— Suggestions —
Can we make roads block ropes like floor tiles do, and also not decay if “inside”?
And secondly,
Can tribes /invite “guest” members, regardless of said guest being a member of another tribe? Tribe guests would be able to use tribe gates (or a third type of gate could be made but I’m trying to save on sprites).
— Reasoning —
This would be to make a shared “walled city” both possible and secure. Roads within must be preserved and block ropes. Everyone would be “guests” of the “<city> tribe” (whatever we called it) so they could use the gates without having to drop their tribe. Anyone who caused a ruckus would be blacklisted/”exiled”. A market area could be reserved for shops, allowing greater peace of mind for store owners. And we can expand the residential areas as necessary; from there so long as people chip in to keep the walls up we’ll have ourselves a proper Jericho.
General idea, actual size would depend on population so as not to over-build.

OR short of a significant building project, you can simply connect your buildings and your neighbors with shared gates (obviously with permission…). Any roads so enclosed would be protected from otherwise effortless griefing.

— Opinion —
I don’t see downsides to either of these suggestions. There’s no particular reason for roads to not block ropes, and if a tribe doesn’t want guests they can simply not use the feature. But I think tribes may find it a useful feature regardless.
— Conclusion —
So, city or not, net positives without apparent negatives.
And it opens the possibility of a neat project if a server is up to it.