Facadism happens due to economics. The historic building is far too small for what's needed in the location now. The building can't be brought up to modern sta

Facadism happens due to economics. The historic building is far too small for what's needed in the location now. The building can't be brought up to modern standards with any sort of rational budget. So we have adaptive reuse - wildly popular in many areas such as the historic docks and warehouses in London, disused steel mills, etc Facadism allows you to keep a great street level architecture while dramatically increasing the density and utility of the area. Useful in London, where you couldn't build up until very recently, but especially in North American cities where there are very few old buildings since they aren't that old and the cities were dramatically smaller than they are today. So accept facadism or widespread annihilation of historic fabric.