Ep 99: The ‘International’ Code Council with Jesse Zwick (Incentives Series pt. 3)

North American buildings are built different — literally. Councilmember Jesse Zwick explains how the organization behind our unusual standards is built to fail, and he makes the case for a new approach. This is part 3 of our series on misaligned incentives in housing policy. Show notes: Zwick, J. (2025). Out of Code: The Hidden Costs of US Building Standards. Episode 78 of UCLA Housing Voice, on the relationship between building height and construction costs (in the US). Wikipedia article on the Grenfell Tower fire in London. Stephen Smith’s Slate article about elevator building codes. Episode 98 of UCLA Housing Voice, on elevator building code in the US and Canada. Strong Towns article featuring the quote by Lawrence Veiller.

You can listen to Ep 99: The ‘International’ Code Council with Jesse Zwick (Incentives Series pt. 3) online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Ep 99: The ‘International’ Code Council with Jesse Zwick (Incentives Series pt. 3) is an episode from UCLA Housing Voice by UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies.

This episode is 43:54 long.

This episode was published on Oct 8, 2025.

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