Paul Romer: Why the world needs charter cities
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
- www.ted.com How can a struggling country break out of poverty if it's trapped in a system of bad rules? Economist Paul Romer unveils a bold idea: "charter cities," city-scale administrative zones governed by a coalition of nations. (Could Guantánamo Bay become the next Hong Kong?)
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The interesting thing I find about the comments is how knee jerk they are. It seems more like 90% of the commentators have preconceived ways the world runs and should run and seem incapable of displaying the imagination to explore new ideas, which makes me question why they watched the video in the first place.
While I personally think the idea is unworkable because strongman nations won't want the loss of legitimacy of having a more successful city run by someone else in their country, countries with poor rule of law are too susceptible to changes in governance and corruption and finally no developed country will want to be involved for fears of colonialism and general bad press. I still am willing and interested to at least see a new perspective on how to deal with an important issue.
I disagree.
1) there are already examples of this, it's just not exactly as Romer describes. I believe all of the UAE's 7 Emirates have organized special commercial jurisdictions which to varying degrees have their own set of laws, making commerce easier. As Romer just mentioned, Chinese cities in the HK-Zuhai-Macau metropolis have adopted such practices. Macau is basically a smaller Hong Kong, but with slightly less economic freedom, and a more tourism centered economy. Macau itself has leased parts of Hengqin island from Guangdong effectively as a real estate charter. Labuan Island off the coast of Malaysian Borneo is another example.
2) strong men governments do not behave the same because they are not all subject to the same circumstances and the incentives those entail. The UAE is a federation of absolute monarchies, yet it is an a golden example of what Romer describes. Many dictatorships suffer from failures to foster real economic development. These kinds of jurisdictions can give such regimes the best of both worlds. They can protect the legal institutions that special interest groups love while circumventing those institutions so they can actually reap the benefits of real economic development. Without legit efforts like this dictators are often stuck digging themselves into holes (Putin for example).
I kinda heard an ancap, when Paul talks about welfare programs as coercion, while market economies as choice. But yeah, the more autonomous regions, the better! Want to work in a liberal market economy? there's a city close by. Wanna try out an anarchist collective? We've got you covered. Most people would be happier if they could easily live somewhere that genuinely shares their own values, I guess.
@@varvarvarvarvarvar I am being serious.
My main point isn't about anarchists themselves, it's about people being allowed to easily live somewhere that is aligned with their beliefs. Don't like anarchists? Go live in another town close by that isn't.
It should promote cooperation with other cities and citizens, under the threat they leave your town empty, for better offers.
But since you've brought them up, have you ever truly, without letting preconceptions guide you, read about any anarchist society (Paris Commune, Andaluzia and Catalonia, Neozapatistas) or book, like "Bread and Conquest"?
You'd realize they truly aren't as "Dangerous and chaotic" as you're painting them to be, and that's mostly pop culture's fault.
For some wide standardisation, most anarchist stuff somewhat fits into "libertarian socialists" instead of "No Rulez hier! ONLY MAd mAX!".
I would love to hear him telling some Chinese people that those "charter cities" have helped erase their poverty. I would really love it. "Slavery" is something that is ringing in my ears, but slaves usually got food and housing, and this is not even the case.
And he mentions that is not colonialism because it's a matter of choice... I can imagine how much of a matter of choice is for all the people working miserable jobs to have those jobs...
Adrián Magro You spend some time in the Chinese countryside. Then you spend some time in Shenzhen. Then you can come back to talk about "slavery". It is way too easy to say "1. SEZ 2. ??? 3. Profit", but the policies around the SEZ have made China, and the Chinese, richer, stronger, and more successful.
"the company Nelson purchases his telephony from"
and talking of arable land at the end. It's not about how much land you can build large buildings on, it's about how much farmland you have that can support the big cities.
Look, this desert has no one in it. A perfect place of a new 'charter city'. Forget about the energy, water, food, transportation, its empty!!! Perfect?
He has some good ideas, but he is so simplistic in his approach, I cant say I really trust what he is saying.
Romers idea reflects the typical - narrow - mindset of mainstream economists. The world isn´t flat. His models of endogenous growth theory are good for a broader understanding, but they don´t fit to reality. This regional development "off the drawing board" just don´t operate. There is "no best practice policy" or "one-size-fits-all-strategy" for economic growth. Worlds regions, its economies, societes, laws etc. are different and so they need different and specific strategies.
