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In most provinces and municipalities in Canada, you can't even have a yurt on your property without planning permission, and town councils are regarded widely a
by motohagiography 6y ago
In most provinces and municipalities in Canada, you can't even have a yurt on your property without planning permission, and town councils are regarded widely as the worst possible bureaucracies to deal with. This is what prevents experimental living that could actually catch on and create something new and sustainable. You can't even build off grid homes in many places because they are not to code, which is subject to capture by various professions and consultants.
There are so many possible alternatives to sprawl, but the culture of bureaucracy is designed to prevent deviation from creating suburban blight. A set of jurisdictions that supported (or didn't get in the way of) experimental development would be really useful.
- mrtksn 6y agoIMHO innovation happens in places with lots of contestants. If you look at places with lax building codes or ineffective enforcement, what you get is favelas and similar. On the other hand, many cities have an indigenous architecture due to some kind of regulation or tax code. For example, in Paris the architecture is the way it is because owners optimizes to meet the hight criteria and avoid being taxed for the top floor. I’m not into architecture but I suspect that architecture firms also specializes on dealing with bureaucracy, which heightens the entry barrier for the would-be builders/architects. That said, I would agree that there could be a case of over regulation that would lead to dullness.
- f00zz 6y agoI'd argue that, at least in Sao Paulo, favelas are the result of overly strict zoning and building codes.
- misterkrabs 6y agoIn Vancouver, city council preserved site lines of the mountains and public access to the ocean. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouverism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouverism