Charter Cities

A Charter City is a special zone within a country that is granted separate legislative powers via a charter that establishes the city and its status. This allows the city to become a partially autonomous territory that is able to set its own targeted policies on a local level, which is often not feasible to do in a nationwide setting.

Charter Cities are commonplace in some developed countries, such as the United States. They usually do not feature far-reaching innovation in governance and are often governed by a traditional municipal government, sometimes with a handful of special characteristics and more flexible policies. The Charter Cities movement was revived by Paul Romer in the 2000s, who advocated for establishing cities with local autonomy across the world. The movement has seen great successes since, with Charter Cities now being negotiated and established across the world.

Charter Cities can be Free Cities if the content of their Charter is oriented toward expanding and protecting the freedoms of its citizens. This might not always be the case, as there are places and situations where freedom is not always priority number one and other values take precedence.