How many now-classic design features are actually tax-avoidance strategies?

On the 99% Invisible blog, producer Kurt Kohlstedt shares how, "from basic materials to entire architectural styles, building codes and taxation strategies have had huge historical impacts on the built world as we know it."
Some of the world's most celebrated vernacular architecture may in fact be the "product of regulation and taxes as much aesthetic tastes." For example:
- Paris's mansard roofs started in part as a means for builders to optimize space under height limitations dating from 1783. "The limit was based on measuring up to the cornice line, leaving out the roof zone above," Kohlstedt explains.
- The narrow shape of Dutch canal houses was encouraged by a tax that targeted canal frontage. Efforts to avoid that tax produced a ripple effect, Kohlstedt notes: "This typology evolved narrower staircases, necessitating exterior hoist systems to move furniture and goods into and out of upper floors."
On the blog, 99% Invisible shares more examples of regulation-driven architecture from around the world—and debunks fabled design genealogies that turn out to be myths.
FULL STORY: Vernacular Economics: How Building Codes & Taxes Shape Regional Architecture

Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage
Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees
More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?

In Both Crashes and Crime, Public Transportation is Far Safer than Driving
Contrary to popular assumptions, public transportation has far lower crash and crime rates than automobile travel. For safer communities, improve and encourage transit travel.

Report: Zoning Reforms Should Complement Nashville’s Ambitious Transit Plan
Without reform, restrictive zoning codes will limit the impact of the city’s planned transit expansion and could exclude some of the residents who depend on transit the most.

Judge Orders Release of Frozen IRA, IIJA Funding
The decision is a victory for environmental groups who charged that freezing funds for critical infrastructure and disaster response programs caused “real and irreparable harm” to communities.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Clanton & Associates, Inc.
Jessamine County Fiscal Court
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service