Even in ancient times, city dwellers needed a scenic break from the urban landscape. But parks play a more important role than mere relief from tension--they also keep temperatures down and supply much-needed oxygen in congested cities. Come along for a stroll through New York City's Central Park and L.A.'s Griffith Park.

Backbones of worldwide economics, for centuries banks enabled the creation of wealth, and industry leaders became icons. But modern technology revolutionized the way banks do business, and the Internet insures they must adapt or disappear. From banking's early European origins to "e-banking", this is an hour you can't afford to miss!

Viewer discretion is advised for those with vertigo! Featuring rare construction footage and interviews with architects, the program climbs to the top of the world's largest towers including Seattle's Space Needle, Canada's CN Tower, and Las Vegas's Stratosphere.

A look up at the symbol of the American Century--the skyscraper, the construction of which is a triumph of engineering and capitalism. Climb to the top of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Sears Tower, and World Trade Center to see how ego, money, and technology joined to build the tallest of man-made structures.

Mankind controls the environment in a variety of ways, whether by capturing the force of a river, harnessing the power in coal or oil, controlling a nuclear reaction, or transforming the light of the sun into electricity. From Thomas Edison and Nikola Fermi and Albert Einstein, the world's greatest minds have enabled us to acquire light, heat and power with a simple flip of the switch. Join us for an electrifying hour as we review the foundation for all of this - power plants.

Dynamite explodes hills to bits, drills divide sheer stone walls, 400,000-pound blocks are pulled from pits by giant cranes, and men work around the clock to wrest rock out of the earth. Not diamonds or gold...rock, the raw material of civilization! Without rock, modern society wouldn't exist. Roads, sewers, dams, bridges, buildings, paint, glue, make-up, antacids, and even chewing gum need crushed stone. From ancient days to the present, we explore the evolution of quarrying techniques.

Shipyards are waterside construction sites where the extraordinary takes shape and where some of the largest tools built by humans help create the biggest machines on earth. But shipyards and ships of today bear little resemblance to those of antiquity. From ancient days to the 18th-century Industrial Revolution to the epic effort performed at Pearl Harbor, we examine the shipyard, and look to its future. Will the craftsmanship and practical knowledge of how to build ships disappear in the 21st century?

Everyday 3-million passengers board the 10,000 aircraft flying at any given moment. Go behind the scenes at international airports to see the inner workings that make commercial air travel possible--from ground control in air traffic towers, the plane's cargo holds and high-tech security, and back to earth at customs.