LIBERLAND 2020
global design competition for the 21st century micronation
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Agenda>>> In this unprecedented moment of global crisis, we have the opportunity to collectively rethink the values, agendas and practices guiding the design of our built environments. Liberland, the world’s newest micronation, is an incubator and role model for a society founded on the principles of liberty and free market economy. It is founded on the idea that the societal movement towards individual and collective freedom, prosperity and peace will emerge through the distributed intelligence of autonomous innovators and agents of change through “the politics of discourses”.1
Liberland is a country, a city, a network of communications, a futuristic society, a utopian vision, a globally distributed network of intelligences, and a database of societal visions that can counteract the global chaos unfolding in the wake of the pandemic. Liberland’s motto, “To Live and Let Live”, is expressed in its aspirations towards individual and collective freedom, autonomy, minimal governance, voluntarism, charity, fair free markets, non-aggression, non-coercion, diplomatic goodwill, radical innovation, entrepreneurship and ecological responsibility, all supported by a distributed and transparent peer-to-peer network (blockchain).
Can Liberland’s radical new possibilities for liberty, an unleashed free market economy, and a transparent distributed peer-to-peer computational network (blockchain) stimulate a radical transformation of the built environment? How can the theoretical implications and practical applications of blockchain be translated into new strategies for architectural and urban design? How can maximum design freedom result in a complex legible order, rather than descend into visual chaos? How can a free market urban order, which is fluid, distributed, emergent, and ever evolving, be expressed in Liberland’s urban and architectural design? How can ‘light touch’ rule-based design strategies create an urban main-frame that stimulates new architectural trajectories?
Liberland is real. This is not solely a speculative ideas competition. Liberland needs architecture! Entries must include – but be developed beyond – speculative concepts, into fully visualized, ambitious, flexible design systems demonstrating adaptive agility and maximum potential for a multi-authored fluid built environment, on the basis of ever-evolving ‘light touch’ rules.
Liberland invites you to challenge the contemporary urban and architectural design status quo by responding to Liberland’s fundamental values and to envision the full design potential for this new micronation. Your proposed design must be agile and highly responsive to free market forces that are open to perpetual evolution. Your proposal must also include design scenarios that creatively engage the theoretical, social, and technological implications of distributed intelligence systems, such as Blockchain. On a functional level, Liberland has no zoning regulations or municipal restrictions. It has no pre-established design culture. The field is wide open for innovation on every scale. Liberland’s new architecture will be absolutely vital to its survival, success and advancement towards its aspirations.
Rather than purely fantastical or artistic schemes, Liberland seeks radically creative, yet mature proposals for a fertile, high-density city-nation of the 21st century that is responsive to its advanced network society. Participants should approach this competition as a real-world design challenge: A lucid development process for a multi-stage evolution towards a fully functional, architecturally sophisticated, and intelligently adaptive city. Participants are free to propose scenarios that are both design focused and socially speculative, engaging the broader economic, political, social and technological projections on the future of Liberland.
Your proposal must include Napredak, Liberland’s “gateway” for visitors arriving via boat in the region. Napredak is an approximately 5-hectare zone within Apatin, situated approximately 10km south of Liberland along the Danube River. It is where Liberland docks its boats, including the boat “Bitcoin Freedom”. It is also the site of “Floating Man” summer festival (similar to Burning Man festival). Your vision for Napredak will be considered for near-future development.
In summary, you are invited to position your design proposal in response to the following theoretical premise, addressing all its explicit parameters in your designs. The vitality of a fertile network society is dependent on the presence of three stabilizing factors: the radical autonomy of its constituent agents (liberty), a commitment to unregulated affiliation (free markets), and a transparent distributed peer-to-peer network (blockchain).
Explicit Design Parameters >>>
Liberland Identity | Libertarian, Anarcho-Capitalist economy, blockchain governance
Density Potential | Liberland’s limit on the number of inhabitants is 120,000. To date, there have been over 600,000 applicants for citizenship, and the number continues to grow.
Ecosystem | Mild climate similar to Los Angeles, but prone to Danube River flooding
Artificial Ecologies | Liberland aspires to a nature-like built environment
Settlement | Liberland seeks a ‘light touch’, agile and flexible systemic settlement plan that is not masterplanned or zoned in the conventional sense.