LOL, I doubt any South American nations would have much interest in letting Spain establish charter cities. I gave him the benefit of the doubt for the first 15min. But his examples betray an ignorance of political/social issues. If he'd had suggestions of pairings where there aren't such obvious concerns, it wouldn't seem like he's suggesting these places should all go, "hey, you want to give that colony thing another shot? We want you back." There's just....so much about that that is....uncomfortable, to say the least.
I get the concept, and it sounds vaguely plausible. But it assumes complete political cooperation.... which is the opposite of what you'd get. It would be a political nightmare. There's a reason no one ever ASKS for one of these places in their country.
Again, I understand his thoughts/hopes. But this is one of those ideas that takes a lot of things for granted. It BEGS for Murphy's Law to get all up in there and start some wars. Speaking of which, anyone recall a place called Crimea?
Anguel Roumenov Bogoev where did he talk about Spain setting charter cities?
@dsm1891 there is such a thing as "recharge stations" in africa where you can pay to get your phone charged up.
Maybe these cities could be in the water....instead of land. thats an idea.
Same kind of idea that was responsible for the whole economical turmoil... The idea of insuring mortgage bonds and the idea of betting on them.
they electricity at certain times not all the time. This happens in some of their cities.
Paul Michael Romer es un economista, empresario y activista estadounidense. Fue economista jefe y vicepresidente sénior del Banco Mundialhasta el 24 de enero de 2018, cargo que ocupó desde junio de 2016. Fue galardonado en 2018 con Premio del Banco de Suecia en Ciencias Económicas en memoria de Alfred Nobel.
@gthang91582
hysterical.
So your premise was
'China [has] unregulated international trade'?
That is blatantly false.
Even if that were true in some parallel universe, local-state 'regulations' corruption, coercion; and taxation, as well as the growth in despotism globally, make the question of 'international' regulation less significant
This man's proposal was the blueprint for a new kind of colonialism in Honduras: newrepublic.com/article/120559/ive-seen-sorts-horrific-things-time-none-detrimental-country-this
Given the literal migrant caravan en route from Honduras as I'm writing this, I think we can see how well this "charter city" idea is playing out.
The English word for “charter city” is colony. As La Wik puts it:
A ‘colony’ is a territory which is mostly ruled by another state or can be run independently. A colony differs from a puppet state or satellite state in that a colony has no independent international representation, and the top-level administration of a colony is under direct control of the metropolitan state.
Rapture in Bioshock anyone? :
"I am Andrew Ryan, and I'm here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? 'No!' says the man in Washington, 'It belongs to the poor.' 'No!' says the man in the Vatican, 'It belongs to God.' 'No!' says the man in Moscow, 'It belongs to everyone.' I rejected those answers; instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose... Rapture, a city where the artist would not fear the censor, where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality, Where the great would not be constrained by the small! And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well."
Which book is this passage from?
I loved it.
Bullshit. Chartered Cities will be tax-havens for the rich, specially in England (as UK will be destroyed for this purpose).
@@GSXR750wxwhat if they had direct democracy and ubi instead?
And we have today a charter city in honduras, the name is Próspera :D
prospera.hn
How's that going? What's the status?
i cant find "Prospera" on google maps. Also that website has practically no informations.
It looks like every Company can create one of those Special Zones" everywhere in Honduras if the location is accepted by the government.
"Cities will be created with the intention of attracting investment and generating employment in currently uninhabited parts of the country, or in municipalities that agree to be converted into ZEDE zones." - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_for_Employment_and_Economic_Development_(Honduras)
Can someone please explain to me what is chartered city?
@@kexclusive4875 in this case total domination of capital
@@kexclusive4875 It's a city that is administered under a different set of laws than the host nation.
So, just like real-world Sim City?
You're correct. But capitalism is an idea with a PR problem. When you use the old language, you preach to the choir and alienate everyone else. I like what Romer is doing here, providing new ways to think about older ideas that are actually good, but people are afraid to to return to with a fresh perspective.
The opt-in model is good, because it doesn't force anything on anyone. A socialist model has more problems because it DOES require compliance from those who may not agree with it.
CGPGrey sent me here
what video was it?
Q&A with Grey #2 One Million Subscribers
also grays favorites volume 2.
Rules for Rulers.
As of 2021 these concepts did not age well for Hong Kong and its relationship to mainland China. The problem with economists is their obliviousness towards moral-political premises, i.e., the ethical view of either man's life as an end in itself or of man's life as a means to the ends of others. You cannot - and must not - compromise on that.
