Research

Guantanamo Bay has long been synonymous with controversy, but what if it could be repurposed into a dynamic charter city? This research paper lays out a bold vision for transforming the site into an economic hub, leveraging governance autonomy, private-sector investment, and immigration reform. By capitalizing on existing treaties and executive authority, Guantanamo Bay could become a strategic gateway for innovation, nearshoring, and development—reshaping both U.S. policy and global perceptions.

Freedom Cities offer a bold vision for revitalizing American innovation by streamlining regulations, fast-tracking housing and infrastructure, and fostering cutting-edge industries like biotech, aeronautics, and clean energy. This research paper outlines how Freedom Cities can unlock billions in investment, create hundreds of thousands of jobs, and restore U.S. competitiveness by leveraging federal land and private-sector partnerships.

Songdo City, South Korea’s flagship smart city, is a $40 billion marvel that embodies innovation and ambition. Over two decades, it has transformed from a wetland to a high-tech hub, championing sustainability and urban planning excellence. Despite its cutting-edge infrastructure and status as a model for global urban development, Songdo faces criticism for top-down governance, underwhelming population growth, and cultural shortcomings. This research delves into its governance, built environment, and economic frameworks to evaluate whether Songdo is a blueprint for future cities or an outlier among global urban experiments.

This research paper introduces the New Cities Map (NCM), an open-source database cataloging over 350 master-planned cities built worldwide since 1945. It provides insights into the rapid growth of new cities, particularly in the Global South, and offers valuable data on city governance, finances, and planning to support future research and policy development.

This paper explores the integral role of beer in the economic development and social fabric of Toronto, Canada, and Lusaka, Zambia. While a recent biography paints a negative picture of Toronto’s historical relationship with alcohol, this paper argues that beer has been a crucial driver of economic growth, tax revenue, and industrialization. Similarly, the study highlights the absence of brewing incentives in Zambia’s Lusaka South Multi-Facility Economic Zone, advocating for the recognition of beer’s developmental impact. The findings underscore the importance of local craft breweries in shaping Toronto and Lusaka’s contemporary identities and livability.

This paper explores how cities, particularly in the Global South, can tackle the challenges of climate change and rapid urbanization to become resilient centers of sustainable development. Focusing on the concept of charter cities—newly established urban areas with innovative governance—the paper discusses their potential to strategically manage urban growth, develop sustainable infrastructure, and implement adaptive governance practices. Despite challenges, charter cities offer a pathway to building resilient urban centers that drive economic prosperity and innovation in the face of climate change.

In response to evolving global priorities and local challenges, our latest research paper, titled “Making Bad Urban Laws Better: Can the Urban Physician Replace the Urban Politician in Africa?” delves into the dynamic landscape of urban policy reform in Africa. Drawing from the Biden administration’s strategic shift towards urbanization and the comprehensive analyses of international organizations, we explore the emergence of the “urban physician” – a technocratic figure tasked with enacting policy changes to enhance urban governance. However, our analysis goes beyond surface-level assessments of “bad laws,” urging a deeper examination of their origins, impacts, and vested interests. We argue that alongside the urban physician, skilled “urban politicians” are essential for navigating complex political landscapes, building coalitions, and driving meaningful reform. Through a series of case studies and discussions, we shed light on the symbiotic relationship between these two actors and advocate for a holistic approach to urban policy reform in Africa.

Over the past few years, the 15-minute city has emerged as a contentious urban planning paradigm. The concept, which proposes organizing cities into clusters of dense neighborhoods where all daily needs can be reach within a 15-minute walk or bike ride, is criticized as a segregationist and impractical approach to urbanism. Its detractors fear that it will worsen social inequality and reduce economic benefits. In this paper, we challenge these criticisms. We argue that 15-minute cities are an effective urban policy to improve social equality and spur economic development. We conceptually argue that 15-minute cities embody consensus policies among urban planner, and therefore, they should not be treated skeptically. We also discuss how 15-minute cities are beneficial to low-income residents. To illustrate our arguments, we qualitatively compare New York City and Washington, DC’s impoverished neighborhoods. We show that the relatively more walkable neighborhoods of NYC are better for the poor than DC’s relatively less walkable neighborhoods.

Recent research delved into the economic challenges facing King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) in Saudi Arabia, revealing a nuanced perspective. While the outlook for KAEC’s economy appears pessimistic, there’s a glimmer of social optimism regarding the appeal of social liberalism, particularly among the youth. This emerging trend has garnered attention from Western media and scholars. KAEC, alongside other planned cities like NEOM, is positioned as a response to population growth and urbanization while aiming to stimulate economic growth. However, official Saudi government sources lack substantial mention of social liberalism, prompting questions about its authenticity versus being a marketing ploy. Is this dual message reflective of Saudi trying to push the social liberalism signal overseas while maintaining a conservative rhetoric at home? Is there a social cherry on the slightly stale economic cake?

