Charter Cities Podcast

At the beginning of 2021 Lauri Haav altered his career path from the world of tech startups to the realm of government. This might sound like an incongruous move, but the Estonian government is more advanced than most countries in terms of its level of digitization and its embracing of technology, and Lauri is currently running a program which is the first of its kind. Almost 7 years ago Estonia launched their e-Residency program; this means that almost anyone, almost anywhere in the world, can become an e-resident of Estonia. Currently, if e-residents were a city, they would be the third biggest city in Estonia! If you’re wondering why obtaining an Estonian e-ID card is an appealing option, you’ll get all the answers in today’s episode. We also discuss the various reasons why the Estonian government is so ahead of the curve in terms of digitization, how they have assisted their population in making the transition to digital platforms as seamless as possible, challenges that they have experienced, and what they hope to achieve in the coming years. Key Points From This Episode:•   Estonia’s advanced level of digitization, and what their e-Residency program is.•   Lauri shares what his professional background in the tech space consisted of.•   Similarities and differences between working in technology companies and working for government organizations.•   Factors that resulted in the Estonian government’s early embrace of the internet.•   How Estonia’s approach to electronic ID cards differs to most other European countries.•   Lauri explains the mechanics of an E-ID card.•   Estimated percentages of the Estonian population who make use of Estonia’s various E-platforms.•   Ways that Estonia ensures their e-Platforms are secure and their approach to privacy.•   How the Estonian government attracts talent to its technology department.•   Some examples which highlight the constraints of some traditional procurement processes.•   The value of working in different types of organizations.•   Challenges that come with the growth of an organization or department.•   An e-Government program that was drastically accelerated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.•   Two main reasons that people will sign up for the Estonian e-Residency program.•   The percentage of new businesses in Estonia over the past 3 years that are owned by e-Residents.•   How the government is going to determine whether or not the e-Residency program is beneficial to Estonia.•   Technology that underpins key public infrastructure in Estonia.•   Countries which are following in Estonia’s footsteps, and how Lauri feels about this.•   Lauri shares his opinion on the work being done by Propsera.•   How being an EU member affects Estonia’s e-Residency program. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Lauri Haav on LinkedInCharter Cities InstituteCharter Cities Institute on FacebookCharter Cities Institute on Twitter

For the past 270 years, The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) has been the U. K's national improvement agency. If this sounds difficult to wrap your head around, it's because it is hard to pin down exactly what a national improvement agency does. Today's guest, Anton Howes, is a historian of innovation, and his first book is Arts and Minds: How the Royal Society of Arts Changed a Nation, where he unpacks this organizations. In today's episode, Anton offers insights into the RSA and how it has evolved over time. At different moments in history, it has played significant roles in influencing the social landscape. We hear about where the organization finds itself today and where some of the opportunities lie moving into the future. As a historical hub for innovation and invention, the RSA drew some formidable forces into its ranks. Our conversation also touches on the social status of inventors and how this can change, what we know about the nature of inventions, and whether you have to be an expert to be an inventor. Tune in to hear it all! Key Points From This Episode:•   What The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce is.•   Understanding a national improvement agency and the role it plays.•   Hear about what the draw of joining the RSA was.•   Precursors to the RSA and some of the problems with these organizations.•   Some of the changes the RSA undergoes in the 19th century.•   How the Great Exhibition of 1851 changed the landscape.•   How the 1800 utilitarian movement in the UK was similar to the progressive movement in the late 19th Century in the U.S.•   The influence that the utilitarian idea had on examinations and the long-lasting impact.•   The RSA’s work in conservationism and what the springboard for this was.•   Prince Phillip’s interest in conservation and how he influenced the RSA.•   What the RSA does today and what the future has in store for the organization.•   Opportunities Anton believes are being missed with the current structure of the RSA.•   How Anton would structure the new world fair and the sectors he would include.