Urban Philosophy and Right-wing Populism

This paper was prepared on November 9, 2016 to replace a scheduled talk (on 'The Possessive-Individualist City') for a conference of urban philosophers held two weeks later in the United States. The ensuing discussion yielded a lot of useful ideas while it also reflected the fact that American, like Canadian philosophers are, just as much as their compatriots, in a state of shock at the election result. I explained that my credentials for addressing the topic are that, living in Toronto in 2010, I had already experienced an urban version of Trump-style populism in the mayoral campaign that elected the infamous Rob Ford. Like Trump, Ford ran on anti-elite rhetoric which in his case demonized professionals, the press, and politicians of the inner city, and he drew on a defined constituency with many features of Trump's core voters. This paper is thus able to draw, with some modifications, on one earlier prepared regarding Toronto's Ford phenomenon.