Movie Review: Reneissance

I caught Reneissance on the dish the other night, its a neat little movie. Its animated but in pure black and white - not even greys. The movie itself is just 'okay', but its got an interesting look. Not very memorable, but one thing did stick with me; the setting is a futuristic (~50 years) Paris, and sections of the city have had "glass" pedestrian promenades built above the streets. I think this is a very interesting and doable idea for city core areas that have become over congested. Thinking of areas in Toronto like Yonge and Queen, picture a glasstic (my word for something transparent with the flex and strength properties of plastic) platform built at about the 3rd floor level that goes between the buildings and completely covers the streets. There is room at street level for the cars, trucks, and streetcars, but the majority of the pedestrian traffic would be above this. The glasstic still allows daylight to reach the underlying street, but there is now room for free human movement outdoors including outdoor cafes and miniparks with seating areas and gardens in the middle of what would be the intersections below. The underlying structure would need to be strong enough to support the weight of many people (thinking sporting event or political rally or protest) and the winter snow, but minimal snow removal costs would be incurred in this area, just enough on the pedestrian level to allow movement between buildings - but even that is optional since the pedestrians could use the street level in winter to avoid the snow. Anyway, this was a minor background concept in the movie, but it got me thinking about the practical applications.