A railway journey to new colonialism in Africa? Not if the African Union (AU) can help it. The AU has a big, bold vision for African railways.

Financial problems and bankruptcy of African railways should be expected, but we must hope that the vision of the African Union, patience and financial backing are sufficient to keep building railways. It’s the long-term wealth created by urbanization, industrialization and export-led growth that will create wealth to pay for railways.

In the next installment of the blog series “When the River Crosses the City,” we discuss the Bisagno River and its impact on the Italian city of Genova.

Here’s a quick look back at what’s been happening at the Charter Cities Institute this summer and what to look out for in the near future.

CCI Researcher Jeff Mason writes about a more viable model for the transformation of military bases into charter cities that exists in the Philippines: the Subic Bay Special Economic and Freeport Zone.

Introducing the new blog series “When the River Crosses the City,” where we highlight cities around the world and their waterways. This week we discuss Dar es Salaam and the Mbezi River.

CCI researcher Jeffrey Mason writes about his observations on where Jamaica is heading following the World Free Zones Organization’s Annual International Conference and Exhibition in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

It’s nearly half-way through 2022, so it’s a great time to give updates on what CCI’s been up to during the prior six months. It’s been a hugely productive first half-year, so fasten your seatbelts!

Both the Suez and Panama Canals had charters and were a huge success. Lessons from both were learned, and CCI’s model of charter cities incorporates these lessons.

In Honduras, the National Congress unanimously repealed the constitutional amendment and enabling law for charter cities, known as Zonas de Empleo de Desarrollo Económico (Zones for Employment and Economic Development) or ZEDEs. Now we take a deeper look at what happened in Honduras, and what comes next.

This Earth Day, it’s time to admit that one of the most promising solutions to climate change is too often excluded from the conversation: cities. Instead, cities are often portrayed as the cause of climate change. We argue that cities can be one of the most effective tools to fight climate change.

CCI Founder Mark Lutter predicted back in 2020 that this decade would be half “burning ’20s” and half “weird ’20s” with different forms of social organizations, communes, charter cities, religion, trying to fill the void. Acting Executive Director and Head of Research Kurtis Lockhart unpacks this foresight.

Charter cities can play an outsized role in the climate change agenda. Since charter cities are limited to new special jurisdictions, policymakers can test innovative ideas in a smaller geographic area.

African cities are underfunded, both in terms of public expenditure and infrastructure investments.

Talent City is one of several exciting bright spots driving both infrastructure development and governance innovation in Africa.

Everywhere you look, founders are launching efforts to build new communities and entirely new cities.

The Charter Cities Institute (CCI) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR).

The recent Honduran elections may have ramifications for the greater charter cities movement.

When creative solutions are found, service provisions can improve quicker than anyone would otherwise expect.

There are elements of the charter cities toolkit which we can use to ‘fix’ cities whose governance is dysfunctional or destructive.

Marc Lore is building a new American city, Telosa, about which there are reasons to be both positive and skeptical.

A CCI team recently travelled to Zambia to meet with key stakeholders in the new administration.

The Taliban have retaken Afghanistan. What does this mean for the future of charter cities?

Gurgaon, India, Jiaolong, China, and Próspera, Honduras offer three models of private governance.

Could charter cities gain legitimacy by taking the job no other city wants to take?

Charter cities are not some theoretical, pie in the sky idea; there is real, tangible traction happening that can be accelerated with additional funding.

The purpose of this research project is to sketch the broad intellectual history of the role self-governing cities have played in economic and political development, from ancient times to the present.

Charter cities need to retain their focus on being transformative, which includes combining governance reform with agglomeration.

Like any early-stage startup, charter cities are currently a momentum play, and the state of charter cities is strong.

In a world with increasing numbers of forcibly displaced persons, charter cities provide one way to generate more effective responses to refugee movements while placing refugee and local community needs firmly at the center of local governance.

Somaliland is an autonomous region in the Horn of Africa that unilaterally declared independence from Somalia in 1991. Not only has Somaliland maintained democratic governance, but it has also made continual efforts to improve this governance and recently passed the “Somaliland Special Economic Zones Law.”

Ports need trade to justify the investment, governance to ensure effective operation, capital to be built and maintained. That ports are part of a larger process that can be described as development does not make them unimportant.

Doing Business is a valuable project, but its methodology could be strengthened.

Monetary authority is one power charter cities might not want to possess.

The Victoria Falls Stock Exchange as a model for mitigating currency risk.

Arjun Khaitan considers an Ostromian approach to industrial strategy.

What does peak internet coordination of real-world activity look like?

Starbase has the potential to become one of the greatest cities of the 21st century.

Jiaolong, China may be the world’s must successful privately operated city.

A new city for South Africa is not a bad idea, however it has to be driven by something greater than a desire for a new city.