It is also true that Hong Kong, as he said in his previous TED talk on the same topic, alleviated more poverty than anything we've ever tried in a really long time.
Gurgaon city in India is entirely private and that works and had exponential economical growth, even better than state-planned cities full of regulations and coercion.
TED / Google back to their Globalist agenda again. 'There's lot of companies that would love to ...' take over your country, undermine it's sovereignty and write their own Laws'. You can stuff your nation subverting super cities! Mark my words China will be wanting some of these in the US.
I had, and developed this idea at the age of 15, and ran into some problems that he, and "Zeitgeist Addendum" doesn't seem to get, but I've always loved the idea.
I had and developed this idea at the age of 15 and ran into some problems that he and Zeitgeist Addendum" doesn't seem to get, but I've always loved the idea.
I am very happy for the Honduran people who stuck to their Constitution and eliminated a Chavista from destroying their country.
Now with a newly elected leader who is not in the pocket of Chavez and Castro, they can truly begin meaningful work on alleviating the poverty in Honduras. They deserve it for having the strength and courage to stand beside their Constitution in the face of international Chavista condemnation followed by international support.
Paul Romer has always been a bit of a stupid man anyway (I say this very respectfully). Since his knowledge-economy-dehumanized -techno-utopia ideas, through to now. Superficial, stupid and dangerous indeed
Neocolonialism and the profit motive aren't going to make for better cities. Check out The Venus Project and the Zeitgeist Movement for some similar but better ideas in this regard.
Foreign investors = corporations. This would only spread the power of corporations. The 3rd world country wouldn't be selling out to a nation, but to a corporation. If we really want to help a country, try democracy. Not buying one out. He's sugar coating everything. I tried liking the idea. I kinda was at first. Then thought about the implications.
I know they didn't mean any harm. But they are ignorant not to see the future affects of this.
This is crazy the Honduran government is giving away huge amounts of land to foreign embassies, what kind of sovereign state would do that, if they want to develop their country they should reform the government not ask some other foreign government to come and take away their land to develop it, this is a new kind of economical occupation and needs to be stopped immediately.
Okay... so this guy wants to use taxpayer money to set up new cities to incentivize corporations to further ship jobs out of the country? Out of the question. And what is the question?
Hey Paul, come check out our new city: it's called ORDOS, its in China and its a GHOST TOWN. Oh you don't like it? Howabout Kangbashi? Zhengzhou New District perhaps?
It seems rather likely that this will turn out to be a way of making "gated communities" into "gated cities" where you are wellcome to apply for citizenship if you have something to offer, like education or finances. Those that move from rural areas into cities today, in an attempt to get out of poverty will most likely not be welcome. Also in these cities it seems easy to replace laws by EULA's and reinstate ostracism as a default punishment... Pretty worrying development I think.
I am appalled by the straight face with which this guy is telling us: third world countries please sell your land to us cheaply, and live under a foreigner rule while paying rent! This is specially ugly after Honduras have suffered an international sponsored coup, that made the country weaker. And is presently ruled by non native lineage (whites) and american sponsored people. I want to see Nevada sell its land to china
@jrlmenezes1 The third world countries would stand to benefit enormously. Cities like Hong Kong and Singapore are sources of trade and economic development, that enriches their own citizens and the surrounding region. I suggest you actually see Romer's original TED talk about charter cities which explains WHY a well-run city leads to wealth being generated. It's about RULES, that create incentives for people to manage industries well.
@AminCad Singapore can be rich but it sucks, under hard islamic rule. You can have no regard to your liberties or respect for your own culture, but I do. Same goes to the limited liberties in HK. Who makes the rules is as important as having them. To accept rules from foreign powers is to accept a cage, rosy as it can be. Take Tibet for example and the ethnic cleansing that occur and is occuring. Thks but no thks
@jrlmenezes1 First of all, Singapore is not Islamic. Second, the civil liberty restrictions in Singapore have nothing to do with its economic liberty and success. It could have more liberal social laws and still have the current economic policies. Thirdly, the people there are not in poverty. They have increasing amounts of international influence, because they are getting wealthy.
Not necessarily a bad idea, I always felt that The UK should have kept Hong Kong and given China an enclave on mainland Britain instead. The US and China would probably both benefit from a large Chinese enclave on the US coast.
@SLUbermensch Of course... it's wishful thinking, but if it becomes wishful activism on a wide scale, then it has a chance to become real. Peasants and slaves never thought they'd see revolutionary change... people would have thought that the prospect of a capitalist was utopian and unachievable. Anything is achievable if we come together to bring it about. I only wish to spread peace and love man, I don't understand why I'm receiving so much hate and distaste from many people on here.
@GeorgeeRobson Yes, naturally if I denounce a 'post scarcity' pipe dream that debases and co-opts leftist ideas, makes no mention and in fact seems to implicitly reject actual revolution, and is intimately tied into a paranoid, conspiratorial worldview mixed with economic millenialism, I must be a shill for capitalism. Yeah, because if you're opposed to capitalism, you have to agree with insane bullshit.
i have to downrate this, because it doesnt mention the US-backed military coup in Honduras 2009, instead he calls it a "constitutional crisis", which is not true.
since that coup, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of the press are being eroded and attacked. That Pepe Lobo did not win the election in a landslide, because the election was not democratic, and opposition has been destroyed prior to the election.
Of course... it's wishful thinking, but if it becomes wishful activism on a wide scale, then it has a chance to become real. Peasants and slaves never thought they'd see revolutionary change... people would have thought that the prospect of a capitalist was utopian and unachievable. Anything is achievable if we come together to bring it about. I only wish to spread peace and love man, I don't understand why I'm receiving so much hate and distaste from many people on here.
@SLUbermensch Which is... I believe that the more people who are well-informed of our planetry problems, which encompasses our environment and our own problems, then there will be more people who are displeased with the current system, and no longer want to participate in it. If enough people can consciously critisise the system and raise awareness and real education to others, a peaceful overthrow of the system, not of the elitist people - will ensue, therefore leading to a new system.
Seria una buena idea, suena bien, pero hay tantas cosas que tendrían que cambiar MUNDIALMENTE para lograr una buena calidad de vida, por ejemplo, Las ciudades tienen zonas marginales aquí y donde sea, no hay paga justa por el mismo trabajo entre latinoamerica y otros países, y en parte, las personas migran por el sueño de alcanzar el estilo de vida del norte, por que crear nuevas ciudades si puedes hacer mandar a la chingada el TLC?
You are making a good point but it does not class with what i am saying and i am not speaking against that. the fact that we have already ruined ecosystems does not mean we must keep on doing that.
hmm...let's see. trees being cut down so you can use paper, the fish you eat everyday with the cost of by-catch associated, the amount of CO2 put into the air everyday just so you can drive your car, the coal you burn so you can have your internet, watch your tv, do your laundry. You can't stand behind something like what you have just said when your daily activities alone make the world a less "sustainable" place. take it for what it is. it is hypocritical!
after all, Honduras is a developing country and environmental laws take second place to anything that would provide better jobs and a better way of life. But trust me they are not getting either of those things because like visas and international help fall into the hands of corrupt gvnt officials and rich foreigners same things is gonna happen with this, or who do you are gonna be the ones deciding who lives in this city?
