
Why is the modern world so ugly? - Pamar
https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/why-is-the-modern-world-so-ugly/
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bediger4000
I don't think this article makes a case for the validity of the question
itself. The author seems to believe that their sense of esthetics is
universal. This kind of belief is known to be false.

~~~
jaclaz
Maybe it was not intended to make that case.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and we can also imagine that:

>As a result, the nice architecture there is, most of which was built before
1900, is hugely oversubscribed and collapsing under a weight of tourists – and
the few pleasant streets that remain are costlier than they ever were at the
height of the aristocratic age.

What the Author (and tourists, and residents - judging from the market price
of houses in given cities or neighbourhoods) consider "nice" is actually an
oudated idea of niceness, and actually ugly to modern eyes.

Still, somehow, it appears as more attractive than modern architecture and
neighborhoods to the masses.

~~~
bediger4000
> Maybe it was not intended to make that case.

Please.

> Still, somehow, it appears as more attractive than modern architecture and
> neighborhoods to the masses.

This isn't true in Denver, where I live. I've lived in two older (originally
developed circa 1900) neighborhoods, Baker and Highlands. Old, poorly-
maintained or poorly-constructed houses gradually bet replaced. You can walk
down 2 blocks and see a house from 1900 (or even before), a house from the
30s, a house from mid 50s, and a new house. Every single house is identifiable
as being from a particular period. If modern architecture is so sucky, why do
people build it, buy it an live in it today? Why not imitate the grand,
universally loved styles of the past? That could easily be done. But it isn't.

The article's premise is entirely unexamined, and isn't at all universal. The
author just looks at what tourists want to see on vacation, not what people
live in in ordinary, not very touristy cities and parts of cities.

~~~
Pamar
I think that you may have a point, but - while admitting I never seen Denver -
I would like to ask you if you have ever seen a European city. Or, better yet,
lived in one for a more than 2 weeks.

~~~
bediger4000
I have seen European cities, but only Copenhagen as an adult, and that was in
1993. One of the obvious falsehoods in the original article is illustrated by
Copenhagen. The article had some line about throughout history, people lived
in neatly organized towns with periodic open squares. I don't think Copenhagen
fits that model at all - the streets appear disorganized to my eye, with
little orientation or regularity. Open squares appeared only haphazardly, and
there didn't appear to be enough to satisfy demand. I will grant you that
Copenhagen in 1993 would be far easier to live in without a car than Denver in
2020. But it wasn't the aesthetic dream that the article proposed, it was more
"biological" and pieced together than architectural and designed, and even in
1993, Copenhagen had a mix of ages and styles.

