This article seems to be putting on some strong rose-colored glasses. It appeals to the idea that people in the past all lived in beautiful, long-lasting buildings. The reality is that the long-lasting buildings are the only ones that still exist. The bulk of humanity has always lived in cheap construction. Affordable housing is not a bad thing, especially with modern fire codes.
The last paragraph starts with "For centuries the quality of their buildings and a certain permanence set cities apart". That's a really good joke. The author even points to this earlier with "The sameness [of 1+5s] isn't like East Berlin's "Plattenbauten" (precast concrete buildings) around Alexanderplatz, nor has it the uniformity of some of Baltimore's rowhouse neighborhoods." I'm legitimately not sure whether those cheaply constructed neighborhoods are supposed to be positive examples or not.
The last paragraph starts with "For centuries the quality of their buildings and a certain permanence set cities apart". That's a really good joke. The author even points to this earlier with "The sameness [of 1+5s] isn't like East Berlin's "Plattenbauten" (precast concrete buildings) around Alexanderplatz, nor has it the uniformity of some of Baltimore's rowhouse neighborhoods." I'm legitimately not sure whether those cheaply constructed neighborhoods are supposed to be positive examples or not.