ABSTRACT
The question of city aesthetics takes on a slightly different guise at the closer focus of urban renewal. Historically the life of a city has often depended on its capacity to renew its cells, and in the process to adapt to a new sociopolitical and economic climate. Until the present century such evolutionary change was compatible with the historic ethos of 'cityness'. Now, things seem to be going wrong on a monumental scale. With the uncontrolled rise to power of the developer, huge areas of city centre land are given over to single development. Rarely does it recognize the grain and texture of the adjacent ensemble, it is architecture-intensive and subservient to the profit motive.
