This is such a fundamental part of the game I surely hope the developers know how to achieve their aims.
Clearly it's dumb if I can stop a tribe developing their land by making a few roads or dropping logs there. Equally it's daft if people can leave baskets all over the place that cannot be removed.
I was surprised when I deleted a character of mine and his basket was still stuck in the ground afterwards.
I would also hope there is some way (even if difficult) for a tribe to damage the walls of another tribe's fortifications, and even a way to overrun it.
I also think fires should need replenishing to stop them blighting the landscape in every direction.