Firas has an epiphany stumbling around Old Delhi Not all rundown places are created equal.
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Deceptively decrepit streets can lead the way to massive houses that're way more expensive and elaborate than a McMansion (and its yard.)
So a slum area that's created by squatters isn't the same as a crowded dusty marketplace that incidentally has the tombs of random princes almost underfoot.
In a way, history and/or culture adds a
substrate over infrastructure that adds value to it. Sure this massive grey building is chopped up into dozens of little storage spaces and storefronts, but once upon a time its green and blues housed nobility and those storefronts still have the remains of exquisitely designed entrances hanging off them.. and would it all be unqualifiedly better off broken down and replaced with steel and glass? Maybe not.