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27 June 2011

Charter Cities

This is a concept I've been curious about for a while, but Paul Romer seems to have worked out a lot of the details and is actually making it happen. The concept is this: cities are worth more than it costs to build them. But yet historically they have to develop naturally and are their growth is burdened by their complexity, laws, and bureaucracy. What if instead the general framework for the city is predetermined? A vast tract of land is set aside and laws and a tax structure that encourage growth are put in place. The city is essentially a sovereign city-state within a country. There will definitely be some interesting problems that arise but it none the less is very fascinating and I think promising. South Korea and China have already done similar things and are actually helping with the project (second video).

The first video is by far the more interesting of the two.


And the follow up of this actually becoming reality in Central America...

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