•   The importance of being able to showcase competing interests in public.•   Suggestions for how we can raise the social status of inventors.•   We should encourage innovation across all sectors of society.•   What Anton would do if he had 100 million dollars to change the status of the sciences.•   Which inventions were invented after their time and the consequence of this.•   What separates inventors from everyone else in society.•   How to build a culture of innovation and invention in a city or country.•   The reason that Anton left conventional academia.•   Unpacking the link between expertise and invention. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Anton HowesArts and Minds: How the Royal Society of Arts Changed a NationThe RSASilent SpringCharter Cities InstituteCharter Cities Institute on FacebookCharter Cities Institute on Twitter

Today’s guest is Dror Poleg, an economic historian who explores how physical and digital systems affect human behavior, well-being, and dignity. Dror joins us on the show to talk about how technology is undermining the basic foundations of real estate’s value and how this is scrambling a lot of what we know about buildings as well as cities. Dror’s thesis is that because of the way technology has enabled remote work and access, people no longer make their choices about where to live for reasons of work and access. Therefore, if you want to attract people to a building, city, or neighborhood, it's less about the location or the physical characteristics of your asset and more about how are you meeting the lifestyle needs of that specific group of people that you're targeting. Dror sketches out different ways in which we could see cities and suburbs changing due to the emergence of residential and office brands that cater to multitudes of customers with specific and idiosyncratic needs. Dror also speaks to how entrepreneurs could take advantage of these changes, how the structure of corporations might change, and how remote work will impact things like innovation and productivity. Tune in today. Key Points From This Episode: •   Dror’s thesis that technology is undermining the basic foundations of real estate’s value.•   How technology has influenced the reasons behind people’s choices of where to live.•   New factors that are driving value in real estate and shifting it toward being a consumer good.•   How these new forces driving peoples’ decisions about where to live are influencing human settlement patterns or the structure of cities.•   The widening gap between creative high earners and service workers.•   How superstar and second-tier cities will change as a result of these new patterns.•   What suburbs around cities will have to do to remain attractive and accommodate new residents.•   Whether it will be possible to make an economic case for urbanization in suburbs to suit the lifestyle needs of new residents.•   Which historical analogies are most applicable to the current changes in real estate.•   How entrepreneurs can take advantage of these up-and-coming trends.•   Ways in which remote work will change the importance of time zones.•   How WeWork exemplifies capitalizing on these shifting consumer needs for all its faults.•   Different ways that cloud kitchens are changing the urban landscape.•   How these changes will impact productivity over the next 20 years and the tensions it will create.•   The evolution of corporations and how remote work will affect firm formation.•   How remote work will impact innovation and productivity.•   Whether Dror agrees that everybody will be Western-educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic in the next two decades.•   Whether the changes Dror predicts will happen in low-income countries as well.•   How Mayor Saurez has apprehended these movements and could change Miami.•   What the tech diaspora would need to do to keep the places they move to attractive.•   Mark’s thoughts on what remote work will mean for the future of charter cities. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:Dror PolegDror Poleg on TwitterMayor Saurez

As we step into a new decade, it’s a good time to reflect on our expectations for the next 10 years. There are a wide variety of possible futures, some of them more plausible than others, but how do we shape a preferable future? Today’s guest believes that technological advancements could result in what he calls the ‘Roaring 20s’, with a productivity and economic boom that extends well beyond the expected post-pandemic rebound. Eli Dourado is an economist and regulatory hacker living in Washington, DC, and a senior research fellow at the Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University. His research is focused on dramatically increasing the pace of innovation and economic growth, especially in hard tech and aerospace, and in today’s episode, he outlines what total factor productivity (TFP) is and why it matters, how technology could lead to the end of what he calls the Great Stagnation, and how charter cities fit into the concept of neomedievalism. We also discuss the interplay between political change, technology, and geography, and how meaningful policy change can result from the deployment of new technologies, as well as how NEPA prevents the government from accelerating growth and why we should bring back wooly mammoths. Tune in for a fascinating conversation about shaping a preferable future with Eli Dourado! Key Points From This Episode: •   Eli starts by explaining what total factor productivity (TFP) is and why it matters.