Infrastructure | Minimum municipal intervention, ecosystemic sensitivity
Zoning | None
Economy | Free market, cryptocurrency, entrepreneurship, voluntarism, charity, private property
Politics | Minimal government (diplomatic & judicial capacities), transitioning to blockchain governance
Constitution | Refer to Liberland’s website: Liberland.org
Entry Requirements >>> Diagrams, models, 2D, 3D or 4D site plans, sections, and renderings must represent a coherent and phased, multi-layered, unified design system visualizing infrastructures, navigation, habitation, architecture, landscape, etc. Please include a minimum 500 word concept statement.
After registration you will receive a Team Number via email. You will be required to show this Team Number on every poster and on your written project statement. Do not show your name(s) or company name(s) on your design posters or written project statement, since judging will be conducted anonymously. Show ONLY your assigned Team Number! You will be assigned a Team Number via email after you register, along with a corresponding Google Drive Folder that will be used to upload your design submission.
The final design submission should be made via FIVE separate digital posters, each sized 7200x4800 Pixels/DPI in horizontal or vertical format. Only digital JPEG format posters should be submitted. You have the option of submitting SUPPLEMENTAL video(s), however this cannot replace your Jpeg posters. Name each digital file with your assigned Team Number, Contact Name for your team (the person who registered your team), and number the jpeg files in the correct sequence that they are intended to be viewed. For example: Team135_JohnDoe_1.jpg. The jpeg file name is the ONLY place that your contact name will appear.
Program >>> Liberland encompasses 700 hectares (7 square kilometers) of land, which is situated on disputed territory between Croatia and Serbia. Napredak encompasses approximately 5 hectares of former industrial land, situated within Apatin, about 10km down the Danube River from Liberland (Napredak map coordinates: 45°40'24.5"N 18°58'14.1"E).
Liberland and Napredak have no zoning, no mandatory segregation between commercial, residential, retail, municipal, and leisure districts. Liberland and Napredak aspire to achieve an artificial ecosystem of high permeability, fluidity and flexibility. Key goals are to translate the conceptual, social and practical implications of a distributed peer-to-peer network (blockchain) into new strategies for architectural and urban design, and to maximize the potential for functionality into a coherent system that remains highly adaptive to local conditions, groups, individuals, institutions and organizations.
For a detailed strategic roadmap to possible long term development structure scenarios for Liberland, refer to Patrik Schumacher’s paper‘Liberland’s Prospective Urban Planning Regimes’<Link>.
Other Micronations >>> Hong Kong, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Singapore, Vatican City
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1 ”Patrik Schumacher: Politics After The Libertarian Revolution” interview at LibertyCon 2020 <Link>
Launch Date | May 16, 2020 (see Schedule below for details)
Entry Qualifications | Open to all Architects, Urbanists, Interior Designers, Architecture & Design Students. Team and individual entries are welcome. Only one registration fee per team. The team member that registers will be the main Contact for the team. Please provide one email address only at registration.
Registration Fee | Professionals $60, Students with current ID $30. One registration fee per team
Documents Available to Download | Site plans and Photos of Liberland, Napredak, and surrounding context. You will receive a link to access these documents via email, after you register.
Deadlines and Questions | See Schedule below. Contact daniela@archagenda.com with questions.
Anonymous Submission | Do not show your name(s) or company name(s) on your design posters or written project statement. Show only your assigned Team Number! You will be assigned a Team Number via email after you register. The judging of the designs will be conducted anonymously, so as to ensure fairness.
Competition Sponsor | Vít Jedlička, the President of Liberland
Design Jurors | Vít Jedlička, Patrik Schumacher, Jillian Godsil, Bruno Juricic, Raya Ani, Garet Crossman, Vedran Mimica, Jan Petrš, Shady A. Michael, Vera Kichanova, and Daniela Ghertovici (see “Jurors“ section below for details)
Competition Strategist & Curator | Daniela Ghertovici, Director at ArchAgenda LLC
DESIGN PRIZES >>>
First Place Winner: The team/individual that wins First Place prize will be invited to negotiate a contract with Liberland to design the first phase of the Napredak development, in preparation for Liberland’s “Floating Man” festival of summer 2021. This festival is similar to the “Burning Man” and “Ephemerisle” festivals. Napredak is a 5-hectare site situated about 10km down the river from Liberland, and is part of the area known as Apatin.
All Prize Winners: One or more teams/individuals, from among ALL the prize winners, will be invited to negotiate a contract with Liberland to further develop a portion of their competition design scheme into a more fully realized proposal that can eventually be built.