This is the essential foundation and bridge form ethics to politics and then to economics, not the other way around, which is the central flaw in Mr. Romer's proposal and of most economists in general; to confuse causes with consequences and divorce economic freedom from its necessary antecedent: political freedom.
If you cannot fight for both, you end up with a mirage called charter city.
I think he knows that there will be opposition to it at first... That's the point of a charter city right? To try things out?
Anyways, I dig it.
The English word for “charter city” is colony. As La Wik puts it:
A ‘colony’ is a territory which is mostly ruled by another state or can be run independently. A colony differs from a puppet state or satellite state in that a colony has no independent international representation, and the top-level administration of a colony is under direct control of the metropolitan state.
Hundorus amended it's constitution so a city could be built that is free from basically all local and federal laws, and construction of the city is expected to start this year. Guantanamo Bay may happen later, but it looks like it will be more likely for the next Hong Kong to be in Hundorus instead.
notbobby125 Honduras
man oh man does this guy need to advice the president on a few things...
This is pretty inspiring. I just wish he would tell us something we could do about it. Like maybe he could sell posters and bracelets to us that have a cool slogan on. I think that would solve everything instantly...
This was a great presentation and I liked the information that was given. I have been looking into what Charter Cities are for a short while and they seem very close to colonies for sure despite what is mentioned in the video, especially since colonies do still exist today under the name of territories. Though they are called territories the rules of a colony still apply and the first example that comes to mind is Puerto Rico. The major difference though is instead of creating a new judicial zone within the new Charter City, the current one is bribed or coerced.
This is an amazing idea and I do hope to see some real good come from it for those who need it because I see so much potential, but currently it seems the one who have the means to move forward with such an idea are those that have benefited from the previous system that cause this idea to come about in the first place.
This is nothing new. This is just neoclassical restatement of what classical liberals and libertarians have been calling for for centuries. But, obviously, he avoided to mention the logical conclusion, as it would be, I assume, "too radical": secession.
If you want an example of an actual proposal, a much more thought out model, you should read Robert Nozick's chapter "A Framework for Utopia" in his book "Anarchy, State and Utopia".
after Nobel prize
City-States have been experimented with and I think we should look to the Ancient Greece city state model and the autonomous communities of Spain as influences.
I like the idea. However I can see huge holes in the project that can lead from anything from civil war to hostile economic takeovers of countries. Good idea, but so many holes would have to be patched before even attempting the project.
The English word for “charter city” is colony. As La Wik puts it:
A ‘colony’ is a territory which is mostly ruled by another state or can be run independently. A colony differs from a puppet state or satellite state in that a colony has no independent international representation, and the top-level administration of a colony is under direct control of the metropolitan state.
@DesignPunkStudios I have heard of deforrestation and most deforrestation is land clearance for farming(usually livestock). A lot of it is also due to mining for gold, etc. I don't kow what dat you are basing your assertion on but just consider the logistics of importing timber from africa. The fact is that timber used in construction comes from sustainable forrestry. Why sustainble? Because it makes good business sense. Tropical timber for designer furniture, etc. may be a different matter...
I cant find any statistics on the profit rates of countries (if you have a source handy I'd like to see it). I can tell you that according to the CIA world factbook, India has a real GDP growth rate of 6.6% and that according. From 1991 to 1995 investment in India grew from $132 million to $5.3 billion. Cities like Bombay, Hyderabad, and Bangalore are flourishing from the computer industry. I don't mean to be rude, but I'm not quite sure how you could not know about all of this.
I think money supply increases should fund a charter city and it could be a new stable digital currency.
I'm a little upset about this talk. I've had this idea for years, but I'm just a kid, so no one would listen to me. On the other hand, all that matters is that the idea is out there.
Of course, it's not likely that people will listen to him either.
I see what this guy is talking about. If I were to design a special zone it would be a car-free city with locally produced food and solar electricity and local production of goods. That is what Americans need as a model.
