Green, Walkable, Private: An Untold (and Unfinished) Story of Lavasa City

Some 130 miles southeast of Mumbai lies a city you would instead expect to find on the Mediterranean coast. Modelled on the Italian resort of Portofino, with its colourful cottages, cobbled streets, and pristine green...

Honduran ZEDEs: Their Past and Future

Lee este artículo en españolThe ZEDE law in Honduras was repealed in April 2022 and with it, one chapter of the history of innovative governance has come to an end. This does not mean that the existing ZEDEs are doomed...

How Free Cities Help Alleviate Poverty

“How would the disadvantaged be taken care of?” is usually one of the first questions asked by people who hear about alternatives to today’s states. Although people differ in their views on how care should be provided,...

Taxes Are the Price We Pay for Not Living in a Civilized Society

During tax season, many people will be trying to provide you with practical ways to lower your tax bill and mitigate your potential exposure to both tax payments and tax reporting. Instead of repeating such advice, I...

What are Free Private Cities?

Free Private Cities revive an old European tradition to which we owe much of our diversity and innovative power: They combine urban autonomy and mobile cosmopolitanism. Time and again in Europe productive people have...

Why a Citizen Contract Is Better than a Constitution

Abstract From their state, most people demand – at least – protection of life, liberty and property. In exchange, they are willing to pay for it. So why not put the relationship between citizen and state on a purely...
Intentional Communities: An Introduction

Intentional Communities: An Introduction

Choose your preferred languageEnglishDeutschPortuguês EspañolFrançaisItalianoWhat Are Intentional Communities An intentional community is, in the words of G. Kozeny, “a group of people who have chosen to live together...

Spreading the Message at LibertyCon Europe

Spreading the Message at LibertyCon Europe

Recently, the Free Cities Foundation took part in LibertyCon in Lisbon, the annual conference organized by European Students for Liberty. With over 600 attendees, the event was a great opportunity to connect with...

Zuzalu: A Pop-up City on the Mediterranean

Zuzalu: A Pop-up City on the Mediterranean

Last week, the Free Cities Foundation team travelled to Montenegro to take part in Zuzalu: a two-month gathering of entrepreneurs with a shared interest in longevity, blockchain, and new cities.  Zuzalu’s organizers...

Live More Freely in Latin America

Live More Freely in Latin America

Disclaimer: The following article was written by an external author. The opinions expressed in it do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Foundation or its members. The Free Cities Foundation is taking part in...

Are Network States Free Cities?

Are Network States Free Cities?

Free Cities are such a new concept that they are still in the process of being defined in practice. As a result, there are many questions about which existing cities, communities, or territories can be called Free...

The Adventure of Building a Free City

The Adventure of Building a Free City

Free Cities are the new frontier. There can hardly be anything more adventurous than exploring the exciting possibilities, the mystery of the unknown, and the immense promise and potential that Free Cities bring with...

The Scarcest Resource in the World

The Scarcest Resource in the World

Disclaimer: The following article was written by an external author. The opinions expressed in it do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Foundation or its members.The world's scarcest resource is not any...

low angle photo of city high rise buildings during daytime

Free Cities Foundation
Introductory Presentation

Find out all you need to know about the work of the Foundation, the ideas behind Free Cities, as well as information for prospective donors.

Free Communities Directory

Free Cities are not just a theoretical vision. Entrepreneurs all over the globe are creating pockets of freedom and political innovation in a world of systems that have not lived up to our expectations.

You can learn more about these bold projects in the Free Communities Directory.

low angle photo of city high rise buildings during daytime
low angle photo of city high rise buildings during daytime

Free Private Cities
Whitepaper

In current political systems, the actions of both rulers and the governed are shaped by wrong incentives. Rulers have no liability and face no economic disadvantage if they make poor decisions. The governed are made to believe that “free” benefits can come into existence through the power of their votes. This politicizes the state monopoly on force and leads to constant changes to the “social contract” and an endless struggle to influence the direction of this change.

