[meme] Why do we make it so obscenely hard to build anything?

I can tell you that lack of regulation also causes problems. My kids school is only a half mile away through medium density housing, and they still can’t make it the whole way without walking in the road because the city won’t force people to make sidewalks.

You expect the city to build roads, so why the home owner to build sidewalks?
- Well sure, but the city won’t build sidewalks either.
- Why would homeowners have to build sidewalks? Why don't the housing developers do it? Thats how it works in the UK for new estates

Cut to a shot of the ancient city planner wondering why the city burned to the ground

I think the real trick is knowing which regulations are written in blood and/or misery, and which ones are based on bullshit (like parking minimums).
- Looking for a spot where I live takes me like 20min on average, not uncommon to be 45min-1h. Maybe minimum parking regulations aren't complete bullshit
- Parking was written in the pain of not finding a parking spot. While not blood, the pain was and is real. We should be against parking minimums anyway because - stores have incentive to find the right amount of parking for customers without overpaying, and parking at all is bad for transit/density and so we want to encourage less parking to encourage transit. Parking regulations thus have other unwanted effects as well.
Outcome of too much zoning regulation is tent cities.
Outcome of zero zoning regulation is Kowloon Walled City.
I'll take Kowloon any day of the week.
- That many people that close together is my idea of hell, but you do you
- Kowloon city was crazy dense because it was a tiny tract of disputed land in an otherwise regulated urban area. An ancient city is actually a much more typical example, and yeah, I choose that. I'll just get some noseplugs, avoid the most flammable areas, and wash my hands a lot.
  And, funny enough, tent cities are super against zoning and other regulation. Homeless people are supposed to leave at all times, wherever they happen to be, while being complained about.
Sure, but that least that city was pretty before it burned as the planner didn't force every building to be white, yellow, or grey, with black shingles on the roof - they do require a "natural" brick facade half way up the front, but not the rest of the house. No other colors, no painting pictures on your walls. No energy efficient light color roofs.
- I mean, have you seen a picture from a third world slum? No planning probably means more colours, but I'm not sure wires running all over the place is your cup of tea.

Honestly this is still a good counterexample to ancient stuff sucking (which is rare), since this is the only problem I can think of. They even had districts for things like dyers to keep the environment not too offensive. (Which you could still live in, if you happened to be a dyer anyway!)
Nothing of consequence was lost in that though.
- Yeah, if it were important we'd know about it, right?

Also modern day Japan.