We can't wait. The past takes too long to die, and even in demise, lingers to haunt the still unclaimed corners of this shrinking city. We can't wait for the day when unchecked corridors and chatty five-foot ways give up their century of character for upstarts of uniform charm. When glorious economies of global scale descend upon the last outposts of random clutter and put in their place the promise of impersonal efficiency.
Big is beautiful and begets far more profit than the distributed waste of communities who squander a fortune in rent in unoptimised spaces. Isn't it far better to give up your fleeting corner of cramped individuality and to gain the business of brands that offer a lifetime of recognition from a worldwide family of detached owners? And forsake your sentimental attachment to old neighbourhoods for a social contract that leaves no room for surprises and pays no heed to the missing memories of a land lost to history?
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