[Tactician_mark]

I'm not an expert, but isn't the housing crisis global? From London to Mumbai, Barcelona to Shanghai, Amsterdam to Boston, the world's cities are becoming unaffordable. For the most part you can search "<city name> housing crisis" and find plenty of results. Cities without a housing crisis, like Vienna or Tokyo, appear to be the exceptions. It seems unlikely that North American zoning norms are the biggest contributing factor.

[roneythomas6]

Have you looked into why housing is cheaper in Japan, its zoning. https://www.sightline.org/2021/03/25/yes-other-countries-do-... Also checkout Strong Towns blog they go in depth on this. https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/category/Zoning

[Schiendelman]

Almost all local governments have created the same processes because the incentives to do so are the same. Nobody said "North American zoning" - it's zoning (and land use restrictions) overall.