The Prizes are as follows:
First Place 10,000 Merits
Second Place 9000 Merits
Third Place 8000 Merits
Fourth Place 5000 Merits
Fifth Place 4000 Merits
Prize Distribution: The prizes will not be awarded in cash, but rather applied towards Liberland citizenship, which costs 5,000 Merits. Merits are Liberland’s cryptocurrency, equivalent in value to US Dollars. If your prize does not cover the full cost of citizenship for you and/or your team members, the outstanding portion can either be earned by contributing work towards Liberland’s ongoing development, or by donating to Liberland.
SITE PLANS & PHOTOS >>>
Registered competitors will receive a link via email to download the following files from Google Drive:
Context:
Google Earth Aerial Maps
Danube River Corridor
Apatin Context Plans (Napredak is within Apatin)
Liberland:
Site Plans
Photos
Napredak:
Site Plans
Photos
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LINKS >>>
Interview with the President of Liberland, Vít Jedlička <Link>
President Vít Jedlička gives an introductory overview to Liberland, with its vision to become “the first decentralized autonomous government” which is “implementing the latest blockchain technologies to ensure that high standards of transparency and decentralization are met.”
Liberland Design Competition 2020: A Detailed Introduction <Link>
Daniela Ghertovici, Lead Strategist and Curator of Liberland Design Competition 2020, presents a detailed overview of the competition design brief, program, prizes, schedule and jurors. Presented at Liberland Architecture Conference, the official competition launch.
‘Liberland’s Prospective Urban Planning Regime’ by Patrik Schumacher <Link>
Patrik Schumacher, Principal of Zaha Hadid Architects, discusses Liberland’s prospective urban planning policies, and outlines different strategies for developing Liberland in stages.
‘Private Cities: A Model for a Truly Free Society’ by Titus Gebel <Link>
Titus Gebel, Founder of Free Private Cities, outlines the concepts behind his novel theory, “a system in which a private company as a ‘government service provider’ offers you protection of life, liberty, and property.” Visit his website freeprivatecities.com for details on his vision for free societies.
Libertarian Urban Planning Regimes <Link>
Patrik Schumacher, Lead Strategist and Design Juror of Liberland Design Competition 2020, presents his paper on Libertarian Urban Planning Regimes, focusing specifically on Liberland. Presented at Liberland Architecture Conference, the official competition launch.
Private Cities Today and Tomorrow: Why We Need Competition in Urban Development <Link>
Vera Kichanova, Design Juror of Liberland Design Competition 2020, discusses private cities and competition in urban development. Presented at Liberland Architecture Conference, the official competition launch.
Design Presentation of the 2015 Winning Design <Link>
Raya Ani, Design Juror of Liberland Design Competition 2020, presents her 1st place winning design proposal from Liberland Design Competition 2015.
Designing For A Blockchain Future & Free Societies <Link>
Daniela Ghertovici, Lead Strategist and Curator of Liberland Design Competition 2020, presents Liberland in the context of Free Private Cities, Blockchain, Media Evolution, Virtual Reality and other disruptive innovations. Presented at Chicago Blockchain Real Estate Collective (talk starts at 9:50).
Liberland: Prototype For A Decentralized State <Video>
Vit Jedlicka, The President of Liberland, discusses the vision and principles behind establishing Liberland in 2015, the world's newest micronation.
Patrik Schumacher: Politics After the Libertarian Revolution <Video>
In this interview at LibertyCon 2020, Patrik Schumacher discusses Markets and Discourses, the subject of his upcoming book, as it relates to societal evolution, architecture, economics, sociology and Libertarianism.
Liberland Official Brochure: chapter on Free Private Cities <Link>
A general overview of the concepts behind free private cities, as discussed by Titus Gebel, the founder of freeprivatecities.com. A review of the complete brochure provides a broad overview of Liberland.
Liberland 5th Anniversary Conference <Videos>
Notable speakers were Vit Jedlicka, President of Liberland; Ron Paul, US Libertarian politician; Roger Ver, founder of Bitcoin.com; John Dalli, former EU Commissioner; David Friedman, Legal Scholar; and many more. These videos present a broad overview of the aspirations of Liberland, its evolution and current developments.
Liberland official website <Liberland.org>
Create a free account to access the full website.
