^Exactly, there's a lot to be said for the SDC style of building, where they build into the existing environment rather than leveling everything and building from there.
I lived for awhile in England, and boy, do they know how to build a city. They don't just tear stuff down when it gets old - they refurb it and move on. Most of the buildings are over 100 years old in any given town. The best part though is they way that every town has a high street packed with functional shops. No one is forced to spend all day in a warehouse shop like Walmart, rather, everyone gets the pleasure of walking down a centuries-old downtown going from independent shop to shop. And with the bus system, no one has to worry about owning a car so much.
Here in America, we drive our fat asses from warehouse to warehouse buying in bulk from large, greedy corporations. It makes me want to move back.