Brand 74: "Most building code systems are a manifestation of the whole community learning. What they embody is good sense, acquired the hard way from generations of recurrent problems. Form follows failure."
Though Brand also quotes Gene Logsdon's counterpoint: "[Honest builders argue] that codes established minimal standards, and minimal standards sanctify mediocrity. Mediocre builders can undersell good builders. The upshot is that newcomers hire mediocre builders thinking themselves protected by codes, and they get mediocre houses."