Excerpt: The name ‘charter cities,’ Paul explains, comes from the historical example of the colony of Pennsylvania, which was founded under a charter drafted by William Penn. That charter enshrined new freedoms of religion– freedoms that were quite attractive to prospective immigrants. “It’s a nice illustration,” says Paul, “of how a new system of rules… could come into existence not through a vote or a consensus seeking process, but instead by creating a new entity and saying, ‘Who wants to opt in?

Life on the road is full of surprises. Not all of them are bad. In Abu Dhabi, I met the editors of an impressive English language newspaper start-up called The National. Later, someone who knew of my interest in cities showed me one of its articles, the best news account of life in an informal settlement I’ve ever read. With gritty realism, the article shows that: cities offer economic opportunities that don’t exist in rural areas, so people will endure urban living conditions that seem unimaginable to us;

When I visited Jamaica in the Fall of 2009, here is how a knowledgeable observer described the political reality facing the government: Desperately needed policy steps—steps that any objective observer would recognize as being good for the country—would cost the government many votes in the next election. Extending an absentee ballot to the many Jamaicans who do not live on the island could assist the reform effort and reduce the political price that any government in Jamaica has to pay for implementing good policy.

The pressing need in Haiti is for food, water, and medical care, plus assistance in re-establishing basic services like policing, power, sanitation, and telecommunications. This kind of aid and assistance has to be the highest priority now, but many people are already looking ahead. How can Haitians get access to urban infrastructure, buildings, equipment, and the know-how that can support jobs in industries like garment assembly? Contrary to what some have suggested, a charter city in Haiti is simply not an option at this time.

We would like to believe that democracy will lead to steady improvement in the rules that a society follows. In principle, it seems self-evident that if a rule is bad, citizens or their representatives vote for a better one. In practice, it is not always this simple. Sometimes it takes a two-stage decision process to get rid of a bad rule. People must first vote to change a higher-level rule that structures voting on other rules.