Comment 74545

By Galanga (anonymous) | Posted February 19, 2012 at 08:50:25

Hamilton is a city built in large measure by industry and, in large measure, on subservience to/worship of industry. So I'm never surprised when individuals here are treated like cogs in a machine. Canadian municipalities on the whole seem to regard citizen input as a necessary evil rather than an enriching collaboration.

Much more would certainly get done if planning visionaries scaled the bureaucracy at City Hall in sufficient concentrations to allow them to alter the status quo. Then citizens could just let the Mayor and City Council protect our best interests.

There are inherent limitations to that arrangement, of course.

Still, not every ominous formula plays out as expected. Heritage-razing urban design executed by an imperial autocrat sounds like it would be an unpalatable recipe, but Bonaparte-Haussmannn proved a notable exception.

Without invoking the "it won't work here" excuse, although the procedural mechanism is certainly transferrable, I wonder about the ways in which population density of some jurisdictions facilitates or impedes such planning. Greater London, foe example, seems to house a population around 11 times that of the Hamilton CMA in an area around 1/6 larger than the Hamilton CMA. That kind of reliable foot traffic creates a kind of urgency and also potentially fosters a dynamic forum for urban planners.

Permalink | Context

Events Calendar

There are no upcoming events right now.
Why not post one?

Recent Articles

Article Archives

Blog Archives

Site Tools

Feeds