ABSTRACT
This chapter presents s polemical review about the disasters of big-footprint pseudomodernist development in London and critiques two contemporary developments, Fitzroy Place and Rathbone Square, in the super-gentrifying neighbourhood of Fitzrovia, where the author lives. From the perspective of the forms of life possible in historic lived spaces, this article proposes that new forms of non-places called ‘beige holes’ are emerging from the non-tastes of the finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE) sector. Further, it shows how designers, no matter how talented, are helpless to create genuine value and liveable cities within this financial and aesthetic regime.