All in all, I think this idea needs a little more time in the oven. The idea of "better rules" is too vague to be actionable. "Better" in which ways? As has been noted here, step 3 seems quite problematic. E.g., if Denmark is invited to run a small chunk of Angola, who will choose how that chunk is governed--the Danes, the Angolans, the citizens of the new city, or someone else? Could it be turned over to a private company? Who will choose the leaders of the new city? How much latitude will the city's "leaders" have? (Is "leader" a euphemism for "owner" or "ruler"?) Which currency will they use? (A new currency, as in Hong Kong? What country would want to invest in a currency with sky-rocketing inflation?) How will the fiscal policies of Angola interact with those of the new city? Can the new city sign international agreements? How binding would they be? Can Angola dissolve the agreement? Is the establishment of the new city a diminution of Angolan sovereignty? What court would arbitrate disputes? What will the foreign country get out of it? Cheap labor? Open access to natural resources?
ncooty the idea of a charter city is a test run of new ideas, like he already mentioned, the only impediment would be lack of imagination. The point is giving freedom to enter or not enter the city therefore only those who are okay with the laws would go in the first place and it dissatisfied can always leave, besides the rules which you ask about he already stated would be mirrored from already developed countries, like how capitalism gave us choices between what product of cell phones we want, the point of a charter city is to give the new inhabitants choices of what system of laws they would rather abide to.
People complaining about colonialism are the same who advocate for open borders. Funny, eh?
Colonialism created borders
Freedom is the outcome or the consequence of responsibility. Capitalism is the only economical philosophy that allows to everyone to do just that by making oneself responsible of being free. If oneself is irresponsible, well the consequences of that are catastrophic, one will end with the opposite of freedom.
There is nothing more destructive for any individual than being slave of ignorance.
And what if you are from a race that has less chances because racism? What if your parents don't have enough money? What if you are born with very health issues that your parents can't afford?
We are coming from inequality. People have been born richer than other for centuries. Pure Capitalism, with almost no state, and with all services in the hands of the markets has never happened; the case is that we all pay for capitalism, as we saw when the banks that played with everyone's money came back crying because they've lost all the money that wasn't theirs and they were going to sink.
I dare you to mention one reason why capitalism can be classified as a system that makes people free. And don't tell "free market", because as I said coming from a situation of inequality, in general, the richest will be only richer (e.g. Goldman Sachs) and the poor... Please, tell me one,
Is based on selfishness and reason.
I don't understand that sentence. Did you have autocorrect on?
Sorry, Adrián Magro, as I manage more than one language I forget to change the autocorrect language. But, I fix it.
Read again: *_Is based on selfishness and reason._*
I agree on selfishness, but reason... really? Where is the reason in capitalism?
Btw, I've just realized we have another common language: Spanish. So ¡Saludos!
I really liked the visuals at the end. They represent these ideas perfectly
We should lead by example and make Brownsville or Detroit charter cities. Current residents keep US citizenship. Newcomers need a Passport and VISA to get into the rest of the USA.
The English word for “charter city” is colony. As La Wik puts it:
A ‘colony’ is a territory which is mostly ruled by another state or can be run independently. A colony differs from a puppet state or satellite state in that a colony has no independent international representation, and the top-level administration of a colony is under direct control of the metropolitan state.
This is similar to the idea I have for a global community. CALL THEM "AREA CODES" CITIES! Each one has a maskot, no countries just cities!
Sounds like a nice idea, and he is thinking outside the box. Unfortunately he never defines what are these "good" rules. He seems to assume that once we make a special economic zone, leaders and planners, will stop being flawed corrupt selfish squabbling humans, and all agree to do the right thing. The elites today cannot even agree on how to improve our society. Some want more government intervention. Others want less. Selfishness infests the entire process through and through.
There's also an environmental version of this curve. Mr.Romer's idea is essentially meant to flatten this curve. He wants to reduce the footprint of developing countries before they start industrialising.
If you can introduce cities that already have all the right policies in place, you can prevent environmental nightmares that are a result of unchecked industrial growth.
Nowhere did I hear precisely how Nelson would have electricity in his home. Only a plan to further corporatize the lives of regular people...how often has that gone well?
Not to mention, this basically abolishes representative democracy, under the guise of "choice".
"you could use the gains in the value of the land to pay for things like..." - Paul Romer when discussing how to finance these charter cities.
Hahahaha, I wouldn't count on this.
He showed 14:00 a shot from his airplane window of the "immense stretches of land where 100s of millions of people could live" on the coast of Africa. There's a very good (and very obvious) reason nobody lives there right now. It's endless barren desert with ZERO value. Any value these people would hope for would be completely artificial, a bubble created by their investment plan and some prayers (probably to Satan).
