One of the most cinematic cities in the world has been showcased in literally hundreds of movies. We gave Guardian film editor Andrew Pulver the unenviable task of choosing just 10 great films set in the city

As featured in our New York city guide

Manhattan, Woody Allen, 1979

"He adored New York City. He idolised it all out of proportion." Woody Allen could never be accused of ignoring his native city, returning time and again to eulogise the virtues of its buildings and its inhabitants. With this black-and-white story of faithless lovers and nervous courtships wending their way through major art galleries, celebrated restaurants and picturesque landmarks, he came closest to the perfect love letter to the place. Filmed in jazz-age black-and-white, and opening with a stunning montage set to Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, Manhattan is suffused with an affectionate, excited nostalgia.
? Queensboro Bridge; Guggenheim Museum; Museum of Modern Art; Central Park; Russian Tea Room

The Naked City, Jules Dassin, 1948

On one level, a simple docudrama about how the New York police go about their daily work; on another, an amazing, pioneering poem to the rhythms of big-city life, in both its brutality and mundanity. "There are eight million stories in the naked city," said the famous narration, and with extensive use of hidden cameras director Jules Dassin set out to record "one of them" in an unprecedentedly unvarnished way. This is the New York of the Weegee era: hardboiled cops and pill-popping floozies, big hats and Saturday Night specials, a city tender and iron-hard at the same time.
? Williamsburg Bridge; Times Square; West 83rd Street

Ghostbusters, Ivan Reitman, 1984

In some ways the apogee of the first Saturday Night Live generation ? a quintessential New York TV institution ? this blockbusting comedy took a special brand of mayhem on to the city's streets, making New York an integral part of all the spooky goings-on. From the bookstacking ghoul in the New York public library, to the firehouse HQ, to the intra-dimensional portal on the roof of one of those gothic midtown apartment blocks, Ghostbusters put the city front and centre. And then took great delight in ripping it apart: tearing up the streets, deluging them in goo and demolishing prime real estate.
? New York Public Library, Fifth Avenue; 55 Central Park West; 8 Hook and Ladder firehouse, Tribeca

Shaft, Gordon Parks, 1971

Shaft may not have been the first film in the blaxploitation genre, but it was certainly the first properly successful one, taking the Harlem-dude look of feather-hat, platform boots and silver-top cane to a massive audience. As a film, it's rough and ready but full of modish attitude and made a star of Richard Roundtree as the black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks. The score was bit of a hit, too. For the first time, a hit film spent much time prowling in and around Harlem's main drag, 125th Street; but Shaft was a downtown cat, too: his apartment was in Greenwich Village and his office in Times Square.
? 125th Street; Times Square; Greenwich Village

Saturday Night Fever, John Badham, 1977

It may have been based on a made-up piece of jourmalism, but this much-venerated disco classic remains a raw, tough-nosed look at a then-hidden youth subculture. John Travolta, force-fed into a white polyester suit, became an instant star, and the Bee Gees's soundtrack a huge-selling, hit-spawning record. To their credit, the film-makers opted to film in authentic locations in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, a world away from Manhattan's bright lights. The hardware store where Tony works, the place where he buys pizza, the studio where he rehearses: they're all local, and all still there. One major miss: the disco where he struts his stuff ? known at the time as 2001 Odyssey, has been demolished.
? Bay Ridge, Brooklyn; Verrazano Narrows Bridge

Wall Street, Oliver Stone, 1987

Wall Street was supposed to be a denunciation of stock traders' venality, but as is the way of these things, became their defining document, a kind of holy grail. Oliver Stone's depiction of the "greed is good" generation dug its way fully into the financial district, even managing to snag 45 minutes' filming time on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The rest of the film is a whirlwind tour of the exclusive venues patronised by the brokerage set, from the ballroom of the Roosevelt hotel where lizardlike Michael Douglas delivers his epoch-making speech, the Broadway offices of Merrill Lynch, to the 21 Club, where Charlie Sheen eats steak tartare with Douglas.
? Battery Park; 21 Club, West 52nd Street; Roosevelt Hotel, 45 East 45th Street

