Duany bound with red tape

CNU co-founder Andres Duany and many of his colleagues launched the Lean Urbanism initiative two years ago to fight overregulation in building cities and towns. Duany recounts that his generation of architects and builders in the 1970s and 1980s faced a much lighter regulatory regime. Walton County, Florida, didn't even have a planning department when the new urban resort Seaside was first proposed. Getting anything done these days takes more effort. "You can’t just bake a cookie and sell it. You must have the certified kitchen with the grease trap and $70,000 electrical system," he says. Duany asserts that the young start-up entrepreneur, the immigrant, and the fledging architectural practitioner are all bound by layers of red tape, which prevent them from success. He proposes measures such as simplified codes and "pink zones"—areas where red tape is lightened—to reduce the burden of unnecessary bureaucracy.