Architectural populism cannot protect diverse groups from each other.

Evidence

Rowe and Koetter in their Collage city (the very title of which indicates sympathy with the postmodernist thrust) worry that ‘the architectural proponents of populism are all for democracy and all for freedom: but they are characteristically unwilling to speculate as to the necessary conflicts of democracy with law, of the necessary collisions of freedom with justice.’ By surrendering to an abstract entity called ‘the people,’ the populists cannot recognize how manifold the people happens to be, and consequently ‘how much in need of protection from each other its components happen to stand.’ — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 499

Categorization

• QUESTION: A useful internal critique of the populist turn that rivals of Harvey’s periodization might seize on — worth chasing its later resolution.