That is the thing, in countries like Honduras nobody has the funds or motivation to think of reforesting the slums that are gonna be left behind, if anything the slums will the dumpsters for this "charter city". The reason for this is that most Hondurans have lived their entire lives surrounded by rain forest and tend to take it for granted, Hondurans will care more about the jobs that this charter city will provide. . . .
"So what kind of an idea is it to think about building a brand new city in Honduras? Or to build a dozen of these or a hundred of these... to think about insisting that every family have a choice of several cities that are competing to attract new residence."
...seriously? It's a fucking stupid idea. Yes, lets destroy vast tracts of nature to create an overabundance of cities.
The only places that this building city thing makes any sense to be is in Dubai and Saudi Arabia where they have nothing but desert and lots of sunlight and nothing else grows. Use land that is useless for anything else. Stop tearing down the environment and killing animals and ecosystems.
we should be retreating from man's footprint on Earth. we are continuing to destroy the planet in an unsustainable land for no real good reason.
virtually all the land that is in play has been stolen by force from the indigenous people who lived there forcing them into virtual slavery and unsustainable modes of life - for the benefit of the people who stole it.
if nature is ever to survive at some point we have got to limit the land we use.
this is typical "you can't have what we have" mentality. Don't you live in a city, pollute your water source? Doesn't the city you live in stand on some sort of "sustainable ecosystem" once upon a time? They just want what you have, and your hypocritical opinion about the environment and the way we are treating it is laughable at best. Perhaps you could trade shoes with a person making a couple hundred USD a year and then see what you have to say about "sustainability"?
Um charter cities are nothing new. It's a standard classification in Political Science. In regards to the U.S. and in particular California cities/towns/etc may choose to incorporate into either a Charter city or a Common law government.
Honduras, I love you my beautiful country! But the solution to poverty is not giving a part of you away to some strangers who won't give a f***ing nut about the country and its people! the solution is education, Hondurenos tienen que entender eso. and Pepe Lobo, shut up and stop selling what is not yours. what you need to do is persecute all those bastards who take advantage of the Honduran people by using tax money to pay for their luxuries!
@Bobanderic "So it's voluntary colonialism?" -- Not really. Unlike colonialism, power and importantly, tax revenue, stay within the state. It's learning from the China model (the good bits of course, despite what extremists would like to believe, it is possible to pick and choose, and in a complex world with complex problems, necessary to too) of experimentation, where different areas have different rules to see which ones work and allow people to easier choose and change which to live under.
@Bobanderic OOps, I'm sorry, I just get it... a good point... it needs to be proven though for each cases that there was acts of colonialism. Like discrimination of rights between races or other groupies, then future residents should be able to choose whether or not to live in the circumstances. Governments should make offense of dishonest terms and conditions of the charter cities... thank you Bobanderic
@SLUbermensch Right so I'm supposed to believe your opinion, which has no factual evidence and only bias to back up its view..? If you know everything about the future then please take it up for a career, predicting the future.. oh wait you can't, you just think you know what will happen because of your unreasoned judgement.
I wish we were too but the more that people put down the possibility of it ever happening, the less likely it'll be that it'll happen.
@OregonCoastGhost Bwah hahaha ...brilliant! ...I'd thumbs up your comment but my vote fails to register ...oh my star! I'm still bursting in to gales (pardon the pun) of chuckles ...I hope you know how spot on your comment really is
Destroy more land, more habitats, and more animal species so we can pour concrete and give people a choice of what kind of brick or steel building they want to live in. For profits. Better living through high population density, pollution, and less agriculture?
Perhaps I'm missing some important "thing" about how this is actually going to help people. Thanks, but no thanks. Maybe take responsibility for our massive population? Find a way to feed everyone first.
This is about getting a developed country into a chunk of poor country, setting out rules of the developed country on that small peace of land. If ppl from the poor country want they can get there easily to work and live. When they see opportunities that are in that small peace of land in their neighborhood more ppl will want to go there, place will grow and that is the way of connecting the whole world together....
Rulers of those poor countries will have no choice if ppl there demand those better laws to be implemented everywhere.
To give you perspective- in my country you earn 100-150euro per month. If there is a peace of land, lets call it "Canada land", in my neighborhood where i can go earn 800-1500euros a month i would go there without thinking. From me it would be expected to follow the laws of Canada i would gladly do it.
I would explained it better but cant now, txt limit
@TheWeizOne While I agree with almost everything you just said, this idea that high population is to blame for our hunger is bunk. We produce more than enough to feed everyone, even with the waste in our food system. If we stopped feeding so much to livestock, we'd be growing WAY more than enough to feed everyone. The problem isn't a lack of food. It's an economic model in which we have people who neither have the money to make their demands matter on the market, nor the employment to get it.
@TheWeizOne LOL you're a typical watermelon. It means green on the outside, RED on the inside!!! Watch the video of George Carlin entitled "Saving the Planet" so you can get a dose of hard logic and evidence that will make any leftist squeal like the pussies you are.
@TheWeizOne Most contemporary metropolises (?) are old and unplanned. A well-planned city built through modern engineering and architecture can provide better living standards and reduce overpopulation in the long run.
not every new city/building would need to require destroying habitat. they arent talking about covering any/every inch of land in cities/buildings. you can choose better/worse places/options
If they build a modern city that enables millions of people to move out of the slums into a modern city that allows them to support their family, suddenly a huge Area of Slums will be avaliable for re-naturalisation.
If done well, a few 100.000km2 of slums could be converted into a multiple times smaler city. There could actually be more nature left afterwards. If done wrong on the other hand, a lot of nature is destroyed forever.
@TheWeizOne It must be easy to sit in a first world country on a laptop, in an urban environment and say that poor people should continue to be subsistence farmers.
Paul Romer is changing the world for the better, we should applaud him for it.
@Sondre7 I've lived in a third world country(mexico) for most of my life and I agree with almost everything he said.
If we stoped swallowing the lie that population control is bad and we started protecting our economy we wouldn't need all those new megapolis. I don't mean we shold live on subsistence farming (by the way acourding to the latest census just a minority of us do) we should modernize our farming industry and invest in new technology.
@TheWeizOne The issue is that if your poor and have no land you need to go to a city to make anything. This is trying to fix that problem by making more cities instead of increasing the ones we have. I'm not sure if this will work but it's an interesting concept.
@gimlic It may indeed be an interesting concept, but interesting does not by itself mean it's either reasonable or effective. There are certain unavoidable consequences of thinking we can solve the problem simply by building more cities.
I want to make something very clear, I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, suggesting we find ways to justify killing people, but the unavoidable fact and core problem with humanity is that there are simply too many of us for the world to sustain.
@AtomFA Did I say anything about rain forests? Do all animals live in rain forests? Or is land "in mexico" simply not as important somehow as rain forests?
