Andreas Baumgartner: Integrated Autonomous Cities & The Evolution of SEZs
“Autonomy is a tool to achieve something. We should never speak of autonomy just for autonomy’s sake.
The objective is always to create an environment that attracts businesses, that attracts investment and that attracts people. That is what we’re talking about.“
On today’s podcast I have another returning guest for you. The last time I spoke with Andreas Baumgartner was back in episode 32 where we discussed the ins and outs of negotiating with governments, something that Andreas does on behalf of Free Cities projects and organisations such as the Metis Institute, Praxis and, relevant in this conversation: Tipolis which is Titus Gebel’s organisation that creates privately run communities.
This conversation was recorded during one of our interviews for the Special Economic Zones film we are producing and afterwards I continued talking to Andreas about Tipolis and their ‘International Cities’ projects. I’ve spliced both interviews together but you may observe that the latter part of the podcast is a bit more question/answer than is normal on this podcast since I was fishing for soundbites for a film. Nevertheless, I thought there was some good info in there for all you Free Cities enthusiasts so I’ve left it in.
I hope you enjoy the dialogue. Andreas is one of the OGs of the space and has more hands-on experience than most.
Enjoy the conversation.