The economist Paul Romer has been making the rounds talking about and/or selling a concept called "Charter Cities." The idea is based on an analysis of what generated the success of Hong Kong and the Hanseatic league (see this article in the Atlantic for more that), namely, a minimalist "western" ruleset that's honestly enforced. His belief is that you can take any uninhabited bit of land, give it a new set of minimalist rules, and it will automagically generate the equivalent of Hong Kong (which served as the model for future success in China).
Here's Romer at TED speaking about the concept:
If we boil this down, his contention is that all that is needed for future success (anywhere) is a good rule set. This rule set will attract people (opt-in), generate economic success, and eventually replicate itself within the territory of the country that hosts it. In contrast, the corrupted and path dependent rules sets currently in place in many parts of the developing world impede progress or success.
I'm working on an analysis of this vs. Resilient Communities that I will post later.