Nkwashi is a private charter city that is currently being built in Zambia to house around 100,000 residents on completion. Our guest on the show today is Mwiya Musokotwane, the co-founder and CEO of Thebe Investment Management, a Zambian private investment firm that is the developer of Nkwashi. He is here to talk about this project and the challenges and aspirations involved specifically, as well as those more broadly positioned in an African context. We look at questions of what it means to create a private city, getting an economy started and the key factors that need to be addressed for Africa's economic future. Mwiya gives us some insight into the timeline of building Nkwashi and why building a charter city takes longer in developing economies. We discuss financing and the ways that the project has been laid out to pay for itself over the next ten or so years. The conversation also covers skills development, talent attraction and culture building and we look at how cities and companies both do this as well as the clear differences. Mwiya makes a strong argument for the role of institutions and networks in establishing the overarching culture of a city, something that he has very certain aspirations about for Nkwashi. The conversation also covers the focus on technology as Nkwashi's main industry and attraction, and we unpack the mercantile model that is planned. Listeners can look forward to hearing about a future city, some great perspectives on African economies and the challenges that face a project of this size. Mwiya also explains what he admires about Singapore and the lessons he has learned from their example, so tune in to hear all this and more!Key Points From This Episode:•   An introduction to Nkwashi, a private city and satellite to Lusaka.•   The basics and timeline of building a satellite city in Africa. •   The housing and service deficit in Zambia and how Nkwashi offsets this.•   Financing a costly venture of this type; commercial sales and payment plans for units.•   Mwiya’s background in research and economics and how these skills inform his current work.•   A preferable model for talent attraction and development: training from a junior level.  •   The construction of Nkwashi and the division of labor between internal and external sources.•   Comparing the development of a culture within a team and a city.•   The values that Mwiya wants to promote in Nkwashi, dynamism, openness and more!•   The central role of institutions and networks in growing a city's culture. •   Reasons to focus on technology as the anchoring tenet in Nkwashi; wage arbitrage and the global economy.•   Benefits of mercantilism and placing Nkwashi within the context of the larger Zambian economy.•   Interfacing with the Zambian government; what Nkwashi's relationship will look like.•   Why Augustus would build a good charter city!•   The evolution of Mwiya's philosophy towards city development and urban planning.•   Mwiya's appreciation for Singapore and the points that impress him most.•   The constraints of capital and talent access in Zambia and Africa.•   Challenges specific to Africa and the dangers of special economic zones.•   A critique of Silicon Valley's city-building project; positives and negatives.•   The projected growth of urban populations in Africa and the potential impacts of this.•   Mwiya's thoughts on getting African countries to a state of 7% GDP growth.•   Chinese involvement in Africa and the infrastructure that is being built.•   Mwiya's work schedule and the different modes he works in throughout the week. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:Mwiya MusokotwaneNkwashiExplorer AcademyMwiya Musokotwane on TwitterThebe Investment ManagementCharter Cities InstituteMark LutterCharter Cities Institute on TwitterCharter Cities Institute on FacebookWhat You Do Is Who You AreBen HorowitzRoss DouthatThe Decadent SocietyCecil RhodesBelt and RoadOPEC

For today’s episode, we discuss urban planning with Alain Bertaud, senior research scholar at NYU’s Marron Institute and the author of Order without Design: How Markets Shape Cities. Our conversation covers many subtopics under the central theme of the processes that allow cities to come into being and be maintained. Cities – healthy ones at least – are in essence the products of spontaneity, compositions of ever-changing movements dictated by the connections between the people who live in them, and we consider how planning can accommodate this reality. One of Alain’s central hypotheses is that labor markets are the foundation of cities and the idea that good transport and service-based approaches to planning will produce healthier labor markets. This idea penetrates much of the conversation with Alain today and we hear his thoughts on topics like which cities had labor markets and which didn’t, why some cities die and others keep surviving, why some shape history and others don’t, the best ancient cities, and how one might approach the construction of a master-planned city. We consider two models that mayors could follow, that of the janitor and that of the CEO, with one focusing on service and the other, a grand vision. We consider which of these two models best serve cities concerning their fundamentally spontaneous nature. Alain also weighs in on the idea of negative property rights, Haussmannian and Schumpeterian approaches to planning, and the future of transportation in relation to a city’s ability to develop organically. We wrap our conversation up with a focus on charter cities, looking at how to fill up a space that is not a destination in and of itself yet. Catch our conversation today for wide-ranging and incisive observations on the nature of cities with our wonderful guest.Key Points From This Episode:•   A definition of labor markets as places of freedom to select your job or employee.