Should we ban ugly buildings?
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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YIMBY
13 min read
The article centers on the YIMBY movement's internal debate about aesthetics vs. housing supply. Understanding the movement's history, goals, and political positioning provides essential context for the discussion.
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Historic preservation
16 min read
The article discusses how aesthetic regulations might decrease appetite for historic preservation. Understanding the history and justifications of the preservation movement illuminates why it often conflicts with new housing development.
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New Urbanism
15 min read
This urban design movement advocates for walkable, aesthetically coherent neighborhoods and directly informs debates about whether building codes should mandate traditional architectural styles over modernist designs.
The YIMBY movement is divided about whether there is a tradeoff between building more homes and building beautifully. Ben, Sam and Samuel talk about how aesthetic regulations can make building more popular by generating goodwill from the public and decreasing appetite for historic preservation and how one can differentiate between good-faith complaints and pretextual arguments that make buildings economically unviable.
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This excerpt is provided for preview purposes. Full article content is available on the original publication.