Marginal Revolution: Has urban architecture declined? Wandering around Edinburgh, Tyler ponders a perceived decline in semi/modern urban architecture. There are a couple of reasons for this he misses: 1. Postwar architecture developed free of the design constraints inherent within the pre-war planning system in the UK. The post-war need to rebuild meant that local authorities lost the ability to refuse planning permission for eyesores [etc.]. 2. Postwar planners developed a love for eyesores, and a deep longing for the ability to redesign cities in a 'rational' way [particularly to suit the needs of the automobile...]. It will take at least another 50 years to fix these mistakes in the UK. 3. The regeneration of housing stock, particularly the very poor housing for much of the working class, was the impetus behind much post-war suburban design/development, rather than the continued development of upper/middle class suburbs. Tyler is right to say that we do idealise times past - in urban terms not only do we idealise past times but we also often profoundly misunderstand them. The Royal Mile today is very much not a "historic" street, but a product [mainly] of the 1890s and the 1990s. http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/964722 ¶