It’s been a hot week for intellectual showdowns here in the City of Ideas. First, on Tuesday night at Town Hall, the renowned UW paleobiologist Peter Ward, whose new book The Medea Hypothesis argues that earthly life is inherently self-destructive, challenged the even more renowned British atmospheric scientist James Lovelock—whose Gaia hypothesis maintains earthly life is self-regulating and sustaining—to a debate. Or was it a duel? Lovelock murmured that he’ll be back in the States in October.

Whose grand view of global warming, mass extinction, and the planet’s (and humankind’s) fate is more truthful? More on Gaia vs. Medea in a future post.

Two nights later—earlier tonight—Seattle’s downtown library hosted a full-tilt debate on a less head-spinning but equally provocative subject: Which city’s better, Seattle or Vancouver? The protagonists: Peter Steinbrueck, architect, ex-Seattle city councilman, and coulda-been mayoral contender, and Gordon Price, ex-Vancouver councilman, head of Simon Frasier University’s urban-design program, and stand-up comic if he ever wants to go that route. The twist: Steinbrueck argued for Vancouver, and Price for Seattle.

So did Vancouver’s livability, walkability, density, cosmopolitanism, trains, and highway-free downtown (not to mention Stanley Park, the Safdie library, and UBC’s Anthropology Museum) triumph over Seattle’s car craziness, feeble planning, and cheek-to-jowl skyscrapers? Or did Seattle’s economic dynamism, architectural diversity, neighborhood character, cultural riches, Olmstead legacy, Koolhaas library, and free downtown buses beat out Vancouver’s jammed bridges, bland neighborhoods, straightjacket planning, monotonous green-glass towers, and lotus-land economy?

{% display:image for:post image:3 align:right height:170 }Both. Hometown pride seems to have trumped each speaker’s home advantage. Steinbrueck, arguing for Vancouver, drew more applause when he and Price had it out in Vancouver on June 16. Price, championing Vancouver, won the applause-o-meter in Seattle on June 18. One observer from Via Architecture, which sponsored the event (and which, with offices in both cities, is presumably be neutral) says the count was closer in Seattle. Which means either we have less to be proud of in Seattle, or we’re not as smug and self-satisfied as our Vancouver friends.{ display:image for:post image:2 align:left height:170 %}

The Price-Steinbrueck Great Urban Debate, moderated by C.R. Douglas, airs Thursday, July 2 at 7:30pm on Cable Channel 21 as part of the "Town Square" series. It will be posted after that on the Seattle Channel’s website.