•   Why he is focused on TFP as a means for future economic growth.•   Five inventions that led to past TFP growth, from the internal combustion engine to electricity.•   Learn about the Great Stagnation and why Eli is concerned about TFP growth since 2005.•   How reliable total factor productivity statistics are and how they are calculated.•   Why there appears to be a disparity between dissemination of products and the rate at which innovation is impacting TFP growth.•   What neomedievalism is and how charter cities and online communities fit into this concept.•   How technology drives political change and the interplay between technology and geography.•   Eli shares his predictions for a technology like crypto currency in the next 10 years.•   Discover the technological developments Eli is most excited for, from biotech to supersonics.•   How we should think about leveraging policy reforms to impact the development and deployment of new technologies.•   What percentage of TFP decline can be attributed to regulation versus other cultural factors.•   How a higher percentage of linoleic acid in our diets is literally making American softer.•   Find out what NEPA is and how it prevents the government from making swift decisions.•   Eli reflects on the social change necessary to embrace necessary new infrastructure.•   How environmental organizations use NEPA to prevent beneficial projects from going forward.•   The growing eco modernist movement advocating for growth and environmental protection.•   Eli shares his idea for a remotely piloted airship that could move more cargo, more quickly.•   What Eli believes we can expect the impact of AI to be over the next decade.•   Learn why it would be a positive step to climate change to bring back wooly mammoths.•   What key industries Eli would target in a charter city to allow for greater technological innovation than the US; housing,•   The potential benefits of medical tourism for charter cities to recruit wealthy residents.  Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Eli DouradoEli Dourado on LinkedInEli Dourado on TwitterPeter Zeihan‘Make America Boom Again: How to Bring Back Supersonic Transport’BoomExosonic‘Notes on technology in the 2020s’Fire In a BottleDeepMind  

The complex history of democracy and its global origins isn’t taught in school. Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to self-educate. On today’s episode, we speak with David Stasavage, a Professor of Political Science and Dean of Social Sciences at the University of New York. He allows us to dip into his incredible wealth of knowledge around the history of this form of governance, as well as giving us his insights and predictions for its future. You’ll hear about the role of technology and geography in the emergence (or non-emergence) of democracy across the globe. We talk about the factors that influence the strength of a city’s fiscal position and David suggests an extreme solution to restoring that power: to disallow the issuing of debt. Next, we talk about the growth rates of autonomous cities, how location and craft guild contribute to growth, and David tells us why the effectiveness of political inclusion rests on how a society is organized. We dive into Olson’s theory of the stationary versus roving bandit, and discuss exit options through the lens of Carneiro’s Circumspection Theory. David weighs in on Herbst’s view that redrawing borders can reduce conflict, and gives us his prediction for how democracy will fare with populism and technocracy in mind. We touch on theories by Henry Pierrine and David recommends Wim Blockman’s research as a rich resource on cities and representation. Tune in for a thorough look into the history of democracy with the future in mind! Key Points From This Episode: •   The topic of David’s recently published book, The Decline and Rise of Democracy.•   The global origins of democracy which contradict the idea of it starting in Athens.•   How technology and geography play into the emergence of democracy (or not).•   Why cities and smaller states could accrue long-term debt as early as the 13th century.•   How the strength of the central political unit dictates the strength of a city’s fiscal position.•   An extreme solution to restoring a city’s fiscal strength: disallow the issuing of debt.•   We discuss the reversal of faster growth rates in autonomous cities after 100 years.•   How location and craft guild influenced the growth of cities throughout history.