ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN BUILDING REGULATIONS IN KENYA

Abstract

Building regulations provide guidance and create a restrain in the actions that are required to create living environments. The search for shelter is a primordial human activity which is a form of expression of the individuality of those who built. Guidance if this process raises ethical issues in the balance between individual predilections and community interests. This predicament is at the heart of the very need for regulations. In this conceptual paper, the nature of this dilemma is explored by analysing the issues that create ethical hazards and their mitigation, springing initially from the Kenya regulations but referencing international concerns. The paper finds that a sure path to the resolution of ethical issues has not been found yet, but pointers to its form can be garnered from available understandings. It concludes by affirming the primacy of human rights and human dignity on one level and the primacy of societal and universal values on another.