After WWII the us went down a path of “urban renewal” that within a
couple of decades displaced hundreds of thousands of people and rendered
entire cityscapes unrecognizable. They were literally demolishing
entire neighborhoods just because they couldn’t think of anything better
to do with thier time and the wealth left over from looting Germany.
Many historic buildings that stand today survived only because they
would run out of funds in the middle of these projects and oftentimes
would just leave vast vacant lots that would sit undeveloped for years
and years.

This article is pretty depressing for those who are interested:

https://www.citylab.com/amp/article/516378

I don't hate modern architecture. I hate the way modern city planners
ruin historic cities with it. This is a big problem in Europe in my
opinion. Modernism is such an aesthetic anthema to everything I consider, beautiful, human and impressive that I sometimes feel like it’s some cruel joke directed at me. It seems to represent a kind of elitism in which it’s ideas are self perpetuated through a grip on higher education and an obsession with thecheap, the product of which is cast down to a an either discontented orapathetic population.When admiring Classical or gothic architecture, I think of the wonders of the human mind and the impossibility of what living beings can achieve, yet does, but it is modernism that reminds of the fact that civilisation, like everything else, is ultimately meaningless and will always tick on without an aim. I can not express how much I hate something which makes me do that.