About this season
Glittering facades, vibrant life, and people facing the daily struggle for survival. ZDF correspondents each profile a megacity within their reporting area. How do people celebrate, laugh, and love in such a city? How are problems like housing shortages, food supply, transportation, and climate change solved – in metropolises with over ten million inhabitants?
Episodes (11)
1. Chongqing - the largest city in the world
Aired 2 January 2024 • 44 min
This megacity is growing relentlessly and is not for the faint of heart. Anyone wanting to experience China simply cannot miss Chongqing – the largest city in the world.
2. Mexico City - creative and combative
Aired 3 January 2024 • 43 min
Mexico City was once feared; today, the megacity is a tourist hotspot. The city has retained its fighting spirit – in some places for the sake of spectacle, in others for survival.
3. Lagos - Metropolis of Extremes
Aired 4 January 2024 • 44 min
Lagos is growing faster than any other city in the world. A megacity of extremes: while many of its 25 million inhabitants live in poverty, money is no object in its clubs.
4. Rome - Journey to the heart of the city
Aired 31 March 2024 • 45 min
Extraordinary people, touching stories and mysterious places.
5. London
Aired 30 December 2024 • 45 min
As night falls over the Thames, those sharp contrasts emerge that make London arguably the most interesting and international metropolis in Europe.
6. Rio de Janeiro
Aired 2 January 2025 • 45 min
Rio de Janeiro is Sugarloaf Mountain, the Christ the Redeemer statue, and Copacabana. When night falls, culture and music pulsate – but it's also hard work in the "engine room" of the metropolis.
7. Istanbul
Aired 1 May 2025 • 45 min
Between tradition, chaos, and constant upheaval: How does beleaguered Istanbul, with its 16 million inhabitants, manage to survive as a modern global city despite all the tensions?
8. Mumbai
Aired 31 July 2025 • 45 min
9. Vienna
Aired 7 August 2025 • 45 min
Vienna is beautiful. Framed by the facades of the Austro-Hungarian era, people enjoy culture and coffee, clattering past St. Stephen's Cathedral and the Sisi Museum in horse-drawn carriages. Until night falls.
10. Toronto
Aired 29 December 2025 • 44 min
When pilot Ky sees the Toronto skyline during her evening approach, it's the happiest moment of her day. The financial metropolis transforms into a vibrant, dazzling melting pot.
11. Paris
Aired 25 May 2026 • 54 min
City of love, fashion metropolis, place of longing for millions of people – that is Paris, often described as the most beautiful city in the world.