'Wrath, modernist buildings are simply cheaper. We can't afford to carve the classical stone anymore.'

In the 19th c. architects & builders inspired by ancient Rome, Greece, and Renaissance Italy developed methods to create cheap mass produced—in factories—classical facades.

SUMMER SCHOOL OF TRADITIONAL ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM OF MEXICO!
INTBAU México
intbaumexico.com/summer-school

The terracotta makers would be pleased that a century on, people think this is limestone.

“Earth structures were being constructed in Tongatapu around AD 300. This is 700 years earlier than previously thought.” Is it more likely that cities developed independently in the Pacific rather than this not actually being cities in any meaningful way? reporter.anu.edu.au/all-stories/pa…

Sixth:

“Go back to the darkest roots of civilization and you will find them knotted round some sacred stone... People first paid honour to a spot and afterwards gained glory for it. Men did not love Rome because she was great. She was great because they had loved her.”
— G.K. Chesterton

Create beautiful urban scenes anyway anyhow you can. Nothing else will provide so much return over centuries to come.

Same goes with bicycles, carts, wheelchairs etc. Thicker wheels are better rougher/natural road surfaces.

Human scaled public transport done well: the Uemachi Line in Osaka, Himematsu Tram Stop, built in 1912 and still standing. Imagine waiting for the tram that takes you to school on the same bench as your great-great-great grand parents used. #GoodUrbanism

A beautiful landscape photo, but look at how unassuming the train it compared to the vast infrastructure that caters to the cars and trucks. The railway is almost invisible. #TrainTwitter

Beautiful photos and a human touch to this long read article on the longest narrow gauge railway in Europe, in Polesia. #TrainTwitter ukrainer.net/the-narrow-gau…

Malmbanan is a railway said to have one of the most beautiful views in Europe. It transports iron ore to harbors in Norway and Sweden. Thanks to its elevation and regenerative breaking it needs very little electricity to run, despite carrying 44% of all rail tonnage in Sweden.

One of the most beautiful stations in Japan is the Hozukyō (保津峡駅) near Kyoto, located on the bridge over the river Hozu. Opened in 1929 it sees on average 438 users a day, most of them hikers, tourists, rafters. Still almost twice as busy as the least used NYC subway station.

Possibly one of the most beautiful bus stops in the world. Nagano, Japan.

So it IS possible to build beautiful new railway buildings that will charm locals and travelers alike? In 10 years no one will think this has not been here for 100 years. By Robert Marrows and David Postle from the SVR heritage Railway & Oxford Architects.
brick.org.uk/bulletin/Brand…

One of the most beautiful railway stations in the world, in Maputo, Mozambique. Constructed from 1908 to 1916 in the Beaux-Arts style by the Portuguese architects Mario Veiga José Ferreira da Costa and Alfredo Lisboa de Lima, replacing the first station in the country built 1895.