Do The Right Thing, Spike Lee, 1989

Almost two decades after the blaxploitation explosion of the early 70s, Spike Lee singlehandedly reignited African American cinema with this tremendously powerful drama. It zeroed in on the inter-ethnic tensions then stalking New York, and Lee scrupulously articulated all the contending points-of-view in his account of a riot at a pizzeria. He also made sure it looked authentic, shooting the whole thing on a single-block location on Stuyvesant Avenue in Brooklyn, in the heart of the Bed-Stuy district that remains a central African-American neighbourhood in the borough.
? Stuyvesant Avenue, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn

Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese, 1976

Martin Scorsese rivals Woody Allen as New York's premier film-maker: he's returned to the city again and again in different guises, from the brash musical New York New York to the intense, confessional thriller Mean Streets. But Taxi Driver is arguably his towering achievement, and an eye-opening document of New York at its scuzziest, before the big clean-up began. De Niro drove a cab to get into the role, and Scorsese filmed at real cab offices and a cabdrivers' cafe. Even though Scorsese largely avoided obviously recognisable locations, Columbus Circle jumps out ? that's where De Niro's mohawk-wearing Travis Bickle plans to shoot a politician. And East 13th Street ? now considerably cleaner ? was used for Taxi Driver's nastiest scenes, including the one where Bickle guns down pimp Harvey Keitel in a doorway.
? Columbus Circle, East 13th Street, 8th Avenue

Sweet Smell of Success, Alexander Mackendrick, 1957

Despite having a director who had grown up in Scotland and cut his teeth on Ealing comedies, this remains arguably the greatest depiction of New York of the Mad Men era: all smoke-filled rooms and swirling whiskies, newspapermen and cigarette girls. Tony Curtis hit a career high as press agent Sidney Falco, trying to sell tips to gossip columnist JJ Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster). Some key scenes were filmed at the legendary restaurant Toots Shor, but it's no longer around. Unlike the Brill Building, on Broadway, where Hunsecker has his apartment; it's better known, of course, for playing host to numerous songwriters in the 50s and 60s. And, like Bud Fox in Wall Street, Falco makes his way to the 21 Club to pay court to his more powerful employer.
? Brill Building; Broadway; 21 Club

Requiem For A Dream, Darren Aronofsky, 2000

It might not yet have acquired the status of a New York classic, but the Black Swan director's adaptation of Hubert Selby Jr's sprawling novel certainly offered an unusual slant on the city. Requiem is about the junkie son of a doting Jewish mother, who herself becomes an addict through the injudicious use of diet pills. Brighton Beach and Coney Island, for decades a neighbourhood dominated by Jewish immgrants from Eastern Europe and Russia, is the focus: the mother, Sara Goldfarb, has an apartment in one of the blocks on Brighton 8th Street (outside which she sits and gossips, like a yenta of old), while her son Harry drags his mum's TV along Coney Island's famous boardwalk, where you can see in the background the remains of the now-demolished Thunderbolt rollercoaster and the bizarre Parachute Jump tower. And Requiem's signature scene ? a limpid dream sequence in which Harry fantasises about meeting Marion, his girlfriend, plays out on Steeplechase Pier.
? Brighton Beach; Coney Island

? Andrew Pulver is the film editor of The Guardian

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/jun/01/top-10-films-on-new-york

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Company director had been working as a consultant for east London football club during stadium bid which it won

An employee of the Olympic Park Legacy company has been suspended after it was discovered she was working as a consultant for West Ham United during the Olympic stadium bid.

The woman, who is not being named, has been suspended with immediate effect while the potential clash of interests is investigated.

The OPLC board, in charge of securing the future of the Olympic Park site, voted 14-0 in February to make West Ham United the first choice to move into the £486m stadium. The club was in a head-to-head contest with Tottenham Hotspur.

A statement from the OPLC read: "It has come to our attention that an employee of the Olympic Park Legacy company has been undertaking paid consultancy work for West Ham United FC.

"The company had no knowledge of this work and no permission was given to undertake it. This individual had no involvement whatsoever in our stadium process.

"The individual concerned had declared a personal relationship with an employee of West Ham United FC when she joined the organisation and we therefore put robust measures in place to ensure our stadium process was not compromised.

"The stadium team has been based at our law firm Eversheds' offices in the City and only the stadium team had access to information about the bids.

"As soon as this new information came to light the company took immediate action and launched an independent investigation.

"The employee has been suspended pending the outcome of this."

West Ham also released a statement, stressing their belief that the bidding process had not been compromised.

The statement read: "We have become aware of inquiries being made in respect of a lady who has undertaken work for West Ham United on a consultancy basis relating to the Olympic stadium project.

