About
About the Podcast
The Free Cities Podcast is the leading podcast covering alternative governance, new jurisdictions, and the global movement to build freer societies.
Hosted by Timothy Allen, the show features long-form, in-person conversations with the people building autonomous jurisdictions and real-world pathways to more freedom. We focus on what actually works, the legal structures, incentives, economics, and business models that turn freedom from an idea into a way of life. Builders and skeptics welcome.
Free Cities, Charter Cities, Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Network States, Startup Societies, Pioneer Communities, Intentional Communities, Popup Cities, Governance Innovation, Competitive Governance, Governance as a Service, Regulatory Innovation, Polycentric Governance, Geopolitics, Seasteading, Homesteading, Digital Nomadism, Flag Theory, Freedom, Liberty & Bitcoin.
We are the official podcast of the Free Cities Foundation. New episodes every Friday.
About Timothy Allen
Timothy Allen is an award-winning British photographer, filmmaker, and podcast host known for documenting remote cultures and exploring the future of governance and human organization.
He first gained international recognition as a photojournalist on Fleet Street working for British broadsheet newspapers and magazines, before going on to serve as the lead photographer on the BBC’s Human Planet, where his immersive, on-the-ground approach captured how communities live in some of the world’s most extreme environments. His work focused not just on striking imagery, but on the systems, incentives, and ways of life that shape different societies.
His career in film has included co-productions with legacy broadcasters such as the Discovery Channel, alongside a transition into new media exploring contemporary governance and what might be described as the “market of living together”.
Today, Allen is the host of The Free Cities Podcast, the official podcast of the Free Cities Foundation. Through long-form, in-person conversations, he interviews founders, economists, and builders working on alternative governance models such as free private cities, special economic zones, and network states.
His work now sits at the intersection of storytelling and systems thinking, exploring how governance, economics, technology, and culture shape the choices available to individuals.