•   Why the effect of political inclusion depends upon how society itself is organized.•   We discuss Olson’s stationary versus roving bandit theory.•   Exit options through the lens of Robert Carneiro’s Circumscription Theory.•   David weighs in on Herbst’s view that redrawing borders can reduce conflict.•   Why, if you have collective governance first, the possibility for bureaucracy is greater.•   Local elections as a way for autocratic rulers to gather information.•   How David foresees political institutions navigating outdated laws and godlike technology.•   The role of connection and disconnection to the state in decentralization, and local control.•   David’s prediction on how democracy will fare with populism and technocracy in mind.•   Why it might be true that government officials can’t achieve anything alone.•   We discuss the theory outlined in Henry Pierrine’s Early Democracies in the Low Countries.•   Wim Blockman’s research as a powerful resource on cities and representation.•   David’s book in gestation about the future of democracy.  Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:David StasavageDavid Stasavage on TwitterDavid Stasavage on LinkedInThe Decline and Rise of DemocracyCities of CommercyStates and Power in AfricaEarly Democracies in the Low CountriesCharter Cities InstituteCharter Cities Institute on FacebookCharter Cities Institute on TwitterCharter Cities Institute on LinkedIn

There has never been an immortal society. No matter how technologically advanced our own society is, it is unlikely to be an exception. In order to achieve a positive future that defies these odds, it is critical that we understand the hidden forces that shape society. To help us do that is today’s guest, Samo Burja, a sociologist and the Founder of Bismarck Analysis, a consulting firm that investigates the political and institutional landscape of society. Samo is a Research Fellow at the Long Now Foundation, where he studies how institutions can endure for centuries and millennia, and a Senior Research Fellow in Political Science at the Foresight Institute, where he advises how institutions can shape the future of technology. He is also a writer and a sought-after speaker on history, institutions, and strategy, with a focus on exceptional leaders that create new social and political forms. He has systematized this approach as the Great Founder Theory, which he shares with us today.Listening in, you’ll find out why Samo believes that a small number of functional institutions founded by exceptional individuals form the core of society, what an archeological site in Turkey tells us about the history of complex human social behavior, and what his predictions are for the evolution of the American state and its institutions. Learn what role software engineers play in accelerating cultural and perhaps even political change, what the chances are of the entire world becoming ‘weird’, and the effects that mass supersonic travel will have on cities, plus a whole lot more! Tune in today!Key Points From This Episode:•   Samo describes his Great Founder Theory and how it is distinct from “great man history.”•   He weighs in on the natural endowments or geographical determinism arguments.•   How incremental cultural developments and traditions fit into Great Founder Theory.•   How Great Founder Theory differs from theories like Marxism.•   Hear why Samo believes that social and material technology build on one another.•   Some of the most underrated great founders in history; Confucius and King Ptolemy of Egypt.•   What characteristics the great founder of a city needs, including dogged determination.•   The importance of having an awareness of different cultures and how they co-exist.•   What Gobekli Tepe tells us about the correlation between agriculture and early civilization.•   Learn how Gobekli Tepe changes our view on the history of complex human societies.•   Why Samo believes we will continue to find sites that force us to revise our preconceptions.•   The reason for the inward-looking nature of many professions in the Western world.•   How this myopia became particularly apparent in the public health sector during COVID.•   How bureaucracies could benefit from working with talented and widely followed bloggers.•   Samo shares his predictions for the evolution of the American state and its institutions; how decayed institutions are a barrier to technology.•   Some of the reasons Samo has to be cautiously optimistic about the future of the US.•   The cultural innovation that follows forging a new middle-class, as Samo is seeing happening with software engineers in Silicon Valley.•   The bravery required to accelerate this change and engage political processes.•   Samo’s response to the entire world becoming ‘weird’ (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic) in two generations.•   His reflection on recent alien observations discourse and the possibility of interstellar travel.•   Where to build new cities and how they engage with broader regional and cultural economies.•   Samo explains how he believes a city should be organized politically and otherwise to maximize its development and quality of life.Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:Samo BurjaSamo Burja on TwitterSamo Burja on LinkedInSamo Burja on YouTubeBismarck AnalysisLong Now FoundationForesight InstituteWeapons Systems and Political Stability‘Why Civilization Is Older Than We Thought’Slate Star CodexMarc Andreessen