The idea of introducing a forms of voluntary colonialism is probably Romer´s best idea. The Chinese are already doing so in Africa and having the most success there since real colonialism. It is obvious that third world countries are incapable of successfully governing themselves, and need 1st world management to improve their lot. The only problem is dealing with the envy from the rest of the country when the precolonial states take off leaving the rest of the country behind.
kaunas888 that envy needs to be channeled into imitation then competition and hard work.
Excellent talk. Truly gets at what really matters, rather than the "sunshine stories".
I can’t agree because I know too much lol. The problem is especially for the poor countries, there are only few percentage of people who owns half of the wealth including the land. We don’t need to go nowhere and built the lands, it would solve the problem if there’s a distribution of the wealth equally.
Vere Very nice video! I really enjoy the way you present it!
I never said India was not growing, my OP was comparing the two countries from the 1950 period to 1975, the end of China's socialist era.
The profit rate isn't going to be an immediate indicator of success or failure in the Indian economy because even if it is falling, the sources of labour are constantly being shifted to poorer countries, making it invisible essentially. The rate of profit in India and many other countries is falling, China's may start to fall around 2010 - 2015.
Indeed, India's profit rate is among the lowest in the world, and China's among the highest. Both of them are well set to replace the current hegemonies however. But the rise of China and the resulting imbalance in the economic world system would cause either China to be the only hegemonic state and the rest of the world economy to be shifted to semi-peripheral to peripheral status, or for China to not succeed and cause an equalization among semi-peripheral states and widespread 'crisis.'
Essentially, China was a peasant based economy, whereas market based economies were industrialized, without socialist reforms, they would not have advanced fast enough to make the successful switch to market based economy. Take India for example, India was at the same economic level as China in 1950, similar population and so forth, but they directly inherited a market based economy. In comparison, China's policies caused a lead in literacy, innovation and equality.
My guess is that its for the same reason we dont have just one huge power plant that supplies power to everywhere in the country: It's more efficient to distribute the plants (or cities) into subsections where a bureaucracy can more easily oversee them.
Just by watching this video I totally convinced myself that economy is not a real science. It is completely decoupled from the natural reality. He only speaks about arable land without taking in consideration factors like water sources, weather and efficiency in resource distribution. I see that modern economics is the complete oppossite of economy, which is to economize, do more with less, no waste, preserve, not consumption for the sake of consumption and growth for the sake of growth.
@notbobby125 Except HONDURAS will see little to no of the profit of those cities, as they may operate under whatever rules they wish. Want to set a reasonable minimum wage? Ensure that there are job opportunities for Hondurans? Make sure that living conditions are good? Unfortunately, no one regulates and makes sure any of these will happen. They might as well end up housing sweatshops that are even more brutal than those already here.
More choice is not always good.
3 options are better than 2 (or one, for that matter, which is no choice at all) but 1000 options may paralyze you.
Think about it:
A teenager or young adult faces this problem: He finishes school with straight As in every subject.
What is he supposed to do? The world is his oyster. He can do anything. He is faced with a thousandfold barrage of options, each potentialy lifechanging.
What if he pics one, is stuck in it and realizes there was a superior choice?
@anoshig8 of course it would be good. Just by simple logic.
1. you want to exploit the environment as little as possible with the possibility of repare and update. (computer which COULD be updates are thrown away, because nowadays it's cheaper to buy one new)
2. so you stuff that lasts as long as possible by working efficient and using durable resources
3. companies will get lesser profits because people won't be buying everything so often.
4. money is obsolete
im not sure if his theory could work in the real world..he talks about''good rule''like its something easy to have,he completely ignores the fact that most modern governments fail to solve even the smallest problems,what makes him think that his good rule will be able to exist at all? also,maybe i didnt get this right,but is he proposing that economy and quality of life can be improved by building more and more massive cities only because it worked for china under specific circumstances?
I was mainly thinking about economic development. And yes, I don´t want to believe in Porters "charter cities for dummies". This exemplary view suggests policy makers and/or RDA´s just have to follow the 15 or whatever steps of setting up a "charter city" and everything will be fine. No it won´t. Regional development depends highly from the specific setting of the region and its actors. example: many regions tried to just imitate the sillicon valley and ended up failing in a "sillicon nowhere".
@pred09ale
Your comment seems to imply that there are no/very few general rules (or policies) which apply when tackling the issue of urbanisation in poor countries. That the "economies, societies and laws" are so different that, by definition, the economic/social policies and the laws themselves between new (successful) cities will have very little in common. Do you really believe this?
