In general, urban areas implement stricter interpretations of health and building codes, while rural jurisdictions tend to take a more lenient approach.

Luisa Fabbri looked like an apparition as she walked down a deserted tree-lined avenue in Altadena, the blackened remains of buildings on either side of her, power lines on the pavement and smoke ...

"She called it a ball pit for grown-ups," Emi says. The square, one-room house, filled with bursts of color, has an undeniably playful quality about it. Architects Ezequiel Adelmo Manasseri and ...