Dear readers,
The Free Private Cities idea is spreading in a very healthy manner. You can now contribute directly by participating in our first Story Contest; we recently held the first Ambassadors & Advisors Conference in Monaco; we also give an update on Tipolis Corporation and the Free Private Cities Foundation.
As announced in the last newsletter, the for-profit and non-profit branches of Free Private Cities have been split to manage the growing workload. Both Tipolis and the Free Private Cities Foundation have assembled their respective teams and defined their strategic roadmaps. While the non-profit Free Private Cities Foundation will spread the idea, Tipolis will exclusively focus on the realization of Free Private Cities and Prosperity Zones. Tipolis has assembled a strong team, and their new website www.tipolis.com is online.
This newsletter will from now on be continued by the Free Private Cities Foundation, which has made the necessary changes to the website.
Story contest
A dramatic love story that unfolds in a world with various Free Private Cities? A heroic saga where the protagonist defends a free society against a totalitarian Ancien Régime? A detective story where the investigator works for a premier international arbitration court?
The idea of individual liberty is inspiring and exciting. Next to explaining and proving the concept, it is essential to bring Free Private Cities into being in the mental and emotional sphere.
We therefore hold our first story contest. Write about fictional events in the future that are somehow related to Free Private Cities; Everyone is invited to participate and send a well-written piece of at least 2’000 words in English to [email protected]
Deadline: February 28, 2021
We offer the following rewards:
1st place: USD 2’000
2nd place: USD 1’000
3rd place: USD 500
The winners will be presented in the next edition of this Newsletter and on the website; In addition, your story might make it into an anthology on Free Private Cities. Further details will be made available on our website in the following weeks.
Video Testimonials
We are currently producing a series of video testimonials to share personal stories of attachment to Free Private Cities and personal visions of the future with real, existing Free Private Cities. Also, well-versed critique or replies to common critique are welcome. If you wish to contribute, please send us your proposal outlining the testimonial you have in mind to [email protected]
First Conference
On October 17, our Ambassadors and Advisors at Free Private Cities and the Tipolis Team convened in Monaco to discuss the latest developments and strategize for the future. There were outstanding talks about different subjects, some of which will be uploaded to our Youtube channel, and great internal discussions.
There is currently a strong momentum and traction to move Free Private Cities forward, with increased engagement and networking of our existing ambassadors, besides new ones joining our ranks. Overall, the event was a big success and we all left in very high spirits.
A presentation on the Charter Cities Ecosystem
What is happening around the world?
All around the globe, a multitude of projects for semi-autonomous cities and zones is spawning and public interest is increasing at a fast rate. At the Free Private Cities Foundation, we are inundated with expressions of interest and requests.
As most of you know, the ZEDE Próspera on the Honduran island of Roatán is currently the most advanced autonomous zone project worldwide, but many others are in the pipeline, including in Honduras itself. At Próspera, the first so-called beta-building will be inaugurated in December. The second ZEDE Morazán is focusing on industrial production and is quickly moving forward with construction works. Both have faced some local challenges but so far seem to go along well. While the Free Private Cities Foundation is scouting for new opportunities and increasing public awareness, Tipolis is working hard on the ground at selected, promising locations. Currently, negotiations with two African countries are ongoing.
The Seasteaders of Ocean Builders have recently taken advantage of the hard times for the tourism industry and bought an entire cruise ship, which will sail under the flag of Panama. Renamed as “MS Satoshi”, the project has drawn quite some media attention and is an inspiring addition to the field.
Elon Musk has publicly talked about “homesteading Mars” and thus introduced the concept of new jurisdictions to his huge audience. Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Balaji Srinivasan and Ryan Rzepecki have each started Free Private Cities projects of their own. The former plans to start in the digital realm and later go physical, while the latter is looking for a location to benefit from an exodus of remote workers from Silicon Valley.
New special economic zones are proposed for Sri Lanka and even Greece, however, without the much needed legal autonomy of a Free Private City. A new special economic zone in Azerbaijan allows for more legal autonomy, and may be promising. The competition is strong, as there is no lack of special economic zones. The most successful ones will have to distinguish themselves: The UAE is about to secularize its personal and family law, while further reforms in Shenzhen may increase its autonomy as a step to compete even more with Hong Kong. For Hong Kong, the idea of scouting for a new location has reached a lot of media attention in the UK.
A new interview with Titus has been published, our colleagues Francisco Litvay and Marcelo Soruco have published a paper on Developing Brazil with Prosperity Zones, and Rahim’s new German-language book on Europe after Covid-19 introduces Free Private Cities as the most promising step forward to a broader mainstream audience.
As always, we’re counting on your support to help spread the idea as much as possible. Please share our website, book and content with friends, think tanks, (social) media channels, politicians and others that might be interested. If you’d like to represent Free Private Cities, consider applying to become a local ambassador for your region.
Thank you for your continued interest and support. For any questions, proposals, criticism, etc. you are welcome to write at [email protected]
Zurich, Switzerland, December 2020
Marc-Felix Otto, Rahim Taghizadegan and Titus Gebel
