The Hong Kong of Active Communities

A thought provoking post at Freakonomics; really a Q&A on so called “Charter Cities” such as Hong Kong where a special economic, “better” rules zone, attracted economic growth.  Can/should this be considered for developing countries?

If the charter specifies good rules (or in our professional jargon, good institutions) millions of people will come together to build a new city.

People will be attracted there because of the benefits of interacting with everyone else.

In addition to the charter city as a special economic zone, why not consider the potential growth in population, quality of life, culture and therefore attraction of  investment and economic development of a special environmental zone. One where the “good rules” for the city are built around people instead of automobiles.  It would seem many would choose to live, work and invest in a city where the percentage of cars used to commute is the same as bicycles are now: some .5%, and bicycles and other active transportation methods take the current place of cars at some 90%.

The entire design of the charter city would not be auto-centric: much less hard space, roads, highways, bridges, overpasses, parking lots/garages etc.  And, the huge city budget dollars going to supporting the auto-infrastructure would be redirected to people. Sounds wonderful, new types of innovation around quality of place for people and better preservation of the environment.

There is a thoughtful quote contained in the article relating to barriers to change:

I think we’d do our jobs better if we just said what’s true without trying to be amateur politicians.

1. active culture says:

   January 5, 2010 at 6:40 am

   nice blog, i come again
2. Active Manuka says:

   January 16, 2010 at 11:59 am

   You are right, people should listen to what you are saying because are absolutely right.