In the provincial town of Tetritsqaro, young, unemployed men stand outside their dilapidated houses in the morning, drinking cans of beer.

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From the viewing platform, visitors are encircled by the 15m-high and 60m-long view, from the neighbourhood of Kreuzberg in the west to the Mitte district in the east, with the iconic spike of the Fernsehturm television tower, smoke-belching factories and dilapidated houses dominating the horizon.

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One of the Army's most senior generals is vowing to personally oversee the upgrade of a dilapidated hospital ward that houses soldiers recovering from injuries sustained in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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In the 1960s and '70s, artists, writers and musicians moved into the dilapidated area, restoring some of the aging houses and breathing new life into the neighbourhood.

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Now the houses were smaller, and there was room behind them for dilapidated bits of an old elevated railway.

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Some are dilapidated but others have been spectacularly restored, including the former Bank of Indochina building, which now houses a fine-dining restaurant with an excellent view across the square.

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One day shortly thereafter, Bon Jovi was walking through a dilapidated section of North Philadelphia with housing crusader Sister Mary Scullion, who suggested he fix up one of the houses.

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