HafenCity meets Howard Street Even though the world itself became a village, residents in towns and cities often maintain the parochialism of historical villagers. Citizens of towns and villages large and small across the world tend to believe that their problems are unique, their traffic the worst, their government the most corrupt, their students particularly gifted (or spoiled), and the drivers of the town next door to be the worst of all. This may appear quaint but can be deadly when your burg is the last to figure something out for which peers on the other side of the globe long found a solution.
International dialogue between cities can combat such provincialism and has become a global cottage industry. Yesterday, in another quest to conquer Baltimore's proverbial parochialism (probably itself a provincial urban legend), Hamburg came to Baltimore as part of a series of events dubbed "
Europe in Baltimore". The series is a somewhat confusing mash-up of topics such as art, transit and "place-making". Trips, exchanges, events and exhibits are locally organized by the Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts (
BOPA) in conjunction with Baltimore's three art districts and funded by among other sources by a grant from the European Union.