Sure, why attempt to improve the climate resilience or affordable housing in the cities where millions of people already live, when you can just buy land upstate and get a whole new toy to play with? And why tell local, state or national government anything - they’ll only be supplying the land, water, sewerage, utilities & transport links. You pay your taxes, you deserve to get something back.
This is going to be one hell of a planning application. What’s the land use code for “feudal stronghold”?
Way before Disney. Le Corbusier. The Garden City movement. It goes back to the Renaissance, really.
Napoleon III appointed Haussmann to redesign Paris, and he did a good job (although some aspects of the design were intended to prevent civil unrest). But Paris was already a major city. They didn’t decide to build a totally new capital 60 miles from Paris. I guess St. Petersburg is a closer analogy?