It's not a different story, really.
Full disclosure: I went to one of the biggest art schools in the country, which also was THE school that any aspiring architect went to if they wanted to work in the field.
The razing of buildings all over the world at the expense of culture, soul, local color, etc. is part of a movement that includes Le Corbusier, Rohe and others. What happened is that architects took over what's known as "urban/city planning." Before them, cities were designed by specialists known as urban planners, who would approve and plan out cities with human beings in mind. So, cities like Toronto, NY, LA, London, Tokyo, etc. were filled with lovely spacious areas, venues, local color, etc.
Then the architects took over and envisioned a brave new world in which all cities would be nothing more than glass and steel, high density residencies and highways. Developers with tons of money jumped on this vision, because this style of architecture gives them the biggest bang for their buck and is the perfect conduit for real estate speculation, kickbacks and laundering. They then propagandized all of this as "progress", so that politicians, city council members and even local residents embraced this soulless architecture as progress.
These architects from the 20th century is why your city and every other city around the world is being torn down and crammed with high density apartments, glass and steel, why every city is losing its identity. The aim is to turn every single city into another Dubai or Shangai, regardless of local color, culture or history.
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