Why Ugly Buildings Fuel NIMBYism and Heritage Conservation
Why ugly buildings create NIMBYism
I argue that while local residents oppose development for many reasons, the ugliness of modernist architecture primarily triggers opposition from distant observers, or NITBYs. This aesthetic backlash, rather than local self-interest, drove the rise of strict heritage conservation rules. Historical evidence shows that restrictive zoning emerged before modernist styles became dominant, proving that beauty alone cannot solve housing shortages.
Conservationism was a reaction to postwar redevelopment, as its proponents claimed. But it was less a reaction to what the modernists destroyed, than to what they created.