Free Private Cities
by Titus Gebel

Titus Gebel’s book, Free Private Cities: Making Governments Compete for You, presents the theoretical framework for creating Free Cities, drawing lessons from past and present autonomous cities and outlining a model for building a Free City in the real world.

Free Private Cities represent one of the few non-totalitarian alternatives to the majoritarian political systems adopted by most Western nation-states. Once the idea of a viable freedom-oriented alternative system is in people’s minds, it won’t go away again. That is why it is so important to spread the concept. Free Private Cities also provide an opportunity for developing and emerging countries to catch up more quickly and can contribute to easing the migration crisis.

low angle photo of city high rise buildings during daytime
low angle photo of city high rise buildings during daytime

Road to Liberty
Short Stories Book

In 2020, the Free Cities Foundation announced a short story writing competition, in which we asked writers to imagine what it would be like to live in a Free Private City and about the opportunities and challenges one might encounter. 

Over a hundred stories were written and submitted from all around the world. We have compiled the best stories in this book and hope to inspire more people to join our movement that seeks to revolutionize the market of living together. 

Latest Videos

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Media Archive

In this archive, you can find all press releases, articles, interviews, and podcasts about Free Cities, sorted by language.

Click on one of the languages above to view a list of media articles published about Free Cities.

29/11/2022 Mises Institute: Liberty in Our Lifetime – Lessons from Prague

27/11/2022 Bitcoin Magazine: Finding Liberty in Parallel – Bitcoin and the Free Cities Movement

12/07/2022 What Bitcoin Did: Free Cities Foundation with Peter Young

13/03/2022 Wake Up Podcast by Aleks Svetski: Free Private Cities with Titus Gebel and Peter Young

03/03/2022 The Sean Morgan Report: Bitcoin City and The Future of Economic Liberty with Peter Young

25/02/2022 The Bitcoin Reserve Show: Free Private Cities & Bitcoin with Peter Young

20/01/2022 Peter Young talks to Stephan Livera about Bitcoin Adoption in El Salvador, Free Private Cities and the Honduran ZEDEs

23/11/2021 Peter Young and Veronika Kuett Twitter Spaces discussion on El Salvador’s Bitcoin City announcement

19/11/2021 Are American Cities Ready for Special Economic Zones? by Scott Beyer

16/11/2021 Veronika Kuett & Peter Young talk about Bitcoin and Free Private Cities at the Adopting Bitcoin Conference in El Salvador

28/10/2021 Titus Gebel Interview with The Billion Dollar Secret

26/10/2021 Peter Young talks to John Vallis about Bitcoin Citadels and Free Private Cities

23/10/2021 Bitcoin Stories: Alex Voss, Tipolis, Free Private Cities

15/10/2021 Bitcoin, Bitcoiners and Citadels

26/09/2021 Free Private Cities – Why Governments Are Obsolete Relics of the Past /w Dr. Titus Gebel and Gamma Beyond

16/09/2021 Satoshi’s Sidewalk #25: Free Private Cities

14/09/2021 Prospectus On Próspera

30/08/2021 Tales from the Crypt: Free private cities, economic zones, and gradual progress with Rahim Taghizadegan

20/08/2021 Jimmy Song’s Bitcoin Fixes This Podcast: Austrian Economics with Rahim Taghizadegan

7/07/2021 The Urban Environment and Society – ft Marthinus Grobler and Rahim Taghizadegan

30/06/2021 What a Free Private City of the (not so distant) Future Will Look Like by Joe Jarvis

28/06/2021 Unsustainable Cities: Is Bitcoin the Answer? ft Kelly Lannan & Rahim Taghizadegan

11/06/2021 The Failure of Urban Planning and the Future of Cities – Patrik Schumacher and Rahim Taghizadegan

1/06/2021 How Free Private Cities could lift millions out of poverty by William Markus

17/05/2021 Rahim Taghizadegan appearance on Saifedean Ammous’ The Bitcoin Standard Podcast

21/04/2021 Free Private Cities in Practice: Interview with Titus Gebel

22/02/2021 Free Private Cities – there is an alternative article in The Daily Telegraph

20/05/2020 Private Cities Are a Needed Experiment by Scott Beyer

03/09/2019 Mises Institute What We can learn from Liechtenstein

31/08/2019 FEE Can Private Cities help solve the Refugee Crisis?