There's a reason it's called bio-diversity. It's diverse. Do you think having only cities and rain forests is somehow ok? We need the plant and animal diversity. The plant and animal diversity need diverse land. Or are the animals also going to be given the choice of a brick or steel home to live in?
@TheWeizOne yes fuck the city... I mean like you know like totally everyone should have his own land.. like that would make perfect sense for fucking 7 billion people... skyscrapers and citys destroy the nature! YOU ARE SO FUCKING RIGHT!
@TheWeizOne So, you are proposing genocide? This is a way to feed everyone, that's the whole point. Many people are poor because they live in a poor city. Build a rich city next to the poor city, people start leaving. The city then has two choices, close down, or operate under the rules that allowed them to leave in the first place.
The idea here is to build more cities rather than growing the ones we have. That way, bad cities are forced to learn how to improve.
@TheWeizOne Look at the first talk Romer did at TED to see just how much space there is, and what sort of land these proposed 'Charter Cities' will occupy.
TED.com should be ashamed of itself for hosting a fascist like Romer to spread his insane schemes. How about bringing Manuel Zelaya to TED to talk about how schemers, swindlers and swashbucklers like Pepe Lobo and Paul Romer have absolutely zero respect for the will of the Honduran people.
Lobo was part of a coup d'etat that is still resonating in Honduras. Who at TED was such a callous lout as to invite Paul Romer, an apologist for evil, to the conference?
1) This is not a new idea. Municipal charters developed in Europe in the Middle Ages.
2) Cities aren't just people and money. They're also built infrastructure, and they consume resources. Their existence relies on the transformation of energy and raw materials into goods and services to be consumed or sold.
3) How does building new cities ensure that everyone can live where they want? If a person is unwelcome in existing cities, why would your new city welcome them?
Sounds like a wet dream for a central planner. I'm not a fan of violating the emergent order. And how would the "tenants" just one day spontaneously start interacting in this giant machine?
And isn't this really just a side stepping of the real issue of why the current cities especially in Central and South America are shit holes?
What's the point of this idea people should just go out and make use of the land already the Earth is still rich in space and resources especially if you are sustainable.
Plan B: Mobilizing to Save Civilization - Lester Brown, Earth Policy Institute - Journey to Planet Earth - PBS Video ---- video . pbs . org/video/1864227276/
More overpopulation and economic disparity. What jobs will there be? Manufacturing consumer goods for gangster capitalists elsewhere? More environment destruction of natural habitat or agricultural land? Construction industry racketeers and their cohorts in government and finance, printing more money and going into debt, all for that 'high value per square foot' mentality. What food will be growable there? More automobiles and pollution? More debt slavery? More people not growing food: dumb.
@gregjalbert Right, because the world would be a better place if we would all just leave our nice modern lives and just grow food. It would be just like, oh I don't know, most of human history. You know- when the child mortality rate was sky high, disease was rampant, and concern for the environment was somehow lost between "don't starve" and "don't freeze to death" on everyone's list of most important things. Yeah, capitalism and modernity sure do suck...
@roidroid I'm sure you mean that you're not *supposed* to illegally immigrate to a city. The fact that people do it all the time makes it a reality that cities such as this will need to deal with.
@roidroid When every poor campesino within 100 miles comes to find better work in your beautiful new city, you will have three choices, none of which are very appealing:
1) kick them out (good luck with that strategy)
2) build new houses for them (where? who will pay?)
3) let them live under the highway like they do in the US (how will this charter town be different again?)
you mentioned "better work". You need to keep in mind that better work is indeed better work. You would rather campesinos remained campesinos forever? Or should they instead aspire to gain better work.
Which is better economically? A region full of campesinos, or a region full of campesinos looking for work in a city built in their region.
@roidroid 20 people trying to fit into a boat built for 10 is a problem. 100 people in that same boat, and there might as well not even be a boat.
The problem is not that the city will not be good for the campesinos, it is that it will be way way better than all the other options, meaning that anyone with a functioning brain and the ability to get there will attempt to go live at that city.
It is similar to immigration into a country: the difference is a country is larger and can absorb more.
@sachamm I'm not sure why someone would build only a 10 person boat, when there is 100 people visibly swimming in the surrounding water. These cities are being built FOR campesinos, in their neighbourhoods. Surely it would be tailored specifically for the needs of the area, and designed for growth.
If it's so successful that it's overrun with overpopulation. That's a success.
And perhaps a statement of how truly shitty peasant life was, that this is a step-up. Again: Success.
For those of you bashing this idea, saying its a new form of serfdom, please bear in mind that having to fork over 25% of your harvest to the lord is what defined a serf in many places. Currently most of us have to fork over way more than 25% to "the man." So what does that make us? If only I could go back to just being a serf, I'd have way more money...
@sojourner99 Except that we don't just give it to a lord, we give it to the greater good via taxes. Yeah, taxes may be somewhat inefficient, but there's still a huge difference.
So he shows pristine green land around 6:00 minutes through the video. He suggests that we wipe out forests that are already pressured by our development?
@DesignPunkStudios Well, I think his point is, it is better than having these families separate by travelling all the way to the US for a decent wage when you can develop it at home with chartered cities. Especially when the pressures on people in places like Honduras often result in illegal immigration and no guarantee of employment in the US.
But trust me, Honduras is far better environmentally than the US, if not the best in the world.
"Serfdom {urbanism} included the forced labor {else homeless} of serfs bound to a hereditary plot of land {house property} owned by a lord {bank, city} in return for protection {Social Security, Insurance, Tax Benefits} and the right to work on fields {corporations} they leased from their landlords to maintain their own subsistence {money}.
Coca-Cola, Michigan. ExxonMobil, the new capital of Honduras. Citi City, New York. You what were "charter cities"? MEDIEVAL SERF TOWNS. America already tried this capitalist crap, and it didn't turn out so well for the workers: Look up "truck system" on Wikipedia.
@03tsunami31 Where on earth has 'all the resources' that has not been claimed? This place does not exist. So now where do you propose these city's be laid to flourish undisturbed under utopian ideals? What if a city wants no age limit on sexual intercourse, doesn't want healthcare, doesn't have a mint, or a treasury, or water treatment... impossible idea yet still fascinating. We have all thought once, if I could just have 500 acres and only my family, we could live happy and free forever! Not.
He has good intentions. That's undeniable. Unfortunately, it would not translate once in effect. Imagine a charter city that wants to allow murder. Imagine a charter city that does not want any laws to be broken whatsoever. There still has to be a police force for citizens who slip up. Even if they did opt in for no speeding, but find themselves very late for work. What if a charter city wants to rise up against the country which contains it? Impossible. One World Order?
@SWilliamJackson So a family is uprooted, jobs changed and home moved for an infraction? Who enforces this? Who will accept charter city rejects? No jail for breaking laws just removal? See where I'm going? I am not a skeptic, and all for peace, I also think rationally. Remember the Mansons?
i see there trying to give everyone the same amount of wealth...but to be honest i don't think it'll happen...there needs to be someone at the top in a capitalist world. if there was more town and cities like this one how're you helping small businesses to grow and isn't this just giving more money to corporate businesses?
