BY HIS own admission, Alan Blum, loves cities -- from their gritty back alleys to their buskers and everything in between. All of which makes him the perfect person to head up a $2.4 million "culture of cities research project" (funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council) to study Toronto, Montreal, Dublin and Berlin. Blum and 23 other researchers want to know what makes their cultures sustainable amid forces that threaten homogeneity. His diagnosis for a healthy metropolis? Various city districts with their own personalities. "Culture doesn't grow in a concentrated corporate centre," he says.

The cities in question make good guinea pigs because they're all searching for their identities, says Blum. Toronto is grappling with its Mega-City status, while Montreal is trying to attain European cultural status. "Dublin used to be a backwater town. And now Berlin is re-making itself as the new centre of Europe."

The York professor gives poor marks to cities that level their personality, citing the example of the recent Air Canada Centre, built with the tourist or suburban visitor in mind. "You can't let the suburban ideology define the city," says Blum. "It displaces the artists, small businesses and culture, and divests the city of its vitality."

So far Berlin gets a "D" for downtown preservation. "After the Wall came down the corporations moved in, tore down the old classical city and put up more cineplexes in one place than in all of Toronto," says Blum. "It appeals to everyone except Berliners."

Finding the magic formula that guarantees a vibrant, healthy city won't be easy. "We can't just interview people and look at property values," says Blum. "Culture isn't just about a group of food tastings or international festivals. Those things are interesting, but culture is more than cosmetic. We'll focus more on the city's texture and feel."

Metropolis illustration: Celia Calle