[kelnos]

It would be orders of magnitude cheaper to buy up islands and space in countries that don't care, and then find ways to connect them to the required infrastructure, than it would be to build them in space.

Hell, it would be cheaper to figure out how to build them on the ocean.

[inglor_cz]

I think Prospera and its kerfuffles with Honduras put a definitive end to the "islands" idea.

Governments can change and the next one may be very unfriendly. "Rich gringos/infidels/colonizers are abusing our land sold for sordid money" is a very efficient populist call almost everywhere on the planet.