Never Recycle a Building: Difference between revisions

In most fictional works, it's normal for an abandoned place to be left undisturbed until the protagonists need to utilize it. Sure, there might be a layer of dust everywhere, but the building can sit around for ''decades'' without anyone claiming it, renovating it, or outright demolishing it. If [[The Voice]] instructs the heroes to find an [[Abandoned Warehouse]] from fifty years ago, they can rest easy knowing that it'll still be there -- justthere—just break the lock, clear out the cobwebs, and continue advancing the plot.

How much of this is [[Truth in Television]] varies widely. In highly-populated areas with thriving economies, this will almost never occur; if an [[Abandoned Hospital]] is sitting unused for any period of time, ''someone's'' going to exploit the local abandoned property laws to claim the land and build something,<ref>unless the cost of cleanup and demolition are exorbitant.</ref>, even if that "something" is just a parking lot. On the other hand, structures in depressed economic areas, remote locations, or [http://englishrussia.com/?p=293 disaster zones] can lay untouched for years, simply because no one is around (or ''wants'' to be around) to care. But even in places where buildings do stand vacant for long periods of time, they're rarely truly ''vacant''. Squatters, trespassers, and thehomeless homelesspeople will take up residence for a time, usually being driven off at semi-regular intervals by the local authorities. And there's always stray dogs/cats, raccoons, and other wild animals.

* Carl and Ellie's house in Pixar's ''[[Up]]''. It appears to have been abandoned for quite some time when Carl and Ellie first meet inside as children, and it remains that way up until they buy and refurbish it after their marriage. [[Egregious]] because [[World War Two]] ([[Fridge Logic|and it's accompanying]] dual housing shortages -- oneshortages—one during the war, [[It Got Worse|and one after]]) happened somewhere in between there.

* In ''[[The Princess and Thethe Frog]]'', Tiana's father sets his sights on an abandoned mill as the place to set up the restaurant he dreams of starting. Not only was the mill empty for some time before he announces this, it remains empty for another ten years or so, while Tiana grows up and saves the money so she can buy the mill for the same purpose after her father dies. One of the things that kicks off the plot is that as soon as she tells the men selling the mill that she's able to afford it, she's informed that someone else just happened to outbid her on it. Given how the men are jerks who suggest that Tiana couldn't handle running a restaurant because she's black, [[Fanon]] has taken to the notion that Tiana was simply lied to about the competition.

* Disney's ''[[Tron Legacy (Film)|Tron: Legacy]]'' begins when Sam Flynn, the son of Kevin Flynn, is spurred to investigate his father's disappearance decades ago. Sam's search takes him to Flynn's abandoned arcade, which has been sitting intact for the last 25 years on the outskirts of town.

* In ''[[ItsIt's a Wonderful Life]]'' George & Mary Bailey move into an old abandoned mansion which until then had been used for the local teens to throw rocks at.

{{quote| '''Spengler:''' I think this building should be condemned. There's serious metal fatigue in all the load-bearing members, the wiring is substandard, it's completely inadequate for our power needs, and the neighborhood is like a demilitarized zone.<br />

* Inverted in ''[[The Shadow (Filmfilm)|The Shadow]]'' (1994 film version): [[Big Bad]] Shiwan Khan uses his [[Mind Control]] powers to hide an entire skyscraper mega-hotel in plain sight by convincing everyone that it's a semi-active construction site.

* [[Slasher Flick]] ''[[Hell Night (Filmfilm)|Hell Night]]'' takes it place in a manor which has been abandoned for 12 years.

* The Victorian mansion in ''[[Mousehunt (Filmfilm)|Mousehunt]]''. Justified as the mouse drove out everyone who tried to live in the house. Exactly how long is that mouse's life-span?

* It hasn't been ''abandoned'', but the video-rental store that holds a vital clue in ''[[Men in Black (Filmfilm)|Men in Black]] II'' is still there after twenty-five years, even though most people moved on to DVDs years ago.

* The Blackwell Hotel in ''[[See no Evil (Film)|See no Evil]]''. Justified because it was just a hobby to its owners and after it almost burned to the ground, they lost interest in it.

* At the end of [[Arthur Machen (Creator)|Arthur Machen]]'s ''The Three Imposters'' (1895) the protagonists stumble upon a mansion that's been abandoned since at least the eighteenth century. It's within walking distance of London and completely accessible to passers-by yet is still untouched except for the natural processes of decay slowly corroding the furniture, tapestries, and other unlooted decor.