@GrudgyDiablo Whatever the reason for distrust it is still an emotion. I am not saying that it is necessarily unfounded but it IS an emotion. If you can explain why you are happy with something does that make happyness not an emotion? You should read a little on the subject ofemotions before responding. Trust and distrust are emotions. Don't call me an idiot for pointing this out. And what do you mean by "illustrated". You mentioned but did not illustrate...
@GrudgyDiablo Is distrust not an emotion? Emotions not only hold people back but also help them to move forward. It is a matter of facilitating the appropriate emotions. Look into open source technology and tell me that idea doesn't fill you with hope for the future. Don't let the negatavistic passive agressive nonsense about the NWO and "secret government" stuff get to you. There is no hope in that philosophy. It is important that the people are involved in these things to prevent oppression...
@DrSpooglemon Have you ever heard of deforestation? Most of our timber doesn't come from America, it comes from Africa. I love this idea, I just don't like the impact it'll have on the climate. I think we would be much better off turning our current cities into charter cities and turning the villages into small towns. Current economic conditions wouldn't allow for new cities to be built anyway. Most countries just don't have enough to cover the short term costs.
@DesignPunkStudios Who's cutting down trees too quickly? All the timbre in your house comes from sustainable forrestry. If you live in country like mine that is. There is no need to cut down any forrest to buil a new city indeed it may require the plantation of new sustainable forrests to supply the timbre. As you say the scope of this thing is huge and I believe most opposition will come from people who simply cannot conceive something on such a scale...
@Slyvr18 Did he not talk about rules? Rules about how to make the city a good place to so that the people would want to live there instead of going to another country. It is possible that lessons can be learned from the past. Your view is very pessimistic and I don't think there is a place for voices such as yours in a progressive society. Yes these are real issues, but you do you assume that it is unavoidable? If so: on what grounds?
@DesignPunkStudios Leaves behind the problem of food production?
How so? Do you not think that this would be one of the main topics for discussion when actually planning a project of this nature? He was simply outlining the basic idea. You may have well pointed out that it left behind the problem of sewage treatment. Or of intercity transport. The reason it is difficult to feed everyone is the same reason kids are doing there homework under street lights. That is the point of what he is saying.
@5lkk Jesus! Is this the 20th century already?
Pessimism is what holds us back. I don't like consumerism either but I'd rather be living in a consumerist paradise than be doing my homework under a street light. I used to consider myself a socialist but there is a time for puting ideology aside and reconciling yourself with the fact that other people may not want to do things your way, and try to come to a compromise. That is why I now consider myself a social-liberal. Move with the times man...
This is a brilliant economic system but it leaves behind the problem of food production. We don't have enough land to feed the 7 billion people that are on earth today. If we take up uninhabited land then we're going to likely take up farm land. That means more food shortages, more starvation, fewer people which means less demand which means less money for the production side which means a crippled economy. Less land means higher food prices. Take current cities and transform them into charter.
Where is this brilliant? Sorry but he's over complicating things. He uses "profit" as the key and there lies the problem because he's trying to create "rules" in order to fix a System that is in its concept flawed since it was created. As long as we come up with "solutions" within these corrupted systems, it will never work. Brilliant would be to have an idea, not based on existing parameters but create a whole new system not based on gain or profit.
That statistic where another 1 billion people only take up 1% of the arable land doesn't sound right. How many times have we heard that the population reaching 9 billion people in the near future will cause immense stress on resources, and this info seems to be saying that we have room for 10's of billions of more people. Maybe I'm simply extrapolating info about statistics that I don't have a firm grasp on, but that is the impression that I got.
Here I see two things:
First, and not very related with the main point of the talk. Resources. It's very obvious today that space is not a problem. But what about resources? what about energetic resources? what about pollution? Of course, technology will have a lot to say about this. But I can't avoid being very worried about this.
Second, how to guarantee the atractive of this? how to incentivate a company to get instalate at the middle of nowhere in Africa? .. I'm not very sure..
In reply to the currently 2 highest rated comments on this video, after the 'Opium Wars' Hong Kong was 'lent' to Britain, it then proceeded to flourish; by the mid 20th century, the average resident was ten times richer than their Chinese counterparts and 4/5ths as wealthy as the average British citizen. That's pretty phenomenal economic progress.
