ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

Available for over a year

Trillions of dollars are spent on vanity megaprojects round the world, every year. Many of them go well over budget and deliver far fewer benefits than originally promised. So why is it that politicians and planners keep commissioning ever grander projects? Is it the same vanity that drives more and more of us to cosmetic surgery? Joining Bridget Kendall are Danish authority on the pitfalls of megaprojects, Bent Flyvbjerg; British critic and curator Stephen Bayley, who has a special interest in design and architecture; and American anthropologist Alexander Edmonds, who takes us from vanity architecture to body shaping, as a means for self-promotion. (Photo courtesy of Hulton Archive/ Getty Images)