I also wish he had discussed alternatives like these more. My takeaway is the argument - on which you're correct - that people have knock-down-drag-out fights a

I also wish he had discussed alternatives like these more. My takeaway is the argument - on which you're correct - that people have knock-down-drag-out fights about visual style. I would say that's not because it's as important but that it is what jumps out when browsing the infinite catalog of images that is the modern internet. And substance is what really matters. I think you mentioned Alexander in another comment and more of what he did is necessary - more systematic considerations of not just what something looks like, but how it works. And not just the single object or space, but enmeshed in the network of relationships that extend far beyond the formal. Edited to add: Having read so much Hatherley over the years I can almost guarantee that a name drop in the conclusion like that means he's currently developing more scholarship / criticism on the subject...