Freedom Cities: A Libertarian Vision for America?
The drive to establish libertarian enclaves, which has already taken root in Central America, is now making its way to the United States. Backed by wealthy investors, the plan involves creating privately-run, corporately-governed cities within special development zones across the nation, potentially including US national parks.
Donald Trump greets Elon Musk. The former president has openly spoken about using protected federal lands to build “Freedom Cities.”
A new lobbying group, known as the Freedom Cities Coalition, is seeking to persuade former President Donald Trump and Congress to authorize the creation of these special zones. The proposal aims to allow investors to set their own laws and establish governance structures, bypassing traditional bureaucracy and regulatory oversight. These zones would also serve as testbeds for new technologies.
Wired has reported that the Coalition is actively drafting congressional legislation to establish a network of these new “cities.” One of the key motivations behind these communities is to foster scientific and technological developments without the constraints of regulatory oversight.
According to interviews and presentations viewed by WIRED, the goal is to create places where anti-aging clinical trials, nuclear reactor startups, and building construction can proceed without prior approval from agencies like the Food and Drug Administration, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Ties to Prospera and the ‘Network State’
The Freedom Cities Coalition is a project of NeWay Capital, a company that has been significantly involved in the development of Prospera, a private, “free market,” crypto-friendly enclave in Honduras. Prospera was created through a special regulatory setup known as a special economic zone (or ZEDE), which was established in 2013. ZEDEs allow private entities to write their own regulatory and judicial rules within geographically defined areas. The project aligns with the Network State movement, an anarcho-capitalist ideology supported by tech billionaires, which seeks to create privately-run cities with their own cryptocurrencies.
The Freedom Cities Coalition is actively pursuing various strategies to get legislation authorizing these cities passed. Trey Goff, the chief of staff of the startup nation called Próspera, told WIRED that representatives from Próspera have been meeting with the Trump administration to help push for the idea, claiming the administration has been receptive. On its website, the Freedom Coalition asserts that America’s current regulatory environment is “holding back progress.”
Potential Locations: US National Parks?
The Freedom Cities Coalition website notes that 28 percent of U.S. land is “federally owned and ready for innovative development.” While the website does not specify what kind of federal land, it is worth noting that during his presidential campaign, Trump openly spoke about using protected federal lands to build “Freedom Cities.”
“Past generations of Americans pursued big dreams and daring projects that once seemed absolutely impossible,” Trump had said in a video. “They pushed across an unsettled continent and built new cities in the wild frontier.” He called for the use of protected federal lands to develop ten new urban metropolises, which he said would “re-open the frontier, reignite American imagination, and give hundreds of thousands of young people and other people a new shot at home ownership and, in fact, the American dream.”
