Understandable. I also get emotional, though differently.

I reminisce when I see old buildings, even those in poor condition.

They make me think of the history of the place, and the connections I have to the past.

Also, I've lived in a lot of humble circumstances and have really liked the people I got to know, so I'm somewhat biased towards less modernized settings. I understand that there are a lot of problems in indigent places, and I don't want to minimize that at all, but I have fond memories.

This reminds me of Orhan Pamuk's Istanbul and the concept of hüzün. The memories of a once-great city and the collective melancholia of the people living among the ruins.