A landslide in Baltimore takes out part of a residential street, the Leaning Tower of Pisa is almost toppled by an engineering solution, a New York City tower is in danger of collapse and a pedestrian bridge in London sways alarmingly.
A new San Francisco luxury tower that is sinking at an alarming rate and also tilting, the iconic city of Venice is threatened by rising sea levels and tidal surges, an ambitious glass floored pedestrian bridge design in Spain is not surprisingly slippery when wet and a German town is threatened by a sinkhole.
In Pennsylvania what was once tallest railroad bridge in world collapses, in France an 800 year old cathedral has challenges generations of builders and engineers, a canal near Chicago threatens the Great Lakes with an invasive species that could cause an ecological disaster, a German town experiences an earthquake in slow motion - due to a green energy initiative.
A number of downtown Chicago buildings are suddenly flooded due to the replacement of piles and old tunnels. In England extreme coastal erosion threatens a number of wooden houses without foundations build on the coastal cliffs. A Pennsylvania mining town has to be completely evacuated because the coal seam that was previously ignited by irresponsible practices has reached the town.
Reflections off a Dallas residential high-rise cause damaging glare for some of its neighbours and a sculpture garden, houses suddenly begin to sink in a area of Amsterdam, the marble cladding on a relatively new Paris landmark is alarmingly deteriorating and a row of houses that have stood for over a century in the UK Cathedral City of Ripon are threatened by a sinkhole.
The spillway of a major dam in California rapidly deteriorates threatening 180,000 residents, a plan to relocate the Stuttgart Railway Station underground goes off the rails due to local geology, a Scottish suspension bridge overcomes a problem with its cables but it cannot cope with the ever increasing traffic, and a fire in a multi-story car park in Liverpool is quickly out of control.
Baltimore has a major issue with aging infrastructure and a poor original design resulting in raw sewage in its waterways, a commuter train narrowly escapes tragedy on a rail bridge near Dublin, an eccentric Count in post-war Italy buys up land to build a hillside resort for the rich and famous that quickly encounters problems and eventually abandonment due to his reckless approach for the development, and an Irish housing estate is abandoned when the roads and services continue to sink though the houses themselves which were built on piles that remain stable.
A London tower known as the Cheese Grater is dropping bolts from its external frame that are the size of a human arm, in Germany parts of a relatively new stretch of autobahn are collapsing due to the soil and a new experimental building technique, the wet climate of Portland Oregon plays havoc with its streets and the maintenance process can't keep up, a Greek village is abandoned due to a landslide, local geology and the suspension of a water diversion program.
Skylab Space Station is falling back to Earth earlier than anticipated, a historic Italian town is abandoned due to geology and a infrastructure project, and a London skyscraper nicknamed the Walkie-talkie is creating havoc for pedestrians
A sturdy post-war Liverpool apartment block stubbornly resists multiple demolition attempts, a former Oklahoma mining town is both contaminated with multiple dangerous toxins and also highly unstable due to its history, wind turbines may be a source of green energy but engineers need to refine their designs, materials and maintenance protocols to extract the maximum energy possible, and Bristol's guided bus lanes require some adjustments due to installation errors.
A skyscraper in downtown Chicago uses the wrong stone for cladding. A demolition in Denmark does not go according to plan. A bridge in Vancouver has a catastrophic flaw in its construction leading to tragedy. In California a dangerous stretch of railroad and an unbalanced load has devastating effect on the local environment.
A precariously balanced construction crane in the Netherlands avoids tragedy but creates major problems for a town. A error in design threatens a massive San Francisco bridge under construction. A massive whirlpool caused by drilling drains a Louisiana lake. Fatal flaws in the design and construction of a Florida beach side condo leads to tragedy.
In Miami an innovative pedestrian bridge collapses during construction with tragic consequences. A striking skyscraper has some major issues - partially caused by its limited footprint in historic Boston. An Alabama railroad bridge has a deadly design flaw and some missing safety features. A Spanish energy project has an innovative but also very risky concept.
A Florida bridge is destroyed with considerable loss of life, which could have avoided or mitigated at least. A German cold war building with an iconic roof partially collapses. A bicycle bridge in downtown Copenhagen encounters unforeseen problems. A California partial dam failure reveals a design problem that may need to rectified across the country.
A giant sinkhole in a Florida residential community reveals both geologic and human factors at work. A freeway in San Francisco also has both geologic issues and design flaws which are tragically revealed by a major earthquake. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge is torn apart by moderate wind gusts because of an untested design. A parking garage under construction in the Netherlands with an innovative design partially collapses.
One of the world's largest construction cranes collapses in Milwaukee. A floating bridge in the state of Washington is subjected to hurricane force winds which expose a design flaw A stadium roof collapse in Connecticut is the result not of the computer design but the data that was input. A dam disaster in Wales prompt important changes to the rules and regulations involved.
When Houston was struck by Hurricane Harvey a disaster ensued. A bridge collapsed in the state of Washington. A television mast, then the tallest structure in Great Britain, collapsed. In Cologne, historical archives were nearly destroyed when the building collapsed during the construction of a subway tunnel.
Owners of a Chicago tower try to standout among many others in city's skyline with a striking design look. In the rush to upgrade a stadium in the Netherlands some basic safety measures are ignored. A key bridge into city of Montreal is found to be in danger of a future collapse. One of the UK largest oil depots explodes due to insufficient safety procedures.
The Big Dig in Boston was a massive infrastructure build that would take a freeway that was blight on the city and put it underground, but a tragic accident raises concerns about its safety. A new bridge in Wales collapses before it is even completed, is it an issue with design or construction? A dam in Spain collapses, devastating a region. A Milwaukee bridge begins to sag and debris is seen falling from it without any warning.
In Connecticut part of a very busy commuter corridor in to New York City collapses. Montreal's Olympic stadium experiences a series of engineering fails over decades in attempting to complete an experimental roof. A raised highway in Liverpool when inspected is found to be far less robust than planned. In the Netherlands a dyke fails swamping a town but not due excess rainfall, surprisingly it was due to a drought.
After the sinking of another floating bridge in the state of Washington measures were taken to ensure other floating bridges were inspected and retrofitted if necessary. A beachfront high-rise on a low lying barrier island in Texas is bad idea doomed to failure. The Deepwater Horizon explosion and the resulting oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico causes both both a human tragedy and a massive ecological catastrophe. In Spain, a dam collapse at a tailing pond results in an ecological disaster.
A highway overpass in Montreal collapses tragically. A new record breaking tower in Manchester has a separate service tower attached which is covered in 40 million tiny tiles that begin to fall off after just 6 months. Above the Earth the Apollo 13 mission suffers an accident due too reused components. A small village in France starts to see cracks in the houses of the residents.