In reply to the other, in poorer countries, people DO flock to cities, for whatever reasons (Dick Whittington ring any bells?) its an observable fact
The company he mentioned in Shezhen, Foxconn, is now facing an internal crisis in China because of the huge amount of orders from Apple which, until now cause 16 of their workers to kill themselves because they couldn't stand the pressure.
A small price of human lives that is included in each and everyone of the Apple's techtoys being sold now in the developed countries. Think about it when you consider buying an Apple product.
He has eurocentric not Chinese thinking. I think he wants "good rules" but he wains. He has Hong Kong thinking not the idea of China. You cannot replicate Hong Kong ideals without Western consumerism. China wants ideals like him, but has different ways to do it. I dare people to use Chinese thinking. There is something to be said there. The Chinese were living fine even before Mao.
China is also a gleaming example of what unregulated international trade can do on a society.
Swarms of previously rural inhabitants moving into increasingly industrialized zones to work for manufacturers who treat them like robots. Consequently, China has a dwindling rural community, reducing food production for a rapidly increasing population forcing them to start importing. DANGEROUS.
You have to look deeper for the real solution. This is a surface solution.
It's a fine idea and it could work in certain situations. But Cuba is not one of them. At least not while Fidel is alive. Though Raul does show some decidedly different opinions for the future of Cuba, I don't think it's a good idea to employ the rational that "if it's good for China, it's good for Cuba."
Additionally, we're not even discussing the fact of what has become of China: an over-polluted modern indentured servitude community. Is that what we really want?
This is a dangerous assumption that people make: comparing apples to oranges, so to speak. Your assertion implies a total disregard for an anthropological understanding of Cuba.
Cuba is COMPLETELY different that China. Though they both may be characterized as "communist," China has a wildly different economy/culture than Cuba. There has been no interest, under the rule of Fidel Castro, for Cuba to become a manufacturing powerhouse. He's quite content on keeping the country stuck in 1955.
Dude...it's called Miami. Miami is Cuba's Hong Kong. And what makes you think Castro would freely allow his people to leave to their new Canadian built Hong Kong? The whole country would move there.
Castro has spent the past 50 years keeping his people within the confines of Cuba's borders. I don't think he'd be too into this 'Charter Idea' exactly BECAUSE it gives the people choices. Not sure if you got the memo, but Communism sort of operates completely antithetical to this notion here.
Actually, technology will save us - but we must harness it entirely in order to.
Think about it....We're the only species that has the capability and diversity of capability to potentially take ALL life on this planet somewhere new when this world ends.
Do you think life is aware of its own, inevitable demise? It's already dealt with several mass extinctions, why wouldn't it influence the evolution/creation of us in order to save itself before the next one? ;)
We+Technology=Insurance plan
point I
Way too many catch all's and ambiguity to deduce anything debatable so if that was your objective; kudos.
Otherwise FYI, I am assuming Your "well being" is not ideal for none but yourself, your culture and your time as defined because we are effectively screwing the rest of the world, race/species and future intelligent life here by this exalting of technological prowess over common sense, contentment and holistic thinking.
in addition to all the problems here in the comments,this extreme urbanization requires mass industrial agriculture which means more chemicals.
we need smaller city/town communities (which could be close but interspersed with farmland) using Permaculture "rules". reminds of the 150 "rule" in Tipping Point for better interpersonal relationships in groups. calculate how much food 150 (or so) people need for food each year and make space between each community for farming.
hmm... sounds nice.
this isn't entirely true nor is it entirely wrong. If artificially constructed cities are the aim they should not look to emulate the traditional city designs that are failing the world over.
Rather then condensing everyone into an artificial cities, connecting the villages and towns into massive sprawls that contain farms and industry is the much more intelligent way to design.
The distance is an advantage, transportation is the problem. Condensing will only result in a condensed problem.
These rules (AKA monetary neo liberalism) continued for over 15 years after the dictatorship, and in this period almost every industry created before where closed, leaving millions of people unemployed and the ones who did conserve their jobs, had their rights diminished to squat.
The "rules" are good for some people, yes. Specially if they involve cheap labor for monopolist corporations, like in china. But I don´t think that is a really good for anybody but for rich people getting richer.
1. That we only need one model can be argued, but I'll give you the point because more importantly...
2. The model is not the issue here. Unless I'm misunderstanding you, your improvement on Romer's idea would be to just have all the poor people in the world who wanted come to Hong Kong and the like, to which I say you can't function like that. A distribution of such cities all over the world (especially in needed areas) would be neccesary.
