A curious mathematical feature of the modern city is that
most have more than four quarters.
It is an affliction
which is symptomatic of the mania for ‘regeneration’ or, in other words, an
attempt to re-inflate property values in a run-down part of the city. At best it is an affectation and an attempt to
acquire some hand me down cachet associated with the term ‘quarter’.
The great grand-daddy of them is the Latin Quarter which, in
the minds of most visitors to Paris, has little to do with La Boheme and
everything to do with what really happened;
1km to the west in St Germain
2km to the south west at Montparnasse or
5km north at Montmartre
This is usually informed by a generally conflated social,
cultural and historical view of Paris wherein Picasso and the impressionists
tackle philosophical issues in bars between bouts of fornication with can-can
dancers. Whilst wearing black polo neck sweaters and listening to jazz. It is thereby associated with CREATIVITY and
the cutting edge of whatever it is that needs cutting in the view of the urban
marketeers who attach the term ‘quarter’ to a duly designated group of
buildings.
You will know when you are in one because a) there will have
been brown signs telling you which way you went there and b) there will be
bunting, banners and bouquets proclaiming the presence of the given ‘quarter’.
The degree of decrepitude of the former will be an indication of how long the
area has been so designated. The level of business- or lack of it- in the
obligatory café bar will give some initial indication of how successful the
re-branding of the area has been.
God forbid that I should advocate any bureaucratic measure
but there should perhaps be some internationally recognised guidelines that state
clearly the proportion of fashionistas that must occupy an area for it to
continue to be called ‘The Fashion Quarter’, people actually creating things in
a ‘Creativity Quarter’ or actually making and selling things in a ‘Business
Quarter’. In a decent sized city all of the people responsible for dreaming up
such wheezes could of course all be herded together in one small area which
could quite legitimately be labelled the Bullshit Quarter.
