The Type V City : Codifying Urban Material Inequity

Early American city builders developed material regulations that define where and when specific building materials can be used based on a singular urban risk, conflagration.

Over the next century, building codes translated fire protection goals into rules addressing vulnerabilities at the building scale - including occupancy, building height, and property line proximity - to define the range of allowable building materials in specific locations.

The resulting 'Construction Types' produced a product-scale material performance mentality and gave rise to urban neighborhoods characterised by a dominant building material with correlating delineations of socioeconomic vulnerability.

Encoded in these material choices and the patterns they establish, one can find a direct link between building codes, construction materials, financial policy, and overall quality of life, marking an essential arena for social and economic debate in the built environment.