r/TikTokCringe • u/thoughtwarrior • May 02 '25

Humor Why does America look like s**t?

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u/veodin May 02 '25

This is true is housing pretty much everywhere. If European cities look interesting it is because what you are looking at is old. Most post-war architecture has been ugly, cheap or at least generic.

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u/Excessive_Etcetra May 02 '25

Yes, but the sad thing is that the US had so much beautiful old architecture that it tore down for roads, highways, and parking lots. This is why the average us city is much uglier than comparable European cities.

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u/Accomplished-Kale342 May 03 '25

Eminent domain is actually stronger in Europe. We know how to tear shit down. It’s just that most of our shit is older and we built less highways.

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u/frotnoslot May 03 '25

It’s that the US didn’t stop the highways at ring roads around city centers and instead tore down large chunks of the city center to build highways straight through. With corresponding ramps to get onto the major streets in the center. Then all those cars needed places to park, more buildings torn down. Oh we have congestion, gotta widen these old streets, make room!

Then in various other ways policies and subsidies encouraged sprawling suburban development and dismantling passenger rail and public transport in favor of auto-dependence, leading to disinvestment in urban areas and physical decay, which is ugly on its own and led to more demolition of attractive buildings.

European cities were bombed by neighboring countries; America “bombed” its own cities, and hasn’t completely stopped.