VIDEO: "The World's First Charter City?" [TED]
Back in 2009, Paul Romer unveiled the idea for a “charter city” - a new kind of city with rules that favor democracy and trade. This year, at TED2011, he tells the story of how such a city might just happen in Honduras … with a little help from his TEDTalk.
"Future Cities Need to Hand Over the Keys" [CFR]
Excerpt: “Rather than push for reform within a political system, he suggests starting afresh from the outside. In business, after all, new ideas are often championed by insurgent start-ups rather than by incumbents – IBM, master of the ancient mainframe, never championed the PC; Microsoft, hegemon of the hard drive, came late to cloud computing. Likewise in government, free entry and competition may trump reform from within the establishment. American mayors, frustrated in their attempts to shake up incumbent education systems, have encouraged experimental charter schools.
"The Quest for a 'Charter City'" [The Wall Street Journal]
Excerpt: “You can’t change the rules in the middle of the game,” he said, flashing a photo of a soccer game on a screen. “Create a new playing field and see if anyone wants to play.” Click here to read the full article by David Wessel.
A New City in Honduras
The government in Honduras is convinced that a charter city could be the safe playing field, with new rules, where Hondurans of all backgrounds can come together and put their skills to work with the financial resources, expertise, and technology available in the rest of the world. To implement this vision, the Honduran National Congress has already passed an amendment to the constitution that gives the government the power to create special development regions (which based on the name in Spanish, are abbreviated as REDs).
Justice Has Been Delayed and Denied For Too Long
According to the New York Times, the new mayor of New Orleans, who campaigned on a promise to reform the city’s police department, recently asked the federal Department of Justice to intervene. The city’s police department, he wrote, has been described as one of the worst in the nation. “This assessment is made based on several indications, including the number of violent crimes, incidents of rape, and malfeasance by members of the police department.