If people want personal space, the best way to ensure that is to buy up a large chunk of property.
What people actually want is 1) to live in a nice place where there are a bunch of amenities and 2) to have space. But since 2 is expensive in nice places, they use zoning laws and other NIMBY stuff to try and get the space at others' expense, rather than buying a sufficiently large lot, which is not cheap.
What people actually want is 1) to live in a nice place where there are a bunch of amenities and 2) to have space. But since 2 is expensive in nice places, they use zoning laws and other NIMBY stuff to try and get the space at others' expense, rather than buying a sufficiently large lot, which is not cheap.