Today’s guest is Feyi Fawehinmi, author of Formation: The Making of Nigeria from Jihad to Amalgamation. Feyi joins us on the show to talk about the period of history in Nigeria that his book covers and we kick things of hearing our guest talk about his reasons for writing the book. After the Civil War in Nigeria, there was a cultural prohibition on developing a sense of history because of the risk of upsetting an unstable political equilibrium. This combined with a very demographically young country means that many people, therefore, don't know the history of the formation of their state. After providing the context behind the book, Feyi dives into the events it covers, beginning in 1804 with a Jihad led by the Fulani in the northwest part of today's Nigeria which led to the Sokoto caliphate. Feyi takes us through the effects of this Jihad, the role of the ending of the transatlantic slave trade, and the events that led up to European colonization. He gets into the tactics the British used to take over and rule Nigeria and then brings us right up to the present moment in Nigeria. After weighing in on some of the current tensions around migration and oil, Feyi gives us his perspectives on whether we can still expect Nigeria to be a state in 30 years. Wrapping up on a more positive note, we speak about Nigeria’s status as a tech hub and hear Feyi’s views on why this might be.Key Points From This Episode:• A biased telling of history in Nigeria after the civil war and how Feyi’s book corrects this.• The situation in Nigeria where Feyi’s book starts from; the waging of a state-building jihad in 1804.• Local slavery practices in Nigeria during the caliphate versus how Europeans treated slaves.• The role of the ending of the transatlantic slave trade in events in Nigeria.• Tsetse flies making animal husbandry difficult and the main role of slaves in Nigeria for transportation.• How missionary educated slaves returned to Nigeria and became a new elite.• The bargain struck by the new elite to stop violent neighboring tribes which led to colonization.• Events that led to the formation of the Hausa-Fulani and Feyi’s definition of ethnic groups.• The diverse amount of languages and ethnic groups in Nigeria and the movements that led to this.• The power play between Europeans in Nigeria and what led to them heading inland.• The role of the maxim gun and the Berlin conference in the spread of colonialism in Nigeria.• Joseph Chamberlain’s approach and how the Europeans developed and governed Nigeria.• Why Britain ended up deciding to amalgamate North and South Nigeria.• The difference between French and British colonialism and the after-effects on former colonies.• The current situation in Nigeria; weaponization of civil war and discrimination against Igbo people.• Climate change causing Fulani migrations to feed cattle and the tensions this is causing.• Feyi’s perspectives on whether Nigeria will still be a state in 30 years.• Thoughts from Feyi on why Nigeria is such a tech hub. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:Feyi Fawehinmi on TwitterFormation: The Making of Nigeria from Jihad to Amalgamation

Refugees bring skills, talents, and aspirations and can be a benefit rather than a burden to receiving societies. Realizing this potential relies on moving beyond a purely humanitarian focus to fully include refugees in host-country economies, build economic opportunities in refugee-hosting regions, and navigate the ambiguous politics of refugee protection. In today’s episode of the Charter Cities Podcast, Kurtis Lockhart speaks with Alexander Betts, a Professor of Forced Migration and International Affairs at the University of Oxford, about refugee economics and the role that the private sector, technology, and innovation have to play in the global refugee crisis. Alex currently leads the Refugee Economies program at Oxford, where his research focuses on the political economy of refugee assistance with a focus on African countries. His book, Refuge, co-written with economist Paul Collier, was named one of the best books of the year by the Economist in 2017, and he has written several other books on migration and refugee issues, most recently The Wealth of Refugees, which came out earlier this year. Alex is uniquely qualified to share his insights into the Jordan Compact, as he does in this episode, and he reflects on how displaced people can build economies, the value of providing refugees with basic socio-economic rights and entitlements, and what constitutes meaningful, dignified work for refugee communities. To learn more, make sure to tune in today!Key Points From This Episode:• An introduction to Alexander Betts and his passion for running and debating.