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The city that I live in faces similar issues, even though it is young by international standards, and those issues exhibit themselves in very peculiar ways. If
by II2II 6y ago
The city that I live in faces similar issues, even though it is young by international standards, and those issues exhibit themselves in very peculiar ways.
If we were talking about a building that is actively maintained and played a significant role in events, I can understand the desire to preserve it. Yet, more often than not, the buildings are decayed due to neglect and very few people actually care about the building until it is about to be torn down. Worse yet, the structure has frequently been altered to the point where it is no longer of architectural interest. So yes, this is a concern from the perspective of the greater needs of cities. Which is why I was puzzled by the opposition due to the environmental impact.
On the other hand, I suspect that these attitudes stem from something other than a desire for preservation. It may sound noble to talk about the greater needs of cities, yet some mighty nasty projects have been undertaken in the name of redevelopment. For some people this brings up extreme cases of forced removal, serving the needs of special interests, or simply creating inhumane environments.
- toomanybeersies 6y agoSounds like Australia. Lots of 100 year old buildings of no cultural or architectural significance get protected status. Meanwhile the government has no issue allowing the destruction of Aboriginal heritage and archeological sites (as well as old growth native forests) to make way for roads and mines.
- mattoxic 6y agoI doubt there are "lots" of buildings over 100 years old remaining in the Melbourne CBD. Those that do remain gain significance merely because they have survived.
- toomanybeersies 6y agoIt's less the CBD, and more in the surrounding suburbs. There are old cottages scattered around that weren't good houses when they were built, and aren't any better today. The land they're on is worth a fortune, but they have heritage status so they can't be redeveloped, yet they're also not worth renovating because they're so far gone.
- arcticbull 6y ago> Sounds like Australia. Lots of 100 year old buildings of no cultural or architectural significance get protected status. You should visit San Francisco haha.
- afiori 6y agoThere is a Slate Star Codex article[1] talking about how people die in hospitals. A common trend is that families that lived close to their elderly relatives are the most ready to accept when there is nothing more to do, while families that "fly in" to visit their sick elderly relatives often refuse to give up and try to do anything to keep them alive a bit more. One interpretation is that guilt plays a factor here. In my opinion something vaguely similar happens here, in globalized times everyone is citizen of bigger and bigger places and feel progressively weaker connections to local culture. To this you can add that this local culture is under constant pressure from new external actors (I imagine that more than a few people tried to build new hotels in the middle of Venice). [1] https://web.archive.org/web/20191122042205/https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/07/17/who-by-very-slow-decay/ https://web.archive.org/web/20191122042205/https://slatestar...