Before I began reading this chapter on suburbanization, it did not occur to me that it is only a recent development in the United States for the government to care so much about the details of where people live. Jackson mentions how in the 1600’s sometimes city governments would ban wooden dwellings and thatched roofs in the center of town (for obvious reasons – in the days when fire pits were used for everything from warmth to laundry to cooking, one spark that gets out could set the whole town on fire!). However, for the most part, buying, building, or expanding one’s home was largely deregulated.

This stands in stark contrast to today, where in most municipalities there are so many rules it is often to the detriment of the homeowner/house hunter. To expand even within the confines of one’s house that one owns – merely switching up rooms or knocking down walls so that the total amount of space one takes up is conserved at the end of the project – likely requires a trip to city hall and a variety of permits.

As a child, I remember the time my grandparents were redesigning their home on Cape Cod, they were not allowed to turn their unfinished basement (which looked a lot more like a cellar than a basement) into an officially recognized basement. So, (legally), they built a basement and as per building code, did not close off any of the rooms downstairs with doors. Instead of referring to the basement as this name, they decided to call it the “lower level.” Perhaps we have swung too far in the other direction – going from too little regulation, where the poor would end up on the street and in poorhouses (think Oliver Twist!), to too many rules that make expansion and renewal a huge headache.