So buying land to build cities outside your state and enforce the rules of the other country suppose to be something good? Big businesses will buy cities and maybe countries. Sounds horrible to me. It's like canibalism. The bigger once will take everything from the people to turn it to profit. how is that suppose to be good?
So Mr Romer wants to make 'green zone type cities' in other countries run under the mandate of rich western nations. Most people throughout history were forced off the land to live in the city. While their land was raped and pillaged and poisoned by Corporations. Their is no such thing as 'free trade'. Zarlaya was overthrown in Honduras with the backing of the US. How about regenerating dilapidated US cities. Rockefeller would be proud Mr Romer.
It's not the voting that's democracy, it's the counting.
andreeaweed 4 months ago
It is also true that Hong Kong, as he said in his previous TED talk on the same topic, alleviated more poverty than anything we've ever tried in a really long time.
harryinitiative 7 months ago 2
Gurgaon city in India is entirely private and that works and had exponential economical growth, even better than state-planned cities full of regulations and coercion.
harryinitiative 7 months ago 2
What a piece of shit.
onemissourian 8 months ago
This man's vision is my personal geopolitical nightmare scenario in that it would reify the vulgar idea of corporate sovereignty.
onemissourian 8 months ago
the saudis tried that.
they had all the money in the world back then (early 2000s) but it didn't work.
i think this guy is clearly not the first person who's thought about this, and if it would work, someone would have made it work already.
1schwererziehbar1 8 months ago
I disagree. They should promote creativity...
Pristopher 8 months ago
TED / Google back to their Globalist agenda again. 'There's lot of companies that would love to ...' take over your country, undermine it's sovereignty and write their own Laws'. You can stuff your nation subverting super cities! Mark my words China will be wanting some of these in the US.
globalbankfraud 8 months ago
weird commenters
roidroid 8 months ago
There r so many social and cultural problems that can happen with this. NOT a good idea.
wodahsking 8 months ago 2
I had, and developed this idea at the age of 15, and ran into some problems that he, and "Zeitgeist Addendum" doesn't seem to get, but I've always loved the idea.
LymieVoid 8 months ago
I had and developed this idea at the age of 15 and ran into some problems that he and Zeitgeist Addendum" doesn't seem to get, but I've always loved the idea.
LymieVoid 8 months ago
I am very happy for the Honduran people who stuck to their Constitution and eliminated a Chavista from destroying their country.
Now with a newly elected leader who is not in the pocket of Chavez and Castro, they can truly begin meaningful work on alleviating the poverty in Honduras. They deserve it for having the strength and courage to stand beside their Constitution in the face of international Chavista condemnation followed by international support.
rm06c 8 months ago
isn't this basically neocolonialism?
warmongerpro 8 months ago
The last time the United States tried to create the "model city" it destroyed Detroit.
axelasdf 9 months ago
Paul Romer has always been a bit of a stupid man anyway (I say this very respectfully). Since his knowledge-economy-dehumanized -techno-utopia ideas, through to now. Superficial, stupid and dangerous indeed
Benitabravo 9 months ago
modern day colonization...
cheongla 9 months ago
This idea sucks!
XANSEM 9 months ago
"One government to rule them all"
Colonialism as a business, taking all resources and even territory and presenting that as a benefice for the country.
Manuel Zelaya was over run, the current goverment is selling the country by parts
fbarcelo1870 9 months ago
An excellent idea, but hardly a new one.
onehairybuddha 9 months ago
Neocolonialism and the profit motive aren't going to make for better cities. Check out The Venus Project and the Zeitgeist Movement for some similar but better ideas in this regard.
Lightrider4444 9 months ago
Foreign investors = corporations. This would only spread the power of corporations. The 3rd world country wouldn't be selling out to a nation, but to a corporation. If we really want to help a country, try democracy. Not buying one out. He's sugar coating everything. I tried liking the idea. I kinda was at first. Then thought about the implications.
I know they didn't mean any harm. But they are ignorant not to see the future affects of this.
Jeebalacticus 9 months ago
This is crazy the Honduran government is giving away huge amounts of land to foreign embassies, what kind of sovereign state would do that, if they want to develop their country they should reform the government not ask some other foreign government to come and take away their land to develop it, this is a new kind of economical occupation and needs to be stopped immediately.
habibjaber 9 months ago
I don't get it. This doesn't make any sense.
JeanKM1 9 months ago
fail vid is fail
AdamDLDixon 9 months ago
Okay... so this guy wants to use taxpayer money to set up new cities to incentivize corporations to further ship jobs out of the country? Out of the question. And what is the question?
WHO IS JOHN GALT!
jordanowen42 9 months ago
Hey Paul, come check out our new city: it's called ORDOS, its in China and its a GHOST TOWN. Oh you don't like it? Howabout Kangbashi? Zhengzhou New District perhaps?
doloppost 9 months ago
Is someone who works in an embassy an embassyl ?
Fuzzy192006 9 months ago
CITIES ARE THE PROBLEM.
Liteboyiam 9 months ago
How do I help?
heeh2 9 months ago
It seems rather likely that this will turn out to be a way of making "gated communities" into "gated cities" where you are wellcome to apply for citizenship if you have something to offer, like education or finances. Those that move from rural areas into cities today, in an attempt to get out of poverty will most likely not be welcome. Also in these cities it seems easy to replace laws by EULA's and reinstate ostracism as a default punishment... Pretty worrying development I think.
trefod 9 months ago
I am appalled by the straight face with which this guy is telling us: third world countries please sell your land to us cheaply, and live under a foreigner rule while paying rent! This is specially ugly after Honduras have suffered an international sponsored coup, that made the country weaker. And is presently ruled by non native lineage (whites) and american sponsored people. I want to see Nevada sell its land to china
jrlmenezes1 9 months ago 30
@jrlmenezes1 The third world countries would stand to benefit enormously. Cities like Hong Kong and Singapore are sources of trade and economic development, that enriches their own citizens and the surrounding region. I suggest you actually see Romer's original TED talk about charter cities which explains WHY a well-run city leads to wealth being generated. It's about RULES, that create incentives for people to manage industries well.
AminCad 9 months ago 9
@AminCad Singapore can be rich but it sucks, under hard islamic rule. You can have no regard to your liberties or respect for your own culture, but I do. Same goes to the limited liberties in HK. Who makes the rules is as important as having them. To accept rules from foreign powers is to accept a cage, rosy as it can be. Take Tibet for example and the ethnic cleansing that occur and is occuring. Thks but no thks
jrlmenezes1 8 months ago
@jrlmenezes1 First of all, Singapore is not Islamic. Second, the civil liberty restrictions in Singapore have nothing to do with its economic liberty and success. It could have more liberal social laws and still have the current economic policies. Thirdly, the people there are not in poverty. They have increasing amounts of international influence, because they are getting wealthy.
