My "favorite" statistic about this is that Somerville, MA has 80,000 inhabitants, but only 22 legal-today residential buildings. To be sure, a lot of Somervill

My "favorite" statistic about this is that Somerville, MA has 80,000 inhabitants, but only 22 legal-today residential buildings. To be sure, a lot of Somerville is steep-staired, not-handicapped-accessible, and so on. But the most punishing regulations are also the silliest: high floorspace-to-inhabitant ratios, mandatory closets in bedrooms, punitive frontage and lawn space requirements. At a certain point this doesn't look like a mystery: redeveloping in cities is inherently expensive, and conforming to elaborate regulations means only luxury housing (or sometimes, no housing at all) can turn a profit.