Mosaic v. the Place des Vosges

Who wore it better?

Mosaic District, Merrifield, an ‘up-and-coming’ neighbourhood in northern Virginia:

The Place des Vosges, Paris, France:

In terms of a memorable and pleasant look, there is no comparison, I think. Both places are mixed-use developments with commerce on the ground floors and homes on the upper floors, but that is about where the similarity ends. Mosaic is generic drivel of the 2010s, a forgettable piece belonging nowhere; the Place des Vosges is decidedly French, 17th-century but timeless, a place whose very appearance invites you to visit again and again.

And lest it be thought that the Place des Vosges has no parking or anything silly like that, behold, street parking:

And on the lower floors what you see is a covered walkway, separated from the street by an arcade (row of arches), and walking a circuit along this covered walkway you pass by the entrances to cafés, wine bistros, restaurants; art galleries, museums, and a theatre; boutiques for perfumes, clothes, hand-crafted soap, and more.

The thing is, the amount of money put into Mosaic could have built in northern Virginia something as beautiful and worth visiting as the Place des Vosges. Mosaic’s residential buildings go up 6 storeys, comparable to the Haussmann residential buildings seen all over Paris, which usually have 5–7 storeys. For about the same money as it takes to build the mind-numbing houses of Mosaic, suitable for eunuchs and hussies, one can build something dignified and memorable for everyone to enjoy, not to mention more environmentally sustainable. Why was this not done? The only real answer is the depraved spiritual condition of the society in which Mosaic was built.