AminCad 8 months ago
@jrlmenezes1
Not necessarily a bad idea, I always felt that The UK should have kept Hong Kong and given China an enclave on mainland Britain instead. The US and China would probably both benefit from a large Chinese enclave on the US coast.
onehairybuddha 9 months ago
@onehairybuddha: What are you talking about? The Chinese have an enclave in every city in the Western world...
leplsre 9 months ago
@jrlmenezes1 I live in Nevada and Cina can have it. It's 104 today they will sweet,cry and give it back.
darkenlight22 9 months ago
@jrlmenezes1 Idaho already has. A 50 sq mi Chinese City is in the works.
MarkProffitt 8 months ago
@SLUbermensch Of course... it's wishful thinking, but if it becomes wishful activism on a wide scale, then it has a chance to become real. Peasants and slaves never thought they'd see revolutionary change... people would have thought that the prospect of a capitalist was utopian and unachievable. Anything is achievable if we come together to bring it about. I only wish to spread peace and love man, I don't understand why I'm receiving so much hate and distaste from many people on here.
GeorgeeRobson 9 months ago
@GeorgeeRobson Yes, naturally if I denounce a 'post scarcity' pipe dream that debases and co-opts leftist ideas, makes no mention and in fact seems to implicitly reject actual revolution, and is intimately tied into a paranoid, conspiratorial worldview mixed with economic millenialism, I must be a shill for capitalism. Yeah, because if you're opposed to capitalism, you have to agree with insane bullshit.
CrawdaddyJoe 9 months ago
i have to downrate this, because it doesnt mention the US-backed military coup in Honduras 2009, instead he calls it a "constitutional crisis", which is not true.
since that coup, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of the press are being eroded and attacked. That Pepe Lobo did not win the election in a landslide, because the election was not democratic, and opposition has been destroyed prior to the election.
on TED, ill rate this "Obnoxious".
kurtilein3 9 months ago 49
@kurtilein3 ...talk about missing the point and diving wildly into an irrelevant tangent. jesus christ.
WinterXL 9 months ago
@WinterXL that was what i was thinking!
coopasan9 9 months ago
Of course... it's wishful thinking, but if it becomes wishful activism on a wide scale, then it has a chance to become real. Peasants and slaves never thought they'd see revolutionary change... people would have thought that the prospect of a capitalist was utopian and unachievable. Anything is achievable if we come together to bring it about. I only wish to spread peace and love man, I don't understand why I'm receiving so much hate and distaste from many people on here.
GeorgeeRobson 9 months ago
@SLUbermensch Which is... I believe that the more people who are well-informed of our planetry problems, which encompasses our environment and our own problems, then there will be more people who are displeased with the current system, and no longer want to participate in it. If enough people can consciously critisise the system and raise awareness and real education to others, a peaceful overthrow of the system, not of the elitist people - will ensue, therefore leading to a new system.
GeorgeeRobson 9 months ago
Seria una buena idea, suena bien, pero hay tantas cosas que tendrían que cambiar MUNDIALMENTE para lograr una buena calidad de vida, por ejemplo, Las ciudades tienen zonas marginales aquí y donde sea, no hay paga justa por el mismo trabajo entre latinoamerica y otros países, y en parte, las personas migran por el sueño de alcanzar el estilo de vida del norte, por que crear nuevas ciudades si puedes hacer mandar a la chingada el TLC?
Javorrock 9 months ago
Didn't seem like he had much to say... Maybe we could have watched the first Ted Talk.
angelwhite 9 months ago
no such thing as empty land
steampunsniper 9 months ago
@connektion
You are making a good point but it does not class with what i am saying and i am not speaking against that. the fact that we have already ruined ecosystems does not mean we must keep on doing that.
justgivemethetruth 9 months ago
@justgivemethetruth
hmm...let's see. trees being cut down so you can use paper, the fish you eat everyday with the cost of by-catch associated, the amount of CO2 put into the air everyday just so you can drive your car, the coal you burn so you can have your internet, watch your tv, do your laundry. You can't stand behind something like what you have just said when your daily activities alone make the world a less "sustainable" place. take it for what it is. it is hypocritical!
connektion 9 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@connektion
now you are just wasting my time and your showing off your mental problems.
justgivemethetruth 9 months ago
@liquidminds, part 2
after all, Honduras is a developing country and environmental laws take second place to anything that would provide better jobs and a better way of life. But trust me they are not getting either of those things because like visas and international help fall into the hands of corrupt gvnt officials and rich foreigners same things is gonna happen with this, or who do you are gonna be the ones deciding who lives in this city?
MeylyLiz 9 months ago
@liquidminds, part 1
That is the thing, in countries like Honduras nobody has the funds or motivation to think of reforesting the slums that are gonna be left behind, if anything the slums will the dumpsters for this "charter city". The reason for this is that most Hondurans have lived their entire lives surrounded by rain forest and tend to take it for granted, Hondurans will care more about the jobs that this charter city will provide. . . .
MeylyLiz 9 months ago
Whoa whoa whoa, slow down there snail pants, what if I don't want to live in a city?
JingleJoe 9 months ago
"So what kind of an idea is it to think about building a brand new city in Honduras? Or to build a dozen of these or a hundred of these... to think about insisting that every family have a choice of several cities that are competing to attract new residence."
...seriously? It's a fucking stupid idea. Yes, lets destroy vast tracts of nature to create an overabundance of cities.
sdrawkcabgnipytmi 9 months ago
WHY ARE THERE SO MANY SMART PEOPLE MAKING COMMENTS HERE.... this must be some kind of genius gathering
Jointi5 9 months ago
@Jointi5 Because were splecial
Mystery207 9 months ago
@Mystery207 :D <3
Jointi5 9 months ago
They're just trying to undermine the Venus Project.
aslanmane 9 months ago
The only places that this building city thing makes any sense to be is in Dubai and Saudi Arabia where they have nothing but desert and lots of sunlight and nothing else grows. Use land that is useless for anything else. Stop tearing down the environment and killing animals and ecosystems.
justgivemethetruth 9 months ago
we should be retreating from man's footprint on Earth. we are continuing to destroy the planet in an unsustainable land for no real good reason.
virtually all the land that is in play has been stolen by force from the indigenous people who lived there forcing them into virtual slavery and unsustainable modes of life - for the benefit of the people who stole it.
if nature is ever to survive at some point we have got to limit the land we use.
justgivemethetruth 9 months ago
@justgivemethetruth
this is typical "you can't have what we have" mentality. Don't you live in a city, pollute your water source? Doesn't the city you live in stand on some sort of "sustainable ecosystem" once upon a time? They just want what you have, and your hypocritical opinion about the environment and the way we are treating it is laughable at best. Perhaps you could trade shoes with a person making a couple hundred USD a year and then see what you have to say about "sustainability"?
connektion 9 months ago
They should talk to the Venus Project!
calebp9503 9 months ago
oh yes. singapore.
jfatsnorlax 9 months ago
Um charter cities are nothing new. It's a standard classification in Political Science. In regards to the U.S. and in particular California cities/towns/etc may choose to incorporate into either a Charter city or a Common law government.
Conundrummy 9 months ago
Honduras, I love you my beautiful country! But the solution to poverty is not giving a part of you away to some strangers who won't give a f***ing nut about the country and its people! the solution is education, Hondurenos tienen que entender eso. and Pepe Lobo, shut up and stop selling what is not yours. what you need to do is persecute all those bastards who take advantage of the Honduran people by using tax money to pay for their luxuries!