• What Alex learned about UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) while working there and how it has informed his work.• How his time in Silicon Valley influenced his thinking and led to Refugee Economics.• Learn about the Jordan Compact and the opportunities it creates for Syrian refugees.• The value of giving refugees basic socio-economic rights and entitlements.• Replicating this special economic zone strategy for refugees in a context-specific manner.• The main impacts of the Jordan Compact, its political successes and economic weaknesses.• Why one of the main challenges has been the gender dimensions of the Compact.• The critiques of the Compact that Alex takes most seriously, including what constitutes meaningful, dignified work for refugees.• Why Alex believes a history of refugee self-reliance has been forgotten.• Hear more about Alex’s research in Africa and the ethical scope for randomized control trials.• The challenge of doing harm to vulnerable populations through random experimentation.• How Alex explored a natural experiment model in Kenya’s Kalobeyei and Kakuma camps.• Why the disconnect between the success of refugee self-reliance and economic inclusion and the lack of adoption more broadly.• Comparing refugees’ economic lives in rural versus urban areas; the pros and cons of each.• What interaction or contact does for social cohesion between host communities and refugees.• How the costliness and fragmentation of African cities can lead to the exclusion of refugees.• The role of cash transfers from organizations in urban assistance models for refugees.• The key support, training, and access to opportunity that refugee-led organizations provide.• Alex reflects on how to get big bureaucracy like UNHCR to embrace change and be more proactive rather than reactive.• Combining status quo options to the benefit of refugees, host communities, and countries.• Hear what Alex is working on now and the inherent value of participatory research methods. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:Alexander BettsAlexander Betts on TwitterRefugeThe Wealth of RefugeesRefugee EconomicsUNHCRTalent Beyond Boundaries

Our guest today is Joachim Rücker, who currently serves as a key partner in the Sustainable Development Zone Alliance. Preceded by a varied and fascinating career, Joachim served as a special representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Kosovo for the duration of its transition to independence and was responsible for its economic reconstruction. He was also the Mayor of a German Industrial City, called Sindelfingen for almost ten years, and has been stationed abroad on numerous occasions with the German Foreign Service in various countries, particularly in Africa. Joachim describes how it all came together in 2017 and 2018 when their company decided to pursue making a positive global impact in migration, humanitarian, and development policies. In our conversation, we discuss Joachim’s work with the Sustainable Development Zone Alliance and how they are utilizing Sustainable Development Zones (SDZs) and Brownfield sites to improve the lives of migrants and increase the transitions from the informal sector to the formal sector. Joachim outlines three key points when considering their new paradigm around integration in cities and the importance of offering integration options for migrants. Find out why it’s important to have an administrative framework in SDZs that exists as a separate entity to the central government, and Joachim explains the importance of collaborating with the local government and grassroots organizations, citing a successful example in Libya when working with local government, even though the central government was fragile and heavily compromised. Finally, we talk about Joachim’s time in Kosovo and how he sees SDZs playing out in the next 20 years. All this and much more. We hope you’ll join us! Key Points From This Episode: ●     Meet today’s guest, Joachim Rücker.●     An outline of SDZs and how they resemble charter cities.●     How the Sustainable Development Zones Alliance is working to support cities during a huge increase in urbanization.●     The challenges of moving people out of the informal sector.●     Why SDZs are helpful tools in moving people out of the informal sector.●     Their use of elements from special administrative and legal frameworks to solve problems.●     Three key points when considering Joachim’s new paradigm around integration in cities.●     Firstly, hear about the importance of avoiding the ‘objects of care’ trap.●     Secondly, Joachim shares why it’s so important for migrants to have a connection with urban developments.●     Lastly, he highlights the necessity of a special legal framework outside of the original city.●     Why migrants are unlikely to return to places where they were violently oppressed.