THE RISE OF SPECIAL JURISDICTIONS

As the world is becoming more globalised, people learn to vote with their feet. Countries, in turn, have to improve their legal environments to attract the most creative and productive ones. The rise of special jurisdictions — charter cities, foreign trade zones, stateless societies — shows that nothing is as attractive as freedom.

For many, the idea of a stateless utopia has been a cherished dream for decades. Today, thanks to initiatives like Liberland in Europe and Próspera in Central America, it looks less utopian than ever before.

If interested in the future of micronations, special jurisdictions, free trade zones and startup cities, as well as the role of urban planners in an anarchist society, check my speech at the 2020 Liberland Architecture Conference, an overview of real-life attempts to create the ‘John Galt’s Gulch’ using existing legal frameworks.

A short documentary about private cities on why we might need private cities — and why some governments give the green light to such experiments. Titus Gebel, author of Free Private Cities book, Shajay Bhooshan, head of computation & design unit at Zaha Hadid Architect, and myself talk about the market for good governance, private urban planning, and the new ‘prosperity zone’ in Honduras.

In my award-winning essay From Sharing Economy to Private Cities: Why We Need Hayekian Competition in Urban Development I show how “startup cities”, from seasteading platforms in French Polynesia to special zones in Honduras, challenge the state monopoly on urban government.