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QUOTATIONS>>>
>>>Liberty
“The argument for liberty is not an argument against organization, which is one of the most powerful tools human reason can employ, but an argument against all exclusive, privileged, monopolistic organization, against the use of coercion to prevent others from doing better.” -Friedrich Hayek
>>>Society
“I define anarchist society as one where there is no legal possibility for coercive aggression against the person or property of any individual.” -Murray Rothbard
>>>Capitalism
“Capitalism is the fullest expression of anarchism, and anarchism is the fullest expression of capitalism. Not only are they compatible, but you can't really have one without the other. True anarchism will be capitalism, and true capitalism will be anarchism.” -Murray Rothbard
>>>Blockchain
”We should think about the blockchain as another class of thing like the internet – a comprehensive information technology with tiered technical levels and multiple classes of applications for any form of asset registry, inventory, and exchange, including every area of finance, economics and money; hard assets (physical property); and intangible assets (votes, ideas, reputation, intention, health data, information, etc).” - Melanie Swan, Institute for Blockchain Studies
>>>Blockchain
“Blockchain isn’t just a technology, it’s also a state of mind... Imagine a world where all interactions are more egalitarian, transparent, and traceable—what would that look like? How might we design for this new world view?“ -Ali Cottons, IDEO
>>>Cryptocurrency
”Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority or banks; managing transactions and the issuing of bitcoins is carried out collectively by the network. Bitcoin is open-source; its design is public, nobody owns or controls Bitcoin and everyone can take part.” -bitcoin.com
>>>The state
“Briefly, the State is that organization in society which attempts to maintain a monopoly of the use of force and violence in a given territorial area; in particular, it is the only organization in society that obtains its revenue not by voluntary contribution or payment for services rendered but by coercion.” -Murray Rothbard
>>>Secession
“Once one concedes that a single world government is not necessary, then where does one logically stop at the permissibility of separate states? If Canada and the United States can be separate nations without being denounced as in a state of impermissible ‘anarchy’, why may not the South secede from the United States? New York State from the Union? New York City from the state? Why may not Manhattan secede? Each neighbourhood? Each block? Each house? Each person?” -Murray Rothbard
>>>Values and moral principles
Libertarianism does not offer a way of life; it offers liberty, so that each person is free to adopt and act upon his own values and moral principles. Libertarians agree with Lord Acton that "liberty is the highest political end" — not necessarily the highest end on everyone's personal scale of values.” -Murray Rothbard
>>>What is society?
“The libertarian, however, is an individualist; he believes that one of the prime errors in social theory is to treat “society” as if it were an actually existing entity. “Society” is sometimes treated as a superior or quasi-divine figure with overriding “rights” of its own; at other times as an existing evil which can be blamed for all the ills of the world. The individualist holds that only individuals exist, think, feel, choose, and act; and that “society” is not a living entity but simply a label for a set of interacting individuals. Treating society as a thing that chooses and acts, then, serves to obscure the real forces at work.” -Murray Rothbard
>>>Ideology
“For this essential acceptance, the majority must be persuaded by ideology that their government is good, wise and, at least, inevitable, and certainly better than other conceivable alternatives. Promoting this ideology among the people is the vital social task of the “intellectuals.” -Murray Rothbard
>>>Public utilities
“The very term ‘public utility’ … is an absurd one. Every good is useful ‘to the public,’ and almost every good … may be considered ‘necessary.’ Any designation of a few industries as ‘public utilities’ is completely arbitrary and unjustified.” -Murray Rothbard
>>> Exchange
“Exchange is the lifeblood, not only of our economy, but of civilization itself.” -Murray Rothbard
>>>Free Market
“Many people believe that the free market, despite some admitted advantages, is a picture of disorder and chaos. Nothing is “planned,” everything is haphazard. Government dictation, on the other hand, seems simple and orderly; decrees are handed down and they are obeyed.” -Murray Rothbard
>>>Monetary System
“In sum, freedom can run a monetary system as superbly as it runs the rest of the economy. Contrary to many writers, there is nothing special about money that requires extensive governmental dictation. Here, too, free men will best and most smoothly supply all their economic wants. For money as for all other activities of man, “liberty is the mother, not the daughter, of order.” -Friedrich Hayek
>>>Voluntary Cooperation
“It is true that the virtues which are less esteemed and practiced now--independence, self-reliance, and the willingness to bear risks, the readiness to back one's own conviction against a majority, and the willingness to voluntary cooperation with one's neighbors--are essentially those on which the of an individualist society rests. Collectivism has nothing to put in their place, and in so far as it already has destroyed them it has left a void filled by nothing but the demand for obedience and the compulsion of the individual to what is collectively decided to be good.” -Friedrich Hayek