23/08/2019 Austrian Economics Center A Rethink in Governance is Necessary

18/7/2019 Anarchitecture Free Private Cities | Titus Gebel Interview

17/5/2019. Freedom Today Network Free private cities can revolutionise the way we live together

13/5/2019 Freedom Today Network Free Private Cities – There is an Alternative

22/5/2019 Startup Grind Geneva Titus Gebel (Free Private Cities)

29/3/2019 Mises Institute Can Free Private Cities Replace the State?

24/3/2019 Lockechain Free Private Cities

7/12/2018 Australian Financial Review If you don’t like the way your country is run, build your own Utopia

06/11/2018 GlintPay Civil service provider: Building the world’s first free private cities

29/10/2018 Julio Alejandro Building a Tech Smart City

25/10/2018 Yosee Zero to 1: Private Governance as a Service

30/08/2018 Bitcoin Exchange Guide Ulex And The Concept Of Free Private Cities

21/8/2018 The Seasteading Institute Landsteading? Read “Free Private Cities” by Titus Gebel

9/7/2018 Mises Institute Private Cities: A Model for a Truly Free Society?

27/4/2018 Citylab The Floating City, Long a Libertarian Dream, Faces Rough Seas

3/4/2018 Tom Woods Show Private Cities: Another Path to a Free Society?

30/3/2018 Svobospol Free Private Cities will have no parliament or prince who can change the rules

30/3/2018 Svobospol Soukromé město nebude mít parlament, který by měnil pravidla každý den

19/1/2018 Anarchast Free Private Cities Coming To A Town Near You with Titus Gebel

20/11/2017 Acton Institute Start-up nations: Are ‘floating cities’ a frontier for freedom?

4/8/2017 Jacobite Magazine Why Liechtenstein Works

14/7/2017 The Daily Bell 5 Private City Projects That You Should Know About

5/6/2017 Adventures Guatemala Paseo Cayala – private city built to escape crime

10/5/2017 Laissez Faire Books Mu Aye Pu: Live Stateless in Southeast Asia?

13/2/2017 Startup Societies Foundation Titus Gebel: Free Private Cities

19/10/2016 A Thousand Nations Competitive Governance, Seasteading and Free Private Cities For Dummies

12/10/2016 Free Cities Podcast Free Private Cities

22/4/2016 Foundation for Economic Education Private Cities: A Path to Liberty

6/4/2016 CapX Private Cities – a disruptive technology for the state Market

25/3/2016 Philosophy Workout Live Free In Private Cities

14/8/2013 FEE Want to Own a City?

28/5/2013 FEE The Man Who Outsourced the Government

26/2/2013 ZDNet Can ‘charter cities’ help abolish global poverty?

16/04/2023 Welt am Sonntag: Ein Privatstaat namens Wohlstand

05/02/2023 ARD Weltspiegel: Próspera – Privatstadt unter Palmen

13/12/2022 Der Sandwirt: Rückbesinnung auf die örtliche Gemeinschaft

12/12/2022 Fit For Future: Freie Privatstädte – Dr. Titus Gebel im Interview

11/12/2022 Der Freydenker: Freie Privatstädte – Utopia nur für Reiche oder Rettung für die Armen?

01/12/2022 Schweizer Monat: Wer Machtmissbrauch verhindern will, muss die Macht begrenzen

01/12/2022 Schweizer Monat: Freier Leben

09/11/2022 Der Sandwirt: Der einzige Ausweg: Parallelstrukturen schaffen

03/11/2022 Deutschlandfunk: Utopie oder Dystopie? Honduras und das Modell der Privatstädte

22/10/2022 Kontrafunk: Irrlichter und Fixsterne – Matthias Burchardt im Gespräch mit Titus Gebel

14/10/2022 Mises Karma: Parallele Strukturen für den Fortschritt – Im Gespräch mit Titus Gebel

24/07/2022 Der Freydenker: Free Cities: Eine Chance für Expats?

