Talking from a Swiss perspective here: What usually happens here is that facades are protected to "maintain the look" of a certain neighborhood. But everything

Talking from a Swiss perspective here: What usually happens here is that facades are protected to "maintain the look" of a certain neighborhood. But everything inside the exterior walls is ripped out and completely rebuilt from scratch every 50 years or so. I think European cities are just denser than North American ones and the resulting buildings more expensive per square meter.