it's not only buildings, and efficiency and financial optimization are definitely causes, but it's driven by business much more than consumers I think. Busines

it's not only buildings, and efficiency and financial optimization are definitely causes, but it's driven by business much more than consumers I think. Business has optimized itself simply to make money; so-called shareholder value. Financialization has become the dominant mode, and one way to wring more out of a product (or construction) business is to skimp on product 'quality' but keep prices relatively high by covering it up with marketing, finance and other pricing tricks, or simple 'natural collusion' - if everyone's products are turning to crap, customers won't notice or have no choice anyway. People still want nice things, it's just that for most people even quite expensive things can't be trusted to still be so nice.