MeylyLiz 9 months ago
@MeylyLiz
here here !!!
justgivemethetruth 9 months ago
This has got to be the single worst hairbrained idea i've seen on one of these TED videos.
Galfonz 9 months ago
So it's voluntary colonialism?
Bobanderic 9 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@Bobanderic "So it's voluntary colonialism?" -- Not really. Unlike colonialism, power and importantly, tax revenue, stay within the state. It's learning from the China model (the good bits of course, despite what extremists would like to believe, it is possible to pick and choose, and in a complex world with complex problems, necessary to too) of experimentation, where different areas have different rules to see which ones work and allow people to easier choose and change which to live under.
annoloki 9 months ago
@Bobanderic isn't colonialism supposed to be involuntary?
Melki 9 months ago
@Bobanderic OOps, I'm sorry, I just get it... a good point... it needs to be proven though for each cases that there was acts of colonialism. Like discrimination of rights between races or other groupies, then future residents should be able to choose whether or not to live in the circumstances. Governments should make offense of dishonest terms and conditions of the charter cities... thank you Bobanderic
Melki 9 months ago
this is one of the brightest ideas i have heard in a long time,,,,awesome.....
wolmartito 9 months ago
@SLUbermensch Please do so, for the sake of argument! & what do define as human nature?
GeorgeeRobson 9 months ago
Comment removed
GeorgeeRobson 9 months ago
@SLUbermensch Right so I'm supposed to believe your opinion, which has no factual evidence and only bias to back up its view..? If you know everything about the future then please take it up for a career, predicting the future.. oh wait you can't, you just think you know what will happen because of your unreasoned judgement.
I wish we were too but the more that people put down the possibility of it ever happening, the less likely it'll be that it'll happen.
GeorgeeRobson 9 months ago
This guy poops once a week, and no more.
RaffettoSpeaks 9 months ago
This already exists. It's called an economic free trade zone, and it's about the worst hell that modernity has created.
dbspin 9 months ago
His speech was pretty good. Until he started talking.
OregonCoastGhost 9 months ago
@OregonCoastGhost Bwah hahaha ...brilliant! ...I'd thumbs up your comment but my vote fails to register ...oh my star! I'm still bursting in to gales (pardon the pun) of chuckles ...I hope you know how spot on your comment really is
thank-you
respect
oh my ...this chuckling may be permanent!
gaiagale 9 months ago
@OregonCoastGhost LOL LOL
Mystery207 9 months ago
:/ building more cities
Geo877 9 months ago
Destroy more land, more habitats, and more animal species so we can pour concrete and give people a choice of what kind of brick or steel building they want to live in. For profits. Better living through high population density, pollution, and less agriculture?
Perhaps I'm missing some important "thing" about how this is actually going to help people. Thanks, but no thanks. Maybe take responsibility for our massive population? Find a way to feed everyone first.
TheWeizOne 9 months ago 38
@TheWeizOne yet another youtube Malthusian I see.
Individualism101 9 months ago
@TheWeizOne PART 1...
This is about getting a developed country into a chunk of poor country, setting out rules of the developed country on that small peace of land. If ppl from the poor country want they can get there easily to work and live. When they see opportunities that are in that small peace of land in their neighborhood more ppl will want to go there, place will grow and that is the way of connecting the whole world together....
barakuda1111 9 months ago
@TheWeizOne PART 2...
Rulers of those poor countries will have no choice if ppl there demand those better laws to be implemented everywhere.
To give you perspective- in my country you earn 100-150euro per month. If there is a peace of land, lets call it "Canada land", in my neighborhood where i can go earn 800-1500euros a month i would go there without thinking. From me it would be expected to follow the laws of Canada i would gladly do it.
I would explained it better but cant now, txt limit
barakuda1111 9 months ago
@TheWeizOne While I agree with almost everything you just said, this idea that high population is to blame for our hunger is bunk. We produce more than enough to feed everyone, even with the waste in our food system. If we stopped feeding so much to livestock, we'd be growing WAY more than enough to feed everyone. The problem isn't a lack of food. It's an economic model in which we have people who neither have the money to make their demands matter on the market, nor the employment to get it.
CrawdaddyJoe 9 months ago
@TheWeizOne LOL you're a typical watermelon. It means green on the outside, RED on the inside!!! Watch the video of George Carlin entitled "Saving the Planet" so you can get a dose of hard logic and evidence that will make any leftist squeal like the pussies you are.
truevoice08 9 months ago
@TheWeizOne and of course the eco-facists hate everything that involves people.
Houshalter 9 months ago
@TheWeizOne Most contemporary metropolises (?) are old and unplanned. A well-planned city built through modern engineering and architecture can provide better living standards and reduce overpopulation in the long run.
ihavegreenapples 9 months ago
@ihavegreenapples you can´t "fight" overpopulation whit a better city planning , but indeed would be able to give people a better quality of life
crusifixa 9 months ago
@crusifixa Large cities have lower birth rates. That's a fact.
ihavegreenapples 9 months ago
@TheWeizOne
you're thinking about it too broadly.
not every new city/building would need to require destroying habitat. they arent talking about covering any/every inch of land in cities/buildings. you can choose better/worse places/options
thisscreensucks 9 months ago in playlist jun 9
@TheWeizOne it depends on how it's done.
If they build a modern city that enables millions of people to move out of the slums into a modern city that allows them to support their family, suddenly a huge Area of Slums will be avaliable for re-naturalisation.
If done well, a few 100.000km2 of slums could be converted into a multiple times smaler city. There could actually be more nature left afterwards. If done wrong on the other hand, a lot of nature is destroyed forever.
liquidminds 9 months ago 13
@TheWeizOne It must be easy to sit in a first world country on a laptop, in an urban environment and say that poor people should continue to be subsistence farmers.
Paul Romer is changing the world for the better, we should applaud him for it.
Sondre7 9 months ago
@Sondre7 I've lived in a third world country(mexico) for most of my life and I agree with almost everything he said.
If we stoped swallowing the lie that population control is bad and we started protecting our economy we wouldn't need all those new megapolis. I don't mean we shold live on subsistence farming (by the way acourding to the latest census just a minority of us do) we should modernize our farming industry and invest in new technology.
iluan666 9 months ago
@TheWeizOne i think you've made many people's fingers lazy by completely stating exactly what they were going to type.
AromaticDogwood 9 months ago
@TheWeizOne The issue is that if your poor and have no land you need to go to a city to make anything. This is trying to fix that problem by making more cities instead of increasing the ones we have. I'm not sure if this will work but it's an interesting concept.
gimlic 9 months ago
@gimlic It may indeed be an interesting concept, but interesting does not by itself mean it's either reasonable or effective. There are certain unavoidable consequences of thinking we can solve the problem simply by building more cities.
I want to make something very clear, I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, suggesting we find ways to justify killing people, but the unavoidable fact and core problem with humanity is that there are simply too many of us for the world to sustain.