22/04/2022 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: Stadt ohne Staat

02/12/2021 Der Freydenker: Liberty Interviews – Titus Gebel

14/11/2021 eigentümlich frei: Free Private Cities Foundation – High sein, frei sein, unbedingt dabei sein

16/10/2021 Tichy Einblick: Ein Europa aus tausend Liechtensteins

16/10/2021 Neue Zürcher Zeitung am Sonntag: Eigene Gesetze, eigene Regierung: Wie in Honduras die erste Freie Privatstadt der Welt entstehen soll.

24/09/2021 MisesDE: Mehr Wettbewerb im wichtigsten Markt der Welt

08/09/2021 Blocktrainer: Freie Privatstädte

19/08/2021 Neue Zürcher Zeitung: Auch beim Bauen wird um die richtige moralische Haltung gekämpft

08/08/2021 EinUndZwanzig: Freie Privatstädte mit Titus Gebel

24/04/2021 be[in]crypto: Interview – “Was ihr innerhalb dieses Systems macht, ist euch überlassen”

13/04/2021 Mises Karma: Freie Privatstädte – Im Gespräch mit Titus Gebel

10/02/2021 MisesDE: Freie Privatstädte als Weiterentwicklung von Sonderwirtschaftszonen

11/09/2020 Achgut: So klappt es vielleicht doch noch mit dem Liberalismus

01/07/2020 TomTalksTime: Freie Privatstädte. Eine echte Alternative?

25/05/2020 MisesDE: Honduras: Es geht los!

09/04/2020 indubio: Honduras und New York

01/04/2020 MisesDE: Coronavirus – Was würde eine freie Privatstadt tun?

01/11/2019 Achgut: Neue Ideen für Afrika: Sonderzonen statt Dead Aid

14/10/2019 MisesDE: In der Politik findet man heute eher Blender als echte Problemlöser

18/07/2019 Immobilien Zeitung: “Wir wollen uns nicht reinreden lassen”

05/05/2019 Freiheitslexikon: Seasteading

12/04/2019 MisesDE: Können Freie Privatstädte den Staat ersetzen?

27/03/2019 Smart Investor SIW 13/2019: Die große Unbekannte

12/03/2019 Convent: Stadtentwicklung und Städtebau vor neuen Herausforderungen

14/01/2019 Freiheitslexikon: Privatstädte

23/11/2018 Tichys Einblick: Die Zukunft? Sie haben die Wahl

11/10/2018 Mikroökonomen.de: Neue Regeln für neue Städte?

01/10/2018 Schweizer Monat: Markt des Zusammenlebens

29/08/2018 Frank Schäffler.de: Freie Privatstädte – Mehr Wettbewerb im wichtigsten Markt der Welt

21/08/2018 The European: Ein Vorschlag für eine alternative Ordnung

06/07/2018 Ortner Online: Buchtip “Freie Privatstädte”

30/06/2018 Achgut: Privatstädte: Gehen wir zurück auf Anfang

29/05/2018 Achgut: Vertrag zwischen Staat und Bürger? Hier das Kleingedruckte

25/05/2018 Konterrevolution: Freie Privatstädte, staatliche Selbstverwaltung und autarke Gemeinschaften: Post-staatliche Einblicke

25/04/2018 Achgut: Eine Welt aus tausend Liechtensteins?

17/12/2017 Wirtschaftswoche: Wenn das Leben ohne Staat möglich wird

10/06/2017 Neue Zürcher Zeitung: Privatstadt heisst die neue Heimat

15/02/2017 Prometheus Institut: Von Freien Reichsstädten zu Freien Privatstädten

8/07/2016 MisesDE: „Freie Privatstädte können alles besser“

21/06/2016 Neue Zürcher Zeitung: Sind Sie ein Untertan?

27/11/2015 Staatenlos: Frei leben in Private Cities

25/11/2015 Prometheus Institut: Europa entwickeln mit Sonderzonen