> like Japan with like barely any zoning laws I read an article a year or two ago (maybe posted here?) about Japan's zoning laws and they just make sense. - R

> like Japan with like barely any zoning laws I read an article a year or two ago (maybe posted here?) about Japan's zoning laws and they just make sense. - Rather than dozens of categories, there are just 4 or 5 in increasing amounts of annoyance (e.g residence -> retail/office -> manufacturing) and areas approved for one level can always be used by lower levels. - The laws are uniform nationally. - Zoning decisions get made at higher levels (prefecture or national?) so they can consider what the whole region needs, and get less NIMBYism / maximize-my-near-term-property-value-ism. I don't recall whether they even have the distinct single-family versus multi-family dwelling categorization that seems to cause so much of the housing supply shortage in the U.S.