TheWeizOne 9 months ago
@TheWeizOne
its not being built on a rainforest...... its in mexico...
AtomFA 9 months ago
@AtomFA Did I say anything about rain forests? Do all animals live in rain forests? Or is land "in mexico" simply not as important somehow as rain forests?
There's a reason it's called bio-diversity. It's diverse. Do you think having only cities and rain forests is somehow ok? We need the plant and animal diversity. The plant and animal diversity need diverse land. Or are the animals also going to be given the choice of a brick or steel home to live in?
TheWeizOne 9 months ago
@TheWeizOne
those desert animals man they are running out of that small land they got yeah
AtomFA 9 months ago
@TheWeizOne yes fuck the city... I mean like you know like totally everyone should have his own land.. like that would make perfect sense for fucking 7 billion people... skyscrapers and citys destroy the nature! YOU ARE SO FUCKING RIGHT!
Jointi5 9 months ago
@TheWeizOne So, you are proposing genocide? This is a way to feed everyone, that's the whole point. Many people are poor because they live in a poor city. Build a rich city next to the poor city, people start leaving. The city then has two choices, close down, or operate under the rules that allowed them to leave in the first place.
The idea here is to build more cities rather than growing the ones we have. That way, bad cities are forced to learn how to improve.
jonydude 9 months ago
@TheWeizOne Look at the first talk Romer did at TED to see just how much space there is, and what sort of land these proposed 'Charter Cities' will occupy.
solomon1899 9 months ago
You just solved the refugee problem in Australia...please inform our dim PM, will ya? She unfortunately do not listen to Australians.. :(
cookeladoo 9 months ago
CHICKENSAURUS!!!! 2:57
geragna 9 months ago 39
TED.com should be ashamed of itself for hosting a fascist like Romer to spread his insane schemes. How about bringing Manuel Zelaya to TED to talk about how schemers, swindlers and swashbucklers like Pepe Lobo and Paul Romer have absolutely zero respect for the will of the Honduran people.
Lobo was part of a coup d'etat that is still resonating in Honduras. Who at TED was such a callous lout as to invite Paul Romer, an apologist for evil, to the conference?
rduray 9 months ago 2
Create districs that have their own external judicial systems? Hahahah. Preposterous.
WyldOrbit 9 months ago
"Tragedy & Hope" explains the plan for America,
also google "Economic Cities" then watch "Brave New World"
sebas28mtl 9 months ago
ppl that pressed thumbs down was actually standing on their heads and thought its a thumbs up
Linyzas 9 months ago
Who was the one guy who voted against?
omegavalerius 9 months ago
Hey TED since you got this guy to talk, why not also invite Jaque Fresco?
Or maybe get Peter Joseph to talk about resource economics. Oh wait.
You did. Where is that vid?
MarkArandjus 9 months ago
What will all these people do that they arent already doing??
shagster1970 9 months ago
More cities leading to more people expanding into meda cities? O yes, I so want to live in a world covered by concrete and tar.
groMMit1981 9 months ago 3
1) This is not a new idea. Municipal charters developed in Europe in the Middle Ages.
2) Cities aren't just people and money. They're also built infrastructure, and they consume resources. Their existence relies on the transformation of energy and raw materials into goods and services to be consumed or sold.
3) How does building new cities ensure that everyone can live where they want? If a person is unwelcome in existing cities, why would your new city welcome them?
sckchui 9 months ago 2
@SLUbermensch In your opinion...
GeorgeeRobson 9 months ago
Sounds like a wet dream for a central planner. I'm not a fan of violating the emergent order. And how would the "tenants" just one day spontaneously start interacting in this giant machine?
And isn't this really just a side stepping of the real issue of why the current cities especially in Central and South America are shit holes?
ZombieX13 9 months ago
What's the point of this idea people should just go out and make use of the land already the Earth is still rich in space and resources especially if you are sustainable.
Shaunt1 9 months ago
This plan would lift more people out of poverty than all of the foreign aid given out throughout history.
AminCad 9 months ago
If the city will be payed by the taxes, then the coup now makes sense.
floritaka 9 months ago
Plan B: Mobilizing to Save Civilization - Lester Brown, Earth Policy Institute - Journey to Planet Earth - PBS Video ---- video . pbs . org/video/1864227276/
gregjalbert 9 months ago
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CarFree . com --- EcoCityBuilders . org --- FreePublicTransit . org -- BicycleCity . com --- PostCarbonCities . net --- PostCarbon . org --- CarbonTax . org --- DefundWar . org --- TheCorporation . com --- UnitedForPeace . org --- The Consequences of Automobiles: natcap . org/sitepages/pid56 . p h p --- ClimateProgress . org
gregjalbert 9 months ago
@gregjalbert Are for the carbon tax or against it? Because it's a terrible idea.
Shaunt1 9 months ago
More overpopulation and economic disparity. What jobs will there be? Manufacturing consumer goods for gangster capitalists elsewhere? More environment destruction of natural habitat or agricultural land? Construction industry racketeers and their cohorts in government and finance, printing more money and going into debt, all for that 'high value per square foot' mentality. What food will be growable there? More automobiles and pollution? More debt slavery? More people not growing food: dumb.
gregjalbert 9 months ago
@gregjalbert Right, because the world would be a better place if we would all just leave our nice modern lives and just grow food. It would be just like, oh I don't know, most of human history. You know- when the child mortality rate was sky high, disease was rampant, and concern for the environment was somehow lost between "don't starve" and "don't freeze to death" on everyone's list of most important things. Yeah, capitalism and modernity sure do suck...
jetboyJ22 9 months ago 2
What about illegal immigration to these cities? Are these going to be walled cities?
sachamm 9 months ago
@sachamm you can't ILLEGALLY immigrate into a city.
roidroid 8 months ago
@roidroid I'm sure you mean that you're not *supposed* to illegally immigrate to a city. The fact that people do it all the time makes it a reality that cities such as this will need to deal with.
sachamm 8 months ago
@sachamm i mean cities arn't walled. Immigration into a city is perfectly legal.
roidroid 8 months ago
@roidroid When every poor campesino within 100 miles comes to find better work in your beautiful new city, you will have three choices, none of which are very appealing:
1) kick them out (good luck with that strategy)
2) build new houses for them (where? who will pay?)
3) let them live under the highway like they do in the US (how will this charter town be different again?)
sachamm 8 months ago
@sachamm you forgot the default option:
4) Don't even build the city, change nothing.
you mentioned "better work". You need to keep in mind that better work is indeed better work. You would rather campesinos remained campesinos forever? Or should they instead aspire to gain better work.
Which is better economically? A region full of campesinos, or a region full of campesinos looking for work in a city built in their region.
roidroid 8 months ago
@roidroid 20 people trying to fit into a boat built for 10 is a problem. 100 people in that same boat, and there might as well not even be a boat.
The problem is not that the city will not be good for the campesinos, it is that it will be way way better than all the other options, meaning that anyone with a functioning brain and the ability to get there will attempt to go live at that city.
