Something has quietly changed in our towns and cities over the past few decades. Department stores that once anchored everyday civic life have vanished. High streets have hollowed out, replaced by retail parks that look identical whether you are in Croydon or the Midlands. New buildings seem to rise every month in such an efficient, compliant and forgettable manner that we scarcely notice them at all. This is not simply nostalgia – something deeper is at stake.
The late philosopher Sir Roger Scruton warned that when things are designed only for utility, they paradoxically become useless. “Put usefulness first,” he observed, “and you will lose it. Put beauty first, and what you get will be used forever.” A world built solely for function eventually fails us, because human beings are not purely functional creatures.
