicts the siege and destruction of Troy, the great city of the ancient world, in his vast new BBC One drama. He explains how the Trojans coped under ten long years of siege. 

Producer: Hannah Sander.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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