[72f988bf]

This extreme of "no zoning" doesn't work because of the negative externalities you can create, affecting your neighbors

Simply put: if you get to build your perfect house, with a nice mountain view, the neighbor west of you could build a building the size of the empire state building, and so does your neighbor east of you. Now you don't have any sunlight. The neighbor south of you could build a smelly & noisy factory, and the one north of you could build a nightclub.

[kelnos]

But zoning itself also creates negative externalities.

I think some zoning does make sense. Totally agreed that we don't want a factory and a nightclub right next to everyone's homes.

But I don't believe that anyone is entitled to their view. The idea that you can buy a plot of land and somehow "own" the line-of-sight between that plot of land and a set of mountains that might be dozens of miles away is just unreasonable, and is not in the public interest.

In your extreme example, it would suck to lose that view, but consider that, after those skyscrapers get built, your property value would likely shoot through the roof. Take that windfall and build a new house on some other land with a great view, land that's less desirable for high-density housing.