This paper engages with a specific effort by Easterly (2019) to solve the liberalization–economic growth paradox. Focusing on India’s liberalization in 1991, it questions Easterly’s analysis on several fronts. Firstly, it argues that the growth paradox diminishes when more rigorous empirical methods are applied. Secondly, it contends that Easterly’s metrics fail to capture India’s reform efforts adequately. Thirdly, it suggests that while Easterly posits a delayed effect of good policy, the actual delay lies in realizing the benefits of such policies due to various factors like the need for complementary policies and the time it takes for firm-level impacts to manifest at the macro level. Lastly, it critiques Easterly’s linkage of rapid growth in the 1990s solely to better economic policy, highlighting the need to consider sustained growth and the interplay between growth and institutions for a comprehensive understanding of India’s economic trajectory since 1980.

Indian cities are facing challenges due to their low-rise structures and sprawling slums that are projected to increase with the growth of urban populations in the future. To cope with this trend and take advantage of agglomeration externalities, India needs to adopt a more upward, pyramid-like approach with increased density. Although strengthening property rights has been suggested as a solution, India’s fragmented land ownership system makes this option difficult.

Previously, the Indian government used eminent domain to acquire and amalgamate land for industrial or infrastructural use, but this led to significant political opposition in the 2000s. As a result, the 2013 Land Acquisition Act was passed, which narrowed the circumstances under which land could be acquired, increased compensation payments, and extended those payments to non-owners who relied on the land for their livelihoods. While this approach has ensured political acquiescence among rural and slum dwellers, it has created a problem for private businesses that require land for property or industrial development, causing a significant time and cost burden.

This political reality, while necessary for a democratic India, may not be conducive to good economics and may lead to dysfunctional urbanization.

Selected candidates will present their papers during the upcoming “Governing Africa’s Urban Transitions” conference

For decades, policymakers, donor organizations, and academics have engaged in a debate over economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa, proposing different policy responses over time. In recent years, there has been a renewed emphasis on the significance of infrastructure, especially due to the exorbitant transportation costs in the region. The question remains: can improved road infrastructure help sub-Saharan Africa surmount the geographic distance barriers that impede economic growth? This paper seeks to delve into the potential long-term economic effects of Zambia’s road construction boom between 2011 and 2022.

Charter cities, and special jurisdictions more broadly, can boost economic growth, prompt institutional reform, and allow for diverse policy experimentation. However, how to conceptualize the optimal economic model to guide the development of a charter city or special jurisdiction remains unclear. Web3-enabled Harbergeorgism is one such model that is well-suited to the charter city context.

Learning from the history of walls and a modest proposal to “Tear Down This Wall.” This paper uses a historical case-study methodology by returning to the last great age of wall building to search for lessons.

The African Union (AU) has pioneered a vision of a network of high-speed railways to link up all the major African cities. This paper draws on lessons from the railways of the nineteenth century to help us answer questions about the prospects of the African railway renaissance today.

Submit your paper for the 2022 New Cities Conference, hosted by CCI and the MIT Sustainable Urbanization Lab, that focuses on utilizing new cities in the 21st century as economic engines.

This paper contributes to the growing literature around charter cities and new city developments and makes a case for the salience of the charter city model from two surprising case studies – the Suez and Panama Canals.

Dublin and Singapore are two cities of historical interest for the charter cities movement. There are significant policy continuities between Dublin and Singapore, such as with housing, the focus of this research.

This working paper series on charter cities in Africa is a joint effort of the Charter Cities Institute and the African Centre for the Study of the United States at the University of the Witwatersrand to highlight the scholarship of African scholars interested in how charter cities will shape the future of the continent across various themes and disciplines.

CCI’s new research agenda outlines the 5 research topics most important to the charter cities movement and helps guide our research on urban governance, economic growth, and poverty alleviation.

Barefoot planning proposes to dynamically organize private development and public goods without a static master plan by employing barefoot planners, a new class of community-level planning practitioners.

The CCI Summer Fellowship exposes participants to academic and real-life urban discourse. This document, through several Project Briefs, overviews the proposed projects of the 2021 CCI Fellows.

By adopting the innovative governance system offered by the charter cities model, the DRC can not only address its development challenges, but would also demonstrate that it can also deliver on bold and innovative models of economic development for its people.

A charter city operated via a public-private partnership at the Port of Berbera, Somaliland will substantially increase the positive impacts of Somaliland’s already effective national development strategy.

Curiously, some cities have, over time, become better at preparing for crises, while others have not. This paper explores how to optimize cities for crises, as well as growth, learning, and other seismic changes.

Improving the Lives of Congolese Citizens and Creating a Stable and Ethical Source for Critical Minerals

The Charter Cities Institute (CCI) accepts submissions for research paper ideas related to charter cities and innovative urban governance.

CCI’s first academic publication on Honduras’ charter cities law, written by Jeffrey Mason and Carl Peterson.

In a world with increasing numbers of forcibly displaced persons, this paper explores how charter cities can generate more effective responses to refugee movements and place refugee and local community needs firmly at the center of local governance.

Mark Levin offers lessons for charter cities from his four decades of experience in city management.

Paul Healy and Matt Prewitt detail three RadicalxChange policies for improving charter city governance.

Sustained economic growth is the world’s best poverty reduction tool. In this paper, Research Associate Jeffrey Mason argues that charter cities are a highly cost-effective way to ignite long-run growth.