"Having learned of the inquiries, we have undertaken an initial internal investigation.

"We have established that the work that was carried out was not connected in any way to the bidding process for the Olympic stadium, but procurement project management thereafter.

"We are of the firm view that the integrity of the bidding process has not been compromised.

"We consider that the bidding process was robust and believe that remains the case."

The decision to award the Olympic stadium to West Ham is still subject to possible judicial reviews. The OPLC moved the base for the Olympic stadium bidding process away from its east London headquarters to its lawyers' offices in central London.

It is believed that this precaution has given the OPLC confidence that no information could be discovered, even accidentally.

This week Tottenham went back to the high court to continue their bid for a judicial review of the decision to award the Olympic stadium to West Ham.

Last week Judge Mr Justice Davis rejected Spurs' and Leyton Orient's challenge for the stadium. The north London club now have the chance to make a case in an oral hearing at the high court.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/jul/01/olympic-park-legacy-official-suspended

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The Innertube Map website is using volunteers and social media to make the cycle network more accessible and easier to use

Edinburgh has an amazing network of cycle paths that cut through the city like rabbit warrens. But you can live in the city for years and not even know they exist.

Old converted railway lines with deep embankments will take you from near the city centre down to the Port of Leith, to Granton, or to the seaside at Cramond ? routes that go for miles with barely the sight or sound of a road or car. You can ride from a housing estate near the Scottish Parliament right down to the seaside resort of Portobello, passing through a dramatic tunnel over 500m long.

The first time I found one of these paths, having lived in Edinburgh for five years, it was like being teleported to another part of the city. Apart from anything, I had no idea where I was, or what parts of the city I had passed through. There were no signs, and the landmarks were new to me.

Fast forward five years, and we've just launched the Innertube Map website, an interactive map and blog which uses citizen journalists, smartphones and geo-tagging to help bring these routes to life.

The map itself is a stylised version of the cycle paths based on the London tube map, and was the brain child of Mark Sydenham, manager of Edinburgh bicycle recycling charity the Bike Station. The idea for the interactive map and blog was the result of my work as a beatblogger for the Guardian last year and my longstanding interest in community radio and media.

Here's how it works. Entrances and exits to the paths have been changed to "stops" on the map, such as Ferry Road, Fountainbridge or Holyrood Road.

Stories, audio, video and photos can be tagged to any of these stops, either by using a keyword, or by geo-tagging your content ? with a smartphone, for example. Alternatively, you can post directly onto a stop on the website, or just email the content in.

The map then shows when and where new stories have appeared, whether they've been written by members of the public or by our team of eleven volunteer Innertube Ambassadors. They're there to report interesting events and stories affecting the communities around the routes, and to relay problems like fly-tipping, vandalism, poor signage or barriers for bikes, pedestrians, wheelchair users or horses (yes, really).

Our ambassadors are a pretty varied bunch: there's Jackie Jack, a tall blonde police officer from the mounted division of Lothian and Borders Police; Mo from Portobello, a blogger and wheelchair user who is training to be a cox; Alasdair, a dispute resolution lawyer who commutes into work every day; and Gary, a founding member of the Spartans FC cycle club (four members so far). They're a great bunch.

I've been out training them for the last couple of months, teaching them how to blog, tweet and interview people using smartphones. For example, Sue was out recently covering the opening of a new cycle path in Granton with audioboo: she had her report up on the site within two hours.

Of course, not everyone has a smartphone, so we bought kit for about half our ambassadors as we didn't want that to be a barrier to participation. Luckily, we've had a good budget for equipment and to build the website as we won?£98,000 of funding for the project from The People's Postcode Lottery to do the project, and do it well.

Some of that money has gone into developing the site and training and equipping the ambassadors. Most of it, however, will be spent on conservation work on the cycle paths by a local NGO, Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust, and on creating clear, colourful new signs that will match the map - another way to help people find the routes.

Maybe then people visiting the city, students and locals will be able find out about this amazing network of routes more easily, and not stumble across them by chance. We're already hearing that the map is helping people (including Labour MSP Sarah Boyack) who know the city well find routes they didn't know existed.

And if you already know the routes like the back of your hand? Well, maybe you'd like to tell us about what's happening on them.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/bike-blog/2011/jun/17/interactive-map-edinburgh-cycle-paths

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