[MichaelBurge]

They should just repeal zoning laws entirely. Maybe make an exception for polluting heavy industry, or for people using government money or government-backed loans. It should probably even be a constitutional amendment.

People who want quiet suburbs can pool together a corporation to own a planned community. That limits the scope of their NIMBYism to just their community, and as shareholders they could vote on whether to get paid for selling their land to Walmart or Google or the people wanting to set up high-density apartment complexes. Plus they have an even stronger voice in their immediate community, so they can do things like build walls to keep the homeless out. I think getting bought out as a shareholder would warm them to the idea; if Walmart buys the land next door you just want to complain, but if you're getting some of the money you might be in favor.

The government should only have the power to prescribe structural integrity rules, fire safety codes, building codes for number of exits, etc.

[mtviewdave]

The "corporation" you've described is a government. Literally.

A government (in the United States) is just a mechanism for an area's resident citizenry to express their collective will. Whether you call it "government" with "citizens", or a "corporation" with "shareholders", it's the same thing.

[MichaelBurge]

They fill similar conceptual roles, but the details are different.

[paulddraper]

...and those details are?

[paulddraper]

Are you advocating something on the scale of a home owners' association, a suburb, or a large city?

Any way, I fail to see how it would be materially different. A group of people, who collectively own the land make rules (laws) about how it can be used by other member of the group.

[MichaelBurge]

I think people would have trouble setting up anything larger than a suburb. It's different because currently even the likes of Google can't just buy your house and replace it with a self-driving car garage. In this hypothetical world, all they would need to do is convince one of N different communities to sell or lease them the land.

[OedipusRex]

I have the feeling if this happens land will be bought up by corporations, not the other way around.