Many old buildings protected by law are part of a nation’s history. Some people think they should be knocked down and replaced by new ones. How important is it to maintain old buildings? Should history stand in the way of progress? (Band 9)

IELTS Writing Sample: Many old buildings protected by law are part of a nation’s history. Some people think they should be knocked down and replaced by new ones. How important is it to maintain old buildings? Should history stand in the way of progress? [Band 9]

Another way to consider this question is the following: Isn’t history by definition progress? History demarcates the progression of time in every culture. So how can history stand in the way of itself?

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Progress can occur in any form that humans decide is best. But is it really progressive to pile skyscraper buildings up next to each other? I know there are a lot of people who think so and they would definitely disagree with me. After all, there are many more people in the world nowadays and most of them prefer to live in the cities.

But I don’t think overpopulation and progress are the same thing. Some people believe that destroying nature is the same thing as progress. In fact, many people probably believed that when the first big cities were being built. Now there is a question of whether or not to knock down and replace those same buildings that indirectly led to the destruction of nature in every region that they were built!

Despite these realities, there is the simple fact that buildings in previous centuries were often built to much higher architectural and artistic standards. So, they must be preserved at all cost. Every nation that has old architecture also has tourists. Sometimes if there are too many tourists, however, the old buildings decay more quickly!

It is a difficult problem, but I believe that if nations are privileged enough to have old buildings in their cities, then everything possible should be done to preserve them. The public interest is more important than personal profits, in my opinion. [263 words]