Cities do this all the time, they make zones for different buildings like industrial and residential buildings, and make sure nobody builds the wrong building in those zones. So why not add this to MC2. Maybe the settlement leader can divide thier land into zones that only allow certain buildings, then let other players build in those zones. This would give the settlement leader some level of control over their settlement, while also allowing other players to invest in the settlement without messing it up by doing something like placing a house next to a bunch of factories.
For reference see also
this reply from Vince (under "Functional attributues")