●     The importance of offering local integration options.●     How SDZs determine which sectors of the population to focus on.●     How to go about determining the administration for a particular SDZ.●     The governance authority that SDZs need to be successful.●     What SDZs might look like in 20 years and how they could resemble other decentralized innovations.●     Being in contact with both local government and grassroots movements and organizations when setting up an SDZ.●     Working with local leaders when the central government is fragile, as it is in Libya.●     Why SDZs require donors and investors and how to get them involved.●     Why Joachim doesn’t anticipate hiring problems when countries often have more qualified individuals than jobs available.●     Why a multilateral organization like the UN should be involved in SDZs in a supervisory role.●     The lessons that Joachim draws from Paul Rohmer, the Jordan Compact, and the unfortunate perception of charter cities as neocolonial.●     Joachim talks about his time in Kosovo and the lessons he learned.●     Why Joachim and his team have chosen to pursue Brownfield sites for SDZs and how it informs their broader strategy. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Joachim RückerJoachim Rücker on LinkedInCharter Cities InstituteCharter Cities Institute on FacebookCharter Cities Institute on TwitterCharter Cities Institute on LinkedIn

Our guest today is Alon Levy, a fellow with the NYU Marron Institute. Their research focuses on public transportation and how to apply best practices from cities around the world. Our conversation is about the influence of politics and culture on the cost of building rail-based infrastructure projects across the globe and Alon sketches out many different scenarios, highlighting examples of good or bad construction. Poor building practices often mean cost overrun and surplus extraction and Alon attributes them to cultural elitism, isomorphic mimicry, the ‘design-build plague’, and the hollowing out of the public sector, depending on what country he is speaking about. In the case of the US, part of the reason for the bloated cost premium is a refusal to accept and adopt better building practices from outside its borders and the continued use of outdated models. For some lower-income countries discussed, we see a tendency to adopt practices used by countries perceived to be superior, even though their practices are inherently bad or might not be relevant in a new context. Our conversation also covers recommendations for how a lower-income country like Lagos might approach subway building and the best examples they should follow. For a conversation packed with examples of how political conditions, cultural tendencies, and legal practices influence railway infrastructure building in different countries and the effects this has on cost, be sure to tune in today. Key Points From This Episode: •  How Alon got interested in infrastructure while riding NYC trains.•  Definitions of different rail-based transport types to be found in cities.•  Cost differences of constructing different rail-based transport across the globe.•  Cultural elitism and why there is a cost premium on American rapid transit.•  The high cost of rail transport construction in countries whose planning logistics happen in English and are inherited from America.•  A deterioration in building practices leading to higher construction costs in America.•  The spread of a design-build plague in America and from America outward.•  The role of perceived externality and NIMBYism in producing cost overrun and surplus extraction.•  Hollowing out of the public sector and the overabundance of informal pressures in the private sector.•  The issue of environmental protection laws being enforced by lawsuits rather than internal bureaucracy.•  The evolution of high-cost building techniques in New York.•  Perspectives on effective bureaucracy and the politics of railway building practices in Italy, France, Germany, and Spain.•  How the cost of mega infrastructure projects will evolve considering China and America’s influences.•  The role of isomorphic mimicry and cultural abnegation in inheriting poor building practices.•  Different cultural practices around how close to the city to put that stop’s station.•  Why optimizing for security instead of transportation effectiveness is paranoid.•  Problems with Biden’s infrastructure plan including the budget for State of Good Repair.•  The hallucination that the Anglosphere is the best; American tendencies to point out imagined problems in other cultures as an argument against adopting cheaper methods.•  How Lagos or low-income countries should approach building a subway.•  Perspectives on the internet and outside voices influencing on-the-ground challenges. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:Charter Cities InstituteCharter Cities Institute on FacebookCharter Cities Institute on TwitterCharter Cities Institute on LinkedInAlon LevyAlon Levy on Twitter