I've had this idle thought of what a game-theoretic solution to the NIMBY dynamic would involve: Some kind of investment vehicle offered to a community as part of a development plan, perhaps? Surely someone has thought of this before. The incentives for residents to cooperate need to be really good, else they'll fall back on a conservative outlook. Especially so as you start looking towards residents towards the old/disabled/sick end of the spectrum, who may be physically burdened by the impact of new construction.

I can say that as it is, the process of development is more like consumer marketing: schedule lots of meetings and interviews that sell people on the idea of accepting development rather than giving them a stake in its success. It encourages confrontational deadlock, a buildup of pressure followed by earthquakes of change, as the developers and government gradually start colluding to strongarm residents when they refuse to budge.