•   The idea that labor markets are the foundation of cities.•   Examples of cities not based on labor markets where workers had no choice regarding work.•   A planning error: placing housing next to jobs, thus threatening the labor market.•   US and Chinese cluster cities/fragmented labor markets; integrating them using transport.•   The limits of the bus/drive/subway system to cope with urban sprawl.•   Getting past oversimplified understandings of cities having one industry like tech or finance.•   A conception of a mayor’s job as being to enable rather than direct a city’s labor market.•   How land use is not recycled in non-labor market cities in China and the Soviet Union.•   New transport models like Uber and Hyperloop, which have the power to change future cities.•   Whether coronavirus’ high toll on dense places will stop them from existing in the future.•   A consumer’s right to make tradeoffs between commute time and floor space area.•   The best ancient cities and Alain’s belief that different cities are preferable to different people.•   Important contributions Haussmann made to Paris’ navigability, notwithstanding his motives.•   Freedom, exchange, commerce, and why some cities produce a higher cultural output.•   An argument for having large municipalities for coordinating efforts more effectively.•   Paralysis caused by a dilution of property rights and elevation of negative property rights.•   Pros and cons of China’s good technicians operating within a command economy.•   Why informal economies exist and how some have been absorbed by formal ones.•   Reasons why some cities collapse: bad management, changing trade routes, and more.•   Alain’s book’s name; cities are spontaneous and thus incomprehensible to planners.•   The danger of master-planned cities which can’t accommodate feedback during construction.•   Key buildings and public/private boundaries as vital initial parts of a city’s plan.•   Curbing real estate developer approaches to building by assigning people small lots.•   NIMBYs and when it could be considered moral to protest against developments.•   Why Robert Moses is not the Haussmann of New York; Schumpeterian action.•   Whether charter cities can still be made and how Dubai became more than a fueling stop.•   Differences between ‘Dubai clone’ or ‘Shenzen clone’ charter cities.Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:Alain BertaudThe Marron InstituteOrder without Design: How Markets Shape CitiesAdam SmithHyperloopPaul RomerPrinces and MerchantsTitianCharles VFriedrich A. HayekAdam FergusonRobert MosesJane JacobsPaul RudolphAu Bonheur des DamesCharter Cities InstituteMark LutterCharter Cities Institute on TwitterCharter Cities Institute on Facebook

For our first full episode of the Charter Cities Podcast, Mark is joined by Gyude Moore to discuss his experiences in and the history of Liberia, and what this story can teach us about charter cities in Africa and emerging markets. Gyude takes a brief look at the defining moments in Liberian history for this discussion, mentioning the population that arrived from America in the 1800s and the civil war he was born into at the end of the 20th century. We hear more from his personal story of moving to the US for college and then returning to a governmental position thanks to the Scott Family Fellows program and how this turned into a role as the Minister of Public Works. Gyude comments on the characteristics of the Liberian government at this time and the systems and attitudes that halted progress and reduced funds. From there, we move into Gyude's main passion and argument, that paved roads make up the backbone of any economy, a technology that has become completely commonplace in most of the Western world and the dearth of which results in much of Africa's economic stagnation. Gyude makes the connection between the US' reliance on the road network for so much of their strong economy and then compares this with Africa's road infrastructure, concluding that Africa can never progress without better, paved access between cities and hubs. The later part of our conversation moves into a discussion on Chinese involvement in Africa, the Belt and Roads Initiative and how Charter Cities might aid the propulsion of African economies in a way that other means might not. Gyude is a passionate and experienced planning mind, with lots to share from his native Liberia and beyond, so tune in to get it all!Key Points From This Episode:•   The influence of the end of the American slave trade on Liberian history and culture.•   Gyude's early years, growing up during the Liberian civil war.•   Comparing the encroaching civil war in Liberia to the current spread of the coronavirus.•   The influx of people into Monrovia at that time and the strain it placed on infrastructure.•   Gyude's move to the US for college and landing in Baltimore to an unexpected reception.•   Heading home to Liberia and the program that recruited Gyude to work with the state.•   The period in which Gyude took up a position as Minister of Public Works.•   Entrepreneurial spirit in government; aspirational work in the public sector in Liberia.•   Gyude's experiences of corruption in Liberia's emerging market.•   Cultural and mindset shifts for better long term benefits and installing systems in chaos.