For romantic reason I think I lean more towards the community building side. There used to be a Hospitaller monastery in the city I live in, was built about around 1170 CE, was initially deserted around 1536 because of the reformation from Catholicism to Protestantism, which kicked out the monks (whom were most likely the reason Denmark got its flag, Dannebrog, as it’s practically the same as the Knights Hospitaller), then converted into barracks for the light infantry, then into a castle, and finally around 1800 it was abandoned, and nearby farmers used the bricks from the ruin to build their own farmsteads.