Timothy Allen talks with Andreas Baumgartner.

We’re back in Montenegro again this week with a conversation I recorded at the so-called pop up city of Zuzalu.

I’m talking with a gentleman who has very deep ties to the Free Cities movement, working as he does in the economic development space.   His name is Andreas Baumgartner and he has spent the last 25 years working in the political and legal side of the space with the likes of the Metis Institute, Tipolis and Praxis to name but a few.

Andreas has a wealth of practical knowledge on the nuts and bolts of actually negotiating with governments during the establishment and running of Special Economic Zones and semi autonomous  jurastictions etc which is somewhat of a rare occurrence in my experience due to the emerging nature of the whole Free Cities ecosystem

In our conversation he is keen to emphasise the importance of trying to work with host governments and highlights the strategies he has learnt to employ when approaching them as well as commenting on the current limitations faced by the movement with particular regards to the process of incentivising different demographics to move to new jurisdictions.

This is a fascinating and informative discussion. The first of many I hope as this movement continues to evolve.   Andreas doesn’t just talk the talk, he very much walks the walk as well and I appreciate that about him very much.

Enjoy the conversation.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Introduction

03:02 Andreas Baumgartner's Background

04:46 Experience with Governments

11:24 Best Approach to Free Cities Projects

12:23 The Feasibility of Taking Action in the European Union

13:11 Examples from an African Government

14:53 Exciting Regions for Exploration

17:38 Exploring Possibilities in Europe

18:10 Optimism for EU Member States

19:44 The Role of the European Union and Member States

20:14 Early Involvement in Projects and Regulatory Narrative

21:17 Integrated Zones: Business and Residential Functions Combined

23:12 Moving Special Economic Zones into Residential Areas

25:42 Strategies for Attracting People to Stay in Special Zones

26:37 The Challenge of Building a City for a Mobile Population

29:47 Personal Experience with Family Considerations in Choosing a New Place

32:05 Balancing Community Development with Location Selection

32:28 Conclusion: A Dual Approach for Successful City Building

33:30 Concessions and Preferences for Moving

34:11 Trade-offs between Attractiveness and Familiarity

35:40 Staying in Comfort Zone vs City Development

36:03 Optimism and Reality

37:53 - Awareness of Mobility Restrictions

38:32 - New Models of Living Together

39:28 - Pioneer Role in Mitigating Carbon Footprint

41:01 - The Importance of Green Technology in Free Cities

42:23 - Online Communities vs Real-Life Communities

43:28 - Importance of Intentional Communities

44:59 - Purists vs Pragmatists

46:25 - Turning Ideas into Reality

46:59 - Importance of Compromise

48:11 - Understanding Sovereign Indian Nations

49:29 - Examples of Future Frontiers

52:42 - Loss of Frontiers in the Digital Age

TWITTER:

Andreas Baumgartner: ⁠https://twitter.com/fDiIntelligence

Timothy Allen: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/MrTimothyAllen⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Free Cities Foundation: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/freecitiesfound⁠⁠⁠⁠

OTHER LINKS:

fDi Intelligence: ⁠https://www.fdiintelligence.com/

Free Cities Foundation: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://free-cities.org/⁠