Castles in the air (Building standalone ideal innovative cities)

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Castles in the air (Building standalone ideal innovative cities)

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Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment

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• The Nobel laureate has a bright idea: The Economic Sciences Nobel for 2018 went to Willian D Nordhaus and Paul M Romer for their work on climate change and technological innovations as connected with economic growth.
• A strange new idea by Romer: One of the two laureates – Paul M Romer – has a fascinating new idea. He suggested that we should start building new cities – CHARTER CITIES – to try out all kinds of innovation and experimentation.
• Basic idea of Charter Cities:

1. Nation states are too big to try out anything immensely disruptive 
2. Instead of that, let us identify tracts of uninhabited land, and build cities from scratch there 
3. New rules are applicable here, to attract investors and residents
4. Host nation (developing country) can delegate part of the governance to some advanced nation
5. Relinquish sovereignty over some areas in exchange for economic growth (a Faustian bargain)

• By choice not coercive: Under heavy fire for the neocolonian idea, Romer defended his idea saying he proposed something that is based on choice of people – whether they want to move into a Charter City or not – and not on any kind of coercion. But voters cannot really vote to decide how the Charter Cities would be run.
• From Hong Kong to Madagascar: Romer spoke of HK in this context, and explained how British colonial rule in HK reduced overall world poverty more than any other experiment. How? HK was role model chosen by Deng Xiaoping for setting up his SEZs in Chinese coastal regions in 1980s. But when Romer tried getting Charter Cities up and running in Madagascar, the public protested in 2008 and it was all over. Honduras too failed, in 2012 (SC called in unconstitutional).
• Can India do it? Look at Lavasa, a city near Pune, developed by a private firm, now caught up in environmental disputes. The GIFT city in Gujarat too hasn’t taken off (despite full force of Modi himself). The investment regions in DMIC too are going very slow. The original grand plan of 100 Smart Cities is now redesigned to be development programs inside existing cities 
• Tabula Rasa: The Charter Cities is an idea that is about starting from a clean slate. But the dangerous thread is that we want to create sanitised technocratic cities that are insulated from politics. The allure of such grandness is self-defeating, given the track record.
• Summary : The idea of standalone Charter Cities, promoted by Nobel laureate Romer, is self-defeating and dangerous.

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