Right because everyone knows corporations really care about people. Of course nelson and his friends wouldn't be studying under street lights. They'd be in the well lit apple factory putting together iphones for puffed up people that think that everyone is really nice on the inside and that capital venturists would invest in cities that weren't slanted towards their personal interests.
In an environment where we are running out of resources and irresponsible technology and political economy usage has put us square in the cross hair for extinction, the response is more technology and political economy??? Haha
I was hoping this was going to SOLVE the worlds problems...
NOT a talk on how to export them to sanctioned quarters of the globe, where individual and collective civil sovereignty was at BEST fleeting!!
Damn Elitist never know when to give up
>=-/
There isn't anything really wrong with capitalism, so long as it's controlled and regulated properly. Without capitalism, there would be no property rights, no democracy, and very little progress. But we still need to challenge the over-acceptance of capitalism; you have a good point, we need a more socialist out-look, but, at the same time, a combination of capitalism and social/communism would be a phenomenal idea.
The American Civil War... While those who supported slavery used Biblical verses to support their position, it surely was not a religious battle.
World War II on the Pacific front... Japan attacked us, and we responded.
World War II on the European front... Many nations did not know about the Nazi treatment of Jews until AFTER the war.
Sorry, but this is a poor argument on your part. Educate yourself before you make such silly comments. (By the way, I'm an atheist... =-O haha)
I disagree about the choices for leaders. A leader is the leader of a State. A State is an organisation which holds an effective monopoly on offensive violence. In these charter cities the leaders should be limited and confined to the protection of the people of the city and their property, which means only a police force and a justice system, and an international military force to protect from foreign invaders.
This is essentially why Hong Kong is so successful. It is the most Capitalist place on Earth.
Why?
I disagree here. Those strong private property rights see to it that "Nelson" has to study under a streetlight at the airport for example. There has to be a balance. He shows that both sides have drawbacks and only if you use BOTH (power to the people AND tot he leaders in equal measure) will you succeed. This is the problem. Where is the balance?
Cuba has better health care and education? As someone who has made several visits to Cuba for this very purpose I can assure this is not the case. If the US healthcare if major league baseball than Cuban physicians and healthcare facilities are single-A baseball and it really hurts them when falsehoods are aimed at them which prohibits the help they need.
budy if we have little governments with little rule people will thrive if you make rules you hurt all even if the rule is intended for good ultimatly it hurts more then it helps
its the sad truth or good truth depending on perspectives
because "man can not make principals he can only descover them" thomis jefferson.
@NightmareGanon After the constitution crisis, nobody is going to put any money in the country. If no regulation means "slave labor sweat shops" then tell me why Signapore and Hong Kong, which doesn't have a minimum wage and who's economy is based entirely on trade, both have the highest living and work standards for it's people in ALL of asia?
Yeah. I have to say his sleight of hand there was a bit off-putting. His display assumes that every hectare of every continent (excluding Antarctica) is arable. That's obviously false. While there could be some reclamation of desert land, he doesn't address the expense at all. Not to say he couldn't, but he didn't.
People don't just need land for big super cities. Cities require huge tracts of land for agriculture. For ever inch of urbana there is neccessary agriculture, preferably geographically near the city. Also, Cities can't be built in many places on earth because of how remote, high, low, rocky, cold, or swampy (etc) that they are.
Ok, Im all about collaboration until the speaker starts to put British Occupation of China into a good thing?!? WTF??? I think he should've state clearly what happened and what parts was the benefitical part without almost saying "hey it was great that Britain occupied China and started Opium War to force the then Emporer to loan out HK."
This is the basic idea Robert Nozick proposes in Anarachy, State, and Utopia. Unlike colonies, the rules are determined by the citizens, not forced on them by others. There could be capitalist cities, communist cities, theocratic cities, secular cities, and so on, and people can choose to live in which ever one makes them happiest.
Well in the legal sense it is not as tainted but in colloquial english, you are right. (ps. wikipedia is not a good source)
Then again, try to get an african to use crop rotation and maximize surplus crop growth. Watches don't help.
I left the US to live in a socialist country. I must admit it has its perks. At least I am not worried about being shot ;)
The British East India company used the same strategies to take over India. No matter what language this is nonsense couched in, its still colonialism. Corporations want "free zones" away from western law to operate more freely in, that is what these charter cities are.