Vincent J. Curtis
14 Dec 2013
Jennifer Keesmaat is the Chief planner of the city of
Toronto. Recently, she spoke at a dinner
organized by the Chamber of Commerce of Hamilton. Her speech was about the eight principles of
great cities. After laying down her
eight principles, she outlined how Hamilton either met or violated them. She concluded that Hamilton stood to become
great if they followed her guidance.
In the course of reading the eight principles of great
cities I tried to imagine how they might apply to Paris, London, and New York –
all admitted to be great cities.
Quickly, I concluded that they could not be. Keesmaat’s speculative theory turns out upon
analysis to be something like the eight principles of good taste.
Of course, there is no accounting for taste – one likes what
one likes and dislikes what one dislikes.
There is no point, or example, in two people discussing whether French cuisine
or Italian cuisine is better. You like
what you like, and laying down a set of principles to explain why your likes
are better than another person’s likes is to create a counterfeit of logical
analysis. It is an elaborate waste of
time.
I am quite sure that Ms. Keesmaat got to her position as
Chief Planner because other people have appreciated the good taste she
exhibited in city planning. Other people
have liked her work. But trying to
express the origins of that good taste in the form of a priori general principles is like Vincent van Gogh laying down
the principles of good painting. Even if
one grasps the principles intellectually, there is something in the execution that
is essential to the matter, to say nothing of the style in vogue.
The audience enjoyed a good dinner, and appreciated the
optimistic forecast for the city of Hamilton.
The city will muddle through the future as it has the past. Cities decay and die when they cease to make economic sense, and the state of the city of Detroit is an instructive example.
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