It is similar to immigration into a country: the difference is a country is larger and can absorb more.
sachamm 8 months ago
@sachamm I'm not sure why someone would build only a 10 person boat, when there is 100 people visibly swimming in the surrounding water. These cities are being built FOR campesinos, in their neighbourhoods. Surely it would be tailored specifically for the needs of the area, and designed for growth.
If it's so successful that it's overrun with overpopulation. That's a success.
And perhaps a statement of how truly shitty peasant life was, that this is a step-up. Again: Success.
roidroid 8 months ago
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i dont know about this
SoCalChunkybutt 9 months ago
For those of you bashing this idea, saying its a new form of serfdom, please bear in mind that having to fork over 25% of your harvest to the lord is what defined a serf in many places. Currently most of us have to fork over way more than 25% to "the man." So what does that make us? If only I could go back to just being a serf, I'd have way more money...
sojourner99 9 months ago
@sojourner99 Except that we don't just give it to a lord, we give it to the greater good via taxes. Yeah, taxes may be somewhat inefficient, but there's still a huge difference.
amoneymoney 9 months ago
So he shows pristine green land around 6:00 minutes through the video. He suggests that we wipe out forests that are already pressured by our development?
DesignPunkStudios 9 months ago 2
@DesignPunkStudios Well, I think his point is, it is better than having these families separate by travelling all the way to the US for a decent wage when you can develop it at home with chartered cities. Especially when the pressures on people in places like Honduras often result in illegal immigration and no guarantee of employment in the US.
But trust me, Honduras is far better environmentally than the US, if not the best in the world.
yadsik 9 months ago
charter cities are Robber Baron's 2.0, only instead of singular wealthy individuals they are corporations or governments.
xjustamem0ryx 9 months ago 2
@xjustamem0ryx A sort of remote serf colonies? They still work for same corporations but for lower wages.
MarkoKraguljac 9 months ago
@MarkoKraguljac
aye.
"Serfdom {urbanism} included the forced labor {else homeless} of serfs bound to a hereditary plot of land {house property} owned by a lord {bank, city} in return for protection {Social Security, Insurance, Tax Benefits} and the right to work on fields {corporations} they leased from their landlords to maintain their own subsistence {money}.
xjustamem0ryx 9 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Something is fishy here..
MarkoKraguljac 9 months ago
The design and purpose of the new city is the main point and was barely touched.
Will it be fed by a solar grid and allow only electric cars?, that would've being a Tedtalk.
TheCHRM2 9 months ago 2
Coca-Cola, Michigan. ExxonMobil, the new capital of Honduras. Citi City, New York. You what were "charter cities"? MEDIEVAL SERF TOWNS. America already tried this capitalist crap, and it didn't turn out so well for the workers: Look up "truck system" on Wikipedia.
ProfMike789 9 months ago
this idea of charter cities doesn't sit right with me
hellyeah69 9 months ago
An interest proposition. I look forward to seeing how it turns out.
Phelan666 9 months ago
@03tsunami31 Where on earth has 'all the resources' that has not been claimed? This place does not exist. So now where do you propose these city's be laid to flourish undisturbed under utopian ideals? What if a city wants no age limit on sexual intercourse, doesn't want healthcare, doesn't have a mint, or a treasury, or water treatment... impossible idea yet still fascinating. We have all thought once, if I could just have 500 acres and only my family, we could live happy and free forever! Not.
OurTroopsRule 9 months ago
I watched this until i saw the video about building a dinosaur from a chicken. then i switched this one off.
NegativeNick 9 months ago 3
@NegativeNick Then how are you still here to comment?
TIME PARADOX!
Phelan666 9 months ago
@Phelan666 I'm not. lol
NegativeNick 9 months ago
i actually came up with this idea about 8 years ago, im not kidding.
however i envisioned that the local government would make a zone with new laws.
my country has a big internal immigration problem.
this ted talk definitely tops my idea though, it is better.
but i wish i had a talk with some of these people years ago, we could have accelerated this process somehow
mazdaplz 9 months ago
Building a city for the sake of having people in it... I don't know.
Brasilia was build for the purpose of being a capital... and didn't turn out so well.
I think for it to have a strong foot-hold, you gotta have some kind of geographic advantage (military or economic) or resource.
Also, this could be the "corporization" of cities - sci-fi theme, I know... but still.
leonidasx666 9 months ago
He has good intentions. That's undeniable. Unfortunately, it would not translate once in effect. Imagine a charter city that wants to allow murder. Imagine a charter city that does not want any laws to be broken whatsoever. There still has to be a police force for citizens who slip up. Even if they did opt in for no speeding, but find themselves very late for work. What if a charter city wants to rise up against the country which contains it? Impossible. One World Order?
OurTroopsRule 9 months ago
@OurTroopsRule You just kick the people out who break the rules. You make living in the city a privilege, not a right.
SWilliamJackson 9 months ago
@SWilliamJackson So a family is uprooted, jobs changed and home moved for an infraction? Who enforces this? Who will accept charter city rejects? No jail for breaking laws just removal? See where I'm going? I am not a skeptic, and all for peace, I also think rationally. Remember the Mansons?
OurTroopsRule 9 months ago
i see there trying to give everyone the same amount of wealth...but to be honest i don't think it'll happen...there needs to be someone at the top in a capitalist world. if there was more town and cities like this one how're you helping small businesses to grow and isn't this just giving more money to corporate businesses?
spookyKAS 9 months ago
So buying land to build cities outside your state and enforce the rules of the other country suppose to be something good? Big businesses will buy cities and maybe countries. Sounds horrible to me. It's like canibalism. The bigger once will take everything from the people to turn it to profit. how is that suppose to be good?
SickBang 9 months ago
Sounds very cultish.
rubbersole79 9 months ago
So Mr Romer wants to make 'green zone type cities' in other countries run under the mandate of rich western nations. Most people throughout history were forced off the land to live in the city. While their land was raped and pillaged and poisoned by Corporations. Their is no such thing as 'free trade'. Zarlaya was overthrown in Honduras with the backing of the US. How about regenerating dilapidated US cities. Rockefeller would be proud Mr Romer.
realgunslinger 9 months ago
sooooome people say a man is made outa mud
a poor man's made outa muscle and blood
muscle and blood, skin and bone... a mind that's a' weak and a back thats'a stone
you load sixteen tons and what do ya get...
another day older and deeper in debt.
st. peter dontcha call me cause i cant go...
i owe my soul to the company store
MpowerdAPE 9 months ago
This is an interesting idea, but I have a couple of questions
1). Would American business be allowed to set up in these new cities, and if so, how would this slow down or stop the outsourcing of American jobs?
2). With all of these new tenants moving in, would land expansion be possible if necessary?
3). How could we stop new products from these regions from undermining products of the local country as well as our own?
Dimefan91 9 months ago
If this wasn't based on economy, and more based on the way of life, this would be so much better...
pedrogregorio 9 months ago
why dont we just give all the land to everybody, oh wait i think thats been said before
InPursuitOfALife 9 months ago
But if the city needed resources, where would they get it? They don't use money.
Kelertasable 9 months ago