Interesting. In my home country in Africa building in the cities and towns is also quite difficult. There are all sorts of regulations along with corruption you have to deal with. From as far back as I can remember most people still wanted to own a house in the town or city. It was seen as more prestigious. We would bear with it and eventually build your home. However in the last 10 years or so with availability of solar panels and drilling boreholes being cheaper I have noticed a shift. People now migrating back to the villages. Two main reasons, the land is free and there are no building regulations. The village headman allocates you your land and you good to go. There are some rules to follow with how deep your pit latrine needs to be but that's about it. There has been an explosion of all sorts of building designs in the villages, some good and some not so. But lack of regulation has been good. Oh final note another "disadvantage" with building in village is that there are no title deeds. Homes are passed down to kids or other relatives