City Makers
Inside the Rise of Private Cities
Weaving ground-level reporting with stories of rebel mayors, visionary architects and tech bros, the first comprehensive exposé of a new urban phenomenon: private cities.
Description
Elon Musk has built his own city in Texas. Rapper Akon is building one in Senegal. Around the world, entrepreneurs, celebrities and philanthropists are creating communities: an eco-town in India, a robot-built village in the Caribbean, a crypto-retreat in Malaysia, floating platforms off Panama, a longevity hub in the Balkans—even cities that exist only in the metaverse. They are quietly transforming how millions live, work and govern themselves.
This is the story of one of this century’s most ambitious, and misunderstood, urban trends: private cities. Drawing on a decade of research and dozens of interviews, Vera Kichanova takes readers from Siberian oil rigs to a futuristic Arabian desert oasis. City Makers is not just about cities. It is about people: ordinary residents as much as high-flying businessmen and politicians who are building these places—or trying to stop them. Neither manifesto nor warning, it argues that private cities are less dystopian, and more diverse, than the media portrays. For every Silicon Valley billionaire, a dozen quieter idealists are building the cities of tomorrow.
Provocative, deeply reported and refreshingly balanced, City Makers explores a phenomenon that will shape where we live, the rules we live under—and who writes them.
Table of contents
Introduction
Chapter I. Private Cities and Where to Find Them
From Sands to Splendour: An Urban Miracle
My Journey—From Rebel to Reformer to Researcher
The Death and Life of Great Urban Utopias
The Promise of Private Planning
Cities as Firms? A Nobel Prize-winning Recipe
Defining Private and Almost-private Cities
The Market for Rules and Its Unruly Champions
The Catch-22 of Private Cities
The Bottom Line: Builders Need Thinkers
Chapter II. From Henry Ford to Walt Disney: Private Cities throughout History
Urban Visionaries, From Royals to Revolutionaries
Pre-Industrial Era: Medieval Merchants, Cities as Corporations
Industrial England: Victorian Villages and Chocolate Cities
American Dreams: From Crystal City to a Gypsum Ghost
Henry Ford’s Brazilian Fiasco
Socialist Utopias in a Capitalist World: The Fourierist Experiment
Garden Cities of Yesterday
British New Towns: Good Intentions, Mixed Results
The Town Disney Built
Meanwhile in Russia: Soviet Monotowns
Cross-border Dreamers: Intentional Communities
From Slums to Special Economic Zones: Stories from Emerging Economies
The Bottom Line: Cities of the Past, Lessons for the Future
What’s Next?
Chapter III. High-tech Havens and Bureaucratic Barriers: Private Cities in North America
Where Is John Galt?
New Communities, Old Challenges
California Dreamers: The Making of Irvine
Inside America’s Greenest, Happiest, Safest (and Semi-private) City
Fairytale Towns for the Young and Old
Sandy Springs: How Many Bureaucrats Are Too Many?
Company Towns 2.0: Googleplex, Facebook Village, and Apple Park
Smart Cities and the Fear of “Big Brother”
The Bottom Line: Where Is the Next Irvine?
Chapter IV. From Chaos to Choice: Private Cities in Asia
All Towers, No Tenants
Two Women Who Transformed China’s Cityscapes
Jiaolong, China’s Lone Contract City
Inside Songdo, The World’s Largest Smart City
Indian Smart Cities—Gurgaon and Beyond
Inside an Indian Portofino
The Battle of Lavasa
The Bottom Line: How to Masterplan Your Dragon
Chapter V. Desert Dreams: The Rise of Private Cities in the Gulf
Brands and Borders: Dubai’s Privatised Cityscape
Oil is Not Forever
From Medieval Medinas to Masdar
Sustainability for Sale
Chasing the Masdar Mirage
A Green Haven or a White Elephant?
Holograms in the Desert
Neom: Straight Line Crazy?
The World’s Tallest Monument to Political Risk
Palm-Reading: Who Will Become the Next Dubai?
The Bottom Line: Behind the Veil, Beyond the Hype
Chapter VI. The Other Path: Private Cities in Latin America
Beyond the Gates: Two Stories from Guatemala
Pioneers of the Caribbean: Honduran Charter Cities
ZEDEs—Very, Very Special Economic Zones
Inside Próspera, a Free-Market Paradise in the Making
Inside Morazán, A Private City Where Families Come First
Political Backlash and What’s Next for ZEDEs
The Liberal Archipelago—in the Caribbean and Beyond
Destiny, by Investment
The Bottom Line: The Other Path to Cities That Work
Chapter VII. Uncharted Waters: From Seasteads to Virtual Cities
Just Another Day on Mars
A Sea of Possibilities
Modern Seasteads, From Phuket to Panama
The Future of Floating Nations
Liberland: A Micro-nation with Macro Ambitions
The Metaverse, an Incubator for Private Cities
From Virtual to Reality: The Network State Model
Homes for Those with No Home
The Bottom Line: Governance Without Gravity
Chapter VIII. The Way Forward: A Private City Starter Kit
A Bird’s Eye View: Making Sense of Private Cities
The Developing World Is Leading the Way
Green Design, Not Red Tape
Who’s Afraid of Private Cities?
Meet the Pioneers: Private Cities in Projects and People
Private Cities DIY—A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating One
The Bottom Line: Freedom, One Brick at a Time
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
Author(s)
Vera Kichanova PhD is an urban economist, journalist and research fellow at King’s College London. She previously worked at Zaha Hadid Architects, advising on urban projects in more than twenty countries, and has been quoted in The Economist, The Telegraph, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and Der Spiegel.