* The Riddle House in ''[[Harry Potter (Literaturenovel)|Harry Potter]]'' is abandoned for the most part due to [[Big Bad|Voldemort]] killing the original owners, who were his own family. A few families try to live there but find the place [[Haunted House|creepy]], so the current owner only keeps it for "tax reasons".

* The Hyperion Hotel has been sitting abandoned quite a long time until the title character rents it in ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]''. Of course, the demon in residence there might have had something to do with it.

* Another example of Never Recycle a Room can be found in the fifth season of the new ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' series. In this case, of course, there really ''is'' something protecting the room.

* Gotham City in the Adam West version of ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' had some serious problems with abandoned factories and warehouses. It's almost like they ''wanted'' them to be taken over by criminals.

* The characters in ''[[Highlander (TV series)|Highlander]]'' always find a empty warehouse nearby when they need to fight. While this is usually plausible, there is at least one case when they manage to find one close to the Seine in the center of Paris, in an area where it would need TARDIS-like features to fit.

* ''[[Sim CitySimCity]] 2000'' takes this trope and makes it go as fast as lightning. The moment tenants move out of a building, it is instantaneously transformed into a dirty, run-down ghetto shack, regardless of what it was before. Sometimes a new building will appear on that site, but usually not.

** This depends all on how well one plays the game. The building remaining as run-down ghetto is a direct indication of lack of skill at managing onesone's city.

* In ''[[Constructor]]'' and its [[Spiritual Sequel]] ''[[Mob Rule]]'', if a building is left without a tenant for a long time, it will be settled... by a six-foot cockroach. Needless to say, the neighbors are a litlelittle concerned about bad influence on their children (you know those roaches).

** The Factory is actually a fairly close reproduction of an [http://www.lightningfield.com/04/07/050228.html abandoned] [https://web.archive.org/web/20131103095551/http://aprslw.webs.com/realcodelyoko.htm Renault factory] on Ile Seguin in the Seine River, in Boulogne-Billancourt outside Paris. It was shut down in 1992 and demolished by 2005; the island currently awaits the construction of some sort of cultural project, probably a large art museum. (The show's factory mainly differs in color scheme; the original factory was mostly white on the outside, while the show's is more beige.)

{{quote| '''Homer''': Doh! Stupid revived economy!}}

* As linked in the description, there's [http://englishrussia.com/?p=293 the entire city of Pripyat, Ukraine,] site of the famous Chernobyl incident. HasnHadn't been touched inbetween overMay 202, 1986 and the [[w:Battle of Chernobyl|Battle of Chernobyl]] on February 24, 2022... and abandoned again on March 31, years2022. Of course, there arewere some illegal excursions.

* Abandoned room example: [[w:Crypt of Civilization|The Crypt of Civilization]], a giant airtight time capsule at Oglethorpe University, was forgotten about for thirty years after its sealing in 1940. As it's not supposed to be opened for another 6000 years, somebody'd parked some furniture in front of the door, hiding it from notice for decades.

** ''That'' part is subverted by some [[Abandoned Hospital|Abandoned Hospitals]]s, where equipment that was left behind decades ago -- wheelchairsago—wheelchairs, bed frames, even iron lungs (read: pickup-truck-bed-sized loads of scrap metal, on casters for your convenience) have remained in place for decades.

* A notable variation is [https://web.archive.org/web/20130820032054/http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1975397_2094492,00.html the city of Ordos], in China's [[w:Kangbashi districtDistrict|Kangbashi District]]. It's a "new" city, built by local officials beginning in 2004 to show a healthy annual GDP, but is was almost completely abandoned becauseuntil it's ''toowas expensive''completed forin people2016; toby live2017, inover 300,000 people lived there.

* In Mexico, when a drug dealer is arrested, all property in his name is "secured" until it can be proven it wasn't made with dirty money. Such is the case of one discotheque named "frankie oh", property of Benjamín Arellano Felix, which has been abandoned for years; at one point the entrances were blocked to stop people from going inside. In the later years publicity has been hung outside the please to prettify it a bit. More details (in Spanish) [http://www.debate.com.mx/eldebate/articulos/ArticuloGeneral.asp?IdCat=6097&idart=10415598 here.]{{Dead link}}

* In Evansville Indiana, a couple discovered that an office building that they sought to buy had an entire second story that had been sealed off for over 70 years. Even with much of the furnishings removed it still contained several fireplace mantels, a stack of old canceledcancelled checks dated between June and December 1930 and and other tidbits related to the hardware company that made use of the offices in the second story.

* [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunland_Hospital:Sunland Hospital|Sunnyland]], an abandoned[[Abandoned hospitalHospital]] in Tallahassee, Florida. It wasn't recycled for decades due to the expense of demolishing a building filled with asbestos.