It's generally agreed that New York City is the most dynamic and important metropolis in the world. A global center of economics, entertainment, media and sports, as well as being the home of the United Nations, the Big Apple is peerless as a center of attention.
But how did it get that way? This week, NHK's documentary series, "Dramatic Earth" (NHK-E, Wednesday, 7 p.m.), offers a history of New York City, which only 400 years ago was nothing but forests and wild animals.
In fact, the main urban feature of Manhattan that made it what it is -- its meticulous grid-like street plan -- was not laid out until the early 1800s. New York's success, in other words, is based mainly on its tradition of careful city planning, which extended to every aspect of infrastructure and development.