It looks like it went from a warm, shared neighborhood to mismatched, isolated islands.

The saddest part to me is the loss of the matching fence style and what appears to be a shared gate to access the sidewalk. The neighborhood I grew up in had a lot of connected yards like that, and it was really nice.

This.

When studying architecture, one of the things I discovered is how well modern buildings can fit together with pretty much any older style... but it has to be done with a little bit of finesse. The lack of a gate and ugly lawn here are pretty bad.

The house on the left though... That's a crime against good taste.

House on the left? You mean the small blue barn?

Yeah I'm honestly a bit more upset that they painted that beautiful brick house neon blue

If they had brought the house forward a bit they could have a normal size front area, and a bit of back garden which is more useful. Could even have divided up the land a bit better to leave some space around the house on the left. I guess it was done this way so as not to block the view of the house on the left, but the whole thing just seems like bad planning and bad taste.

Getting rid of grass isn't a bad thing. Pavers isn't great, but grass is horrible.