ana025: Free Private Cities | Titus Gebel Interview

We interview Titus Gebel, the Founder, President and CEO of Free Private Cities Inc.

Free Private Cities is working towards building new, greenfield cities using a model of individual bilateral contracts between each citizen and the city owner/operator.

In his book, "Free Private Cities: Making Governments Compete for You," Titus describes why and how Free Private Cities should be developed.

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View full show notes at http://anarchitecturepodcast.com/ana025.

----more---- Intro

• The Free Private Cities Concept
  • Individual contracts
  • A simple idea, with profound consequences
  • Autonomy from the host nation
• Real World prototypes: Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Singapore
• Unique forms of urban development
  • Patrik Schumacher - Market Based Urban Order
• Open to market experimentation
  • Competing service provider models
• Incentives to cover maintenance costs
• Book: Free Private Cities: Making Governments Compete for You by Titus Gebel

Discussion

• What is a Free Private City (FPC)?
  • A concept to make governments compete for you
  • Rights and obligations of citizen and service provider are captured in an individual contract
  • A contract should not be changed by only one party
  • The Monaco realization - good governance makes political action unnecessary
• Location location location!
  • Is a weak or friendly sponsor government a geographical feature?
  • Location factors -
    • climate
    • proximity to infrastructure
    • access to trade
    • technology can improve desirability of remote locations and seasteads
• How does the process get started?
  • Spread the idea
  • Proposals from candidate countries
  • Legal autonomy is the hardest part
  • The sales pitch - Special Economic Zones
  • Seeking finance: $100m opens a lot of doors
  • At some point, they will hopefully compete for us
• Examples - Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Macao
  • More than 4,000 Special Economic Zones (SEZ's) and Special Administrative Regions (SAR's) already exist
  • SEZ's create wealth for the surrounding regions
• How do you integrate existing occupants?
  • Concept is based on 100% voluntary participation
  • Ideal is to start on uninhabited territory
  • Existing occupants
    • Referendum to join city
    • Offer free/discounted citizenship
    • Compensation for displacement
• How does property ownership work?
  • Everything is conceivable
  • City operator is a for-profit entity
  • Operator would likely own the land, sell parcels to raise funds
  • Option agreements or partnerships with existing landowners
  • Lease model - less likely but also possible
  • User fees alone may not be sufficient
• Push vs. Pull development
  • Start small, organic growth
  • Some master planning is needed for easements, etc.
  • Patrik Schumacher - zoning for aesthetics in city center
  • "The Freak Zone" in outer areas - little or no zoning
• Lighter touch, use based zoning
  • Height and noise restrictions alone can determine uses
• Opportunities for more unique urban forms
  • Disneyland as a SEZ
  • Patrik Schumacher - Market Based Urban Order
  • We don't know, so we want to try it out
  • Different districts with different rules
• How do you manage change?
  • Noise threshold and other development rights can be sold
• Multiple competing operators / providers within one city?
  • This is possible for certain services
  • Provision of security should be a monopoly
  • Transaction costs too high
  • "I'm happy if people can prove me wrong"
  • Competing security within subdevelopments, with subsidiarity to the operator
  • San Francisco private police force
• City operator as an intermediary
  • "Social contract" is a contract between each individual and every other individual
  • People think they own city assets because they pay taxes
  • The FPC contract model clarifies the relationship
  • In a FPC, other citizens can't interfere with your contract with the operator
  • Much better protection for individual liberties
  • Representative systems are susceptible to lobbying, cronyism, power plays
  • Taxes don't entitle you to any services
• FPC operator is liable for malperformance of contract - compensation for poor security performance
  • Joe's house was broken into
  • Only role of the police was an official report for the insurance claim
  • Monaco car vandalism - direct access to the minister
  • More cameras, and more screening of immigrants
  • "If you are not punishing people for doing bad things, they will do it again"
  • Cameras and police presence in an FPC - not as creepy as when a government does it - is it a surveillance state if there is no state?
  • There are always trade offs
  • If you are not providing effective security, you will go out of business
  • People come to Monaco because the cameras are there, keeping them safe
  • A cruise ship captain can legally abuse his passengers - but he treats them like customers
• How would disputes between a citizen and the operator be adjudicated?
  • Third party arbitration, special courts
  • No different than any major construction contract
  • Minimum payment to arbitrators is $1,200 - not feasible for small claims
  • Small claims tribunals a potential solution
  • Easier in theory than in practice
• Other means of citizen involvement in city management
  • It's not so important who owns the city operator, as long as the contracts are enforced
  • Some cities might require citizens to purchase a share of ownership
  • Cooperatives are possible
  • Various councils can be formed, but cannot violate citizen contracts or force changes to the contract
• Public space is one service offered by the operator
  • Kicking someone out of a city means preventing them from using public space.
  • Cities who expel criminals from public and private spaces will end up looking less like a police state
• Restitution to victims
  • Operator makes citizen whole, criminal owes the operator compensation
  • Keep punishment/imprisonment to a minimum, prefer expulsion and compensation to victims
  • Multiple laboratories to see what really works
• Projects on the horizon
  • Subscribe to FPC newsletter for updates
  • Buy the book (link below)

Links/Resources

• Free Private Cities Website
  • The Book: Free Private Cities: Making Governments Compete for You by Titus Gebel
    • Listen to the Audiobook for free at Mises.org
  • Subscribe to the Newsletter
• Patrik Schumacher
  • Free Market Urban Order (YouTube)
  • Architecture's Contribution to the Progress of Freedom, Patrik Schumacher 2019 (YouTube)

Episodes Mentioned

• Patrik Schumacher Series
  • ana011: Patrik Schumacher (3 of 4) | The Interview
• ana023: Strong Towns for Libertarians | Chuck Marohn Interview

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