[mmsimanga]

This. I live in Africa where I estimate we have at a minimum a few decades to go to catch up with the world when it comes to everyone having a decent house to live in. Trouble is in the towns some of the modern construction rules have slowed things down considerably. No I am not advocating for having no rules but I contend that when the more advanced countries started building hundreds of years ago they didn't have to contend with modern building laws we are having to contend with.

What is interesting is that there are no building codes to conform to in the village. So you can build as you please.

[KennyBlanken]

New construction slowing down isn't too much of a problem if the construction lasts longer and costs less to maintain.

[mmsimanga]

When you a few hundred years behind most of the world it is a problem. I don't know of any building in sub Saharan Africa that predates the colonialists. I know Egypt and North Africa do have old buildings but not where I am from.

Result is overcrowding and people living in shacks.

[dzonga]

great zimbabwe and other ruins in southern africa predate the colonists others like benin city were destroyed by the colonists

[mmsimanga]

I get your point but I was specifically refering to houses in cities that people live in. The majority of houses were mud huts in Zimbabwe and these were not dwellings passed on from generation to generation. This is contrast to cities like London were some buildings have been standing for hundreds of years. This means new generations are not starting building from scratch.

[darkerside]

What makes you think new construction would last longer? If anything, new innovations in building techniques and materials are optimized to be cheap and last just long enough.