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "City Makers" about?
Elon Musk has built his own city in Texas. Rapper Akon is building one in Senegal. Around the world, entrepreneurs, celebrities and philanthropists are creating communities: an eco-town in India, a robot-built village in the Caribbean, a crypto-retreat in Malaysia, floating platforms off Panama, a longevity hub in the Balkans—even cities that exist only in the metaverse. They are quietly transforming how millions live, work and govern themselves.
This is the story of one of this century’s most ambitious, and misunderstood, urban trends: private cities. Drawing on a decade of research and dozens of interviews, Vera Kichanova takes readers from Siberian oil rigs to a futuristic Arabian desert oasis. City Makers is not just about cities. It is about people: ordinary residents as much as high-flying businessmen and politicians who are building these places—or trying to stop them. Neither manifesto nor warning, it argues that private cities are less dystopian, and more diverse, than the media portrays. For every Silicon Valley billionaire, a dozen quieter idealists are building the cities of tomorrow.
Provocative, deeply reported and refreshingly balanced, City Makers explores a phenomenon that will shape where we live, the rules we live under—and who writes them.
Who wrote "City Makers"?
"City Makers" was written by Vera Kichanova.
Vera Kichanova PhD is an urban economist, journalist and research fellow at King’s College London. She previously worked at Zaha Hadid Architects, advising on urban projects in more than twenty countries, and has been quoted in The Economist, The Telegraph, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and Der Spiegel.
What is the Table of Contents for "City Makers"?
Introduction
Chapter I. Private Cities and Where to Find Them
From Sands to Splendour: An Urban Miracle
My Journey—From Rebel to Reformer to Researcher
The Death and Life of Great Urban Utopias
The Promise of Private Planning
Cities as Firms? A Nobel Prize-winning Recipe
Defining Private and Almost-private Cities
The Market for Rules and Its Unruly Champions
The Catch-22 of Private Cities
The Bottom Line: Builders Need Thinkers
Chapter II. From Henry Ford to Walt Disney: Private Cities throughout History
Urban Visionaries, From Royals to Revolutionaries
Pre-Industrial Era: Medieval Merchants, Cities as Corporations
Industrial England: Victorian Villages and Chocolate Cities
American Dreams: From Crystal City to a Gypsum Ghost
Henry Ford’s Brazilian Fiasco
Socialist Utopias in a Capitalist World: The Fourierist Experiment
Garden Cities of Yesterday
British New Towns: Good Intentions, Mixed Results
The Town Disney Built
Meanwhile in Russia: Soviet Monotowns
Cross-border Dreamers: Intentional Communities
From Slums to Special Economic Zones: Stories from Emerging Economies
The Bottom Line: Cities of the Past, Lessons for the Future
What’s Next?
Chapter III. High-tech Havens and Bureaucratic Barriers: Private Cities in North America
Where Is John Galt?
New Communities, Old Challenges
California Dreamers: The Making of Irvine
Inside America’s Greenest, Happiest, Safest (and Semi-private) City
Fairytale Towns for the Young and Old
Sandy Springs: How Many Bureaucrats Are Too Many?
Company Towns 2.0: Googleplex, Facebook Village, and Apple Park
Smart Cities and the Fear of “Big Brother”
The Bottom Line: Where Is the Next Irvine?
Chapter IV. From Chaos to Choice: Private Cities in Asia
All Towers, No Tenants
Two Women Who Transformed China’s Cityscapes
Jiaolong, China’s Lone Contract City
Inside Songdo, The World’s Largest Smart City
Indian Smart Cities—Gurgaon and Beyond
Inside an Indian Portofino
The Battle of Lavasa
The Bottom Line: How to Masterplan Your Dragon
Chapter V. Desert Dreams: The Rise of Private Cities in the Gulf
Brands and Borders: Dubai’s Privatised Cityscape
Oil is Not Forever
From Medieval Medinas to Masdar
Sustainability for Sale
Chasing the Masdar Mirage
A Green Haven or a White Elephant?
Holograms in the Desert
Neom: Straight Line Crazy?
The World’s Tallest Monument to Political Risk
Palm-Reading: Who Will Become the Next Dubai?
The Bottom Line: Behind the Veil, Beyond the Hype
Chapter VI. The Other Path: Private Cities in Latin America
Beyond the Gates: Two Stories from Guatemala
Pioneers of the Caribbean: Honduran Charter Cities
ZEDEs—Very, Very Special Economic Zones
Inside Próspera, a Free-Market Paradise in the Making
Inside Morazán, A Private City Where Families Come First
Political Backlash and What’s Next for ZEDEs
The Liberal Archipelago—in the Caribbean and Beyond
Destiny, by Investment
The Bottom Line: The Other Path to Cities That Work
Chapter VII. Uncharted Waters: From Seasteads to Virtual Cities
Just Another Day on Mars
A Sea of Possibilities
Modern Seasteads, From Phuket to Panama
The Future of Floating Nations
Liberland: A Micro-nation with Macro Ambitions
The Metaverse, an Incubator for Private Cities
From Virtual to Reality: The Network State Model
Homes for Those with No Home
The Bottom Line: Governance Without Gravity
Chapter VIII. The Way Forward: A Private City Starter Kit
A Bird’s Eye View: Making Sense of Private Cities
The Developing World Is Leading the Way
Green Design, Not Red Tape
Who’s Afraid of Private Cities?
Meet the Pioneers: Private Cities in Projects and People
Private Cities DIY—A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating One
The Bottom Line: Freedom, One Brick at a Time
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
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