•   The technology of paved roads and what it enables a government and population to achieve.•   Gyude's idea for the incentivized development of cheaper materials for paved roads.•   Enforcing accountability for government projects, initiatives and funds. •   Gyude's critique of the Belt and Road Initiative and estimates of necessary funds.•   Assessing the involvement of China in Africa and the debt that is already present.•   The importance of planned cities in the lives of citizens and economic growth.•   Looking to the example of Asia and what Africa can and cannot learn from their model.•   The core of what appeals to Gyude about charter cities and how they can help.•   Risks that accompany the charter city model and the power of the host country.•   Skill sharing for the benefit of a local population; the rise in Africans hired by China.Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:Gyude Moore on TwitterCharter Cities InstituteMark LutterCharter Cities Institute on TwitterCharter Cities Institute on FacebookECOWASECOMOGBerea CollegePresident SirleafScott Fellows ProgramEd ScottAfrobarometerIMFCARIJohns HopkinsBelt and Road InitiativeJ.P. MorganHow Asia WorksSADCPaul RomerBarrick Gold

We are so happy to welcome you to the Charter Cities Podcast, where we highlight the different facets of building a charter city. Through this platform, we hope that listeners will not only gain a deep understanding of charter cities from urban planning to politics and finance but also the necessary steps that it takes to build them. In this episode, we do things a bit differently, with Mark Lutter, founder of Charter Cities Institute, and host of the podcast getting put in the hot seat. His CCI colleague, Tamara Winter, interviews him on a range of topics, both directly and not so directly, related to charter cities. We learn more about the mission of CCI and why Mark believes that charter cities are a good model for economic development. While Paul Romer, famed economist, unsuccessfully tried to get charter cities off the ground, Mark explains why he believes CCI’s approach will ultimately be more successful. Mark also sheds light on how charter cities are complementary to but different from economic zones. While these delineated areas are often politically motivated, the vision behind the charter city is much broader than that. CCI hopes to contribute to aspects such as site selection, urban planning, and governance, and in doing so, take a holistic approach to building a new city. Mark also discusses what it takes to build governance capacity, some of the charter city constraints, and how partnerships helped him launch CCI. We learn more about Mark as well, from some of his favorite books, the African cuisine that’s made the biggest impression on him, and how he has carried the lessons from his federal bureaucratic parents with him. We couldn’t have hoped for a better first episode, and we hope you join us for the journey to come. Tune in today!Key Points From This Episode:•   The two ways that CCI’s attempt at creating charter cities is different from Paul Romer’s.•   Why Mark is skeptical about using services as a means of building charter cities.•   Find out how charter cities are similar to and different from special economic zones.•   How regulatory arbitrage can produce favorable outcomes and what CCI is doing about it.•   Charter cities need good urban planning and infrastructure in conjunction with good governance.•   Two of Mark’s favorite books that he’s read related to places he has been.•   How growing up with parents who worked in federal bureaucracy has shaped Mark.•   What industrial policy is and what charter cities should be cognizant of when pursuing it.•   Why, despite admiring China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Mark is cautious about it.•   An overview of Honduras' charter legislation and what went wrong in execution.•   Find out what it would take to build a government from scratch and successful examples.•   Which historical leaders would have been good charter city founders?•   Learn more about the constraints that charter cities face and how they’re likely to change.•   Why Mark would opt to build charter cities in Canada rather than the US.•   Mark's motivation for founding CCI and his proudest CCI achievements thus far.•   Find out about the two key partnerships that helped Mark launch CCI.•   Why the state shouldn’t be trusted with industrial policy.•   What Silicon Valley is not understanding about politics and how they can change it.•   Mark’s favorite non-charter city books and what we can learn from historical eras.•   An overview of the Hanseatic League and how it can be used as a governance model today.•   How Mark’s thinking about charter cities has changed since founding CCI and how listeners can get involved. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:Mark LutterMark Lutter on TwitterMark Lutter EmailTamara Winter on TwitterCharter Cities InstituteCharter Cities Institute on FacebookCharter Cities Institute on TwitterPaul RomerNkwashiThe Day Lasts More than a Hundred YearsDance of the JakarandaDani RodrikMarginal REVOLUTIONTyler Cowen on TwitterNapoleonBooker T. WashingtonTuskegee InstituteCatherine the GreatWalt DisneyCelebration, FloridaSidewalk LabsAlphabet Inc.Scott AlexanderY CombinatorMwiya Musokotwane on TwitterBrookings InstitutionEnyimba Economic CityStudents For LibertyThebeEmergent VenturesThe Rise and Decline of NationsThe Three-Body ProblemThe Art of CommunityRevolutionsHanseatic League