Soon? It was happening already. All the upper stories of this long row 
were already empty. And behind these lanes were fields of rubble.
accommodations (the above doesn't seem intended for them). The Old City I saw seemed wretchedly poor, tiny rooms above even tinier stores, meager market goods spread on the pavement - but it's hard to imagine how such horizontal social worlds will live on in the vertical city.
This chap atop the White Cloud Daoist temple will be ok:
he's landmark protected.
