076 - Andreas Baumgartner: Integrated Autonomous Cities & The Evolution of SEZs

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Special Zones, Tipolis, International Cities, Autononous Zones, Evolution of Special Economic Zones.

Timothy Allen talks with Andreas Baumgartner.

I have another returning guest for you today. The last time I spoke with Andreas Baumgartner was back in episode 32 where we discussed the ins and outs of negotiating with governments, something that Andreas does on behalf of Free Cities projects and organisations such as the Metis Institute, Praxis and, relevant in this conversation: Tipolis which is Titus Gebel’s organisation that creates privately run communities.

This conversation was recorded during one of our interviews for the Special Economic Zones film we are producing and afterwards I continued talking to Andreas about Tipolis and their ‘International Cities’ projects. I’ve spliced both interviews together but you may observe that the latter part of the podcast is a bit more question/answer than is normal on this podcast since I was fishing for soundbites for a film. Nevertheless I thought there was some good info in there for all you Free Cities enthusiasts so I’ve left it in.

Hope you enjoy the dialogue. Andreas is one of the OGs of the space and has more hands on experience than most.

Enjoy the conversation.

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TIMESTAMPS

(00:30) Introduction

(02:40) Special economic zones are zones of opportunity

(04:49) How does a country decide on which SEZ trajectory to angle itself?

(06:25) Evolutionary stages of Special Economic Zones

(11:15) How can Dubai innovate its zones?

(12:25) Is there a sweet spot on the level of autonomy for Free Zones?

(22:46) What's your best advice for governments thinking of establishing a zone?

(25:48) What is at ther cutting edge of zones right now?

(29:41) More on the evolutionary stages of Special Economic Zones

(32:36) Is an SEZ an essential part of a nation state toolkit for growth?

(34:39) Where are the greatest opportunities in free zones?

(36:28) Do you think the brain drain is a real thing?

(43:50) A key aspect of autonomous cities is voluntarily opting into them

(46:26) Tipolis is developing International Cities, Building privately governed, autonomous communities

(51:05) Are Tipolis's International Cities new frontiers?

(52:20) Are integrated autonomous cities the zeitgeist of this age?

TWITTER:

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

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

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

OTHER LINKS:

Andreas's previous appearance on the podcast: https://tinyurl.com/yck45fwd

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

Tipolis: https://tipolis.com/

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