>>>Unleashing market/societal forces
“Our faith in freedom does not rest on the foreseeable results in particular circumstances but on the belief that it will, on balance, release more forces for the good than for the bad.” -Friedrich Hayek
>>>Freedom to order
“Freedom to order our own conduct in the sphere where material circumstances force a choice upon us, and responsibility for the arrangement of our own life according to our own conscience, is the air in which alone moral sense grows and in which moral values are daily recreated in the free decision of the individual. Responsibility, not to a superior, but to one's own conscience, the awareness of a duty not exacted by compulsion, the necessity to decide which of the things one values are to be sacrificed to others, and to bear the consequences of one's own decision, are the very essence of any morals which deserve the name.” -Friedrich Hayek
>>> Design
“The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.” -Friedrich Hayek
>>>Emergence
“It is because every individual knows little and, in particular, because we rarely know which of us knows best that we trust the independent and competitive efforts of many to induce the emergence of what we shall want when we see it.” -Friedrich Hayek
>>>Totalitarian vs. Free countries
“The chief difference [between totalitarian and free countries] is that only the totalitarians appear clearly to know how they want to achieve that result, while the free world has only its past achievements to show, being by its very nature unable to offer any detailed "plan" for further growth.” -Friedrich Hayek
>>>Building a free society: intellectual adventure and deed of courage
“We must make the building of a free society once more an intellectual adventure, a deed of courage.... Unless we can make the philosophic foundations of a free society once more a living intellectual issue, and its implementation a task which challenges the ingenuity and imagination of our liveliest minds, the prospects of freedom are indeed dark. But if we can regain that belief in the power of ideas which was the mark of liberalism at its best, the battle is not lost.” -Ludwig Von Mises
>>>Private property
“If history could teach us anything, it would be that private property is inextricably linked with civilization.” -Ludwig Von Mises
>>>Civilization
“Human civilization is not something achieved against nature; it is rather the outcome of the working of the innate qualities of man.” -Ludwig Von Mises
Vít Jedlička is a Czech libertarian politician, publicist and activist, currently serving as the President of the Free Republic of Liberland. He was the chairman of the Party of Free Citizens in the Hradec Králové Region, and he is the founder and chairman of a Czech voluntary association Reformy.cz.
“Liberland aims to become the model of statehood for the 21st century. We are a global nation with well over half a million people who intends to build our own state with the highest respect for personal and economic freedom for its citizens. We are implementing the latest blockchain technologies to ensure that high standards of transparency and decentralization are met. Becoming the first decentralized autonomous government is the very core of Liberland’s vision, mission and existence.” -Vít Jedlička
Patrik is an architect and architectural theorist. He is the principal of Zaha Hadid Architects, one of the most innovative architecture practices in the world. He joined Zaha Hadid in 1988. He co-founded the London-based Architectural Association’s Design Research Lab (AA DRL), and continues to serve as one of its co-directors. Patrik studied philosophy and architecture, and completed his PhD at the Institute for Cultural Science, Klagenfurt University. He has been teaching at various architectural schools in Britain, Continental Europe and the USA since 1992. In 2011–2012, Patrik published his two-volume magnum opus, The Autopoiesis of Architecture. He has been a Lead Strategist of Liberland’s architectural efforts since its establishment in 2015.
"The design disciplines - including architecture – must upgrade their core competency of ordering social interaction via spatio-visual communication and converge towards a new universal computationally empowered style: Parametricism – architecture’s answer to the challenges and opportunities of an increasingly complex and dynamic post-fordist network society." - Patrik Schumacher
photo source: Mies.TV
Professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology, College of architecture. Mimica was the last Director of the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam. Mimica’s reach has extended across multiple pedagogical, cultural, and intellectual realms over the past 30 years, including the publication of several books, as a juror at architectural competitions around the world, and as a head of the curatorial team for the 3rd International Architectural Biennale Rotterdam in 2007 and recipient of the Croatian Architects Association Award ‘Neven Segvic’, 2007. His latest book “The Berlage Affair” was published by Actar in 2018.
"While the era of universal models and totalizing Utopian visions may be over, the need for new urban strategies is no less acute. The architect must, through his/her practice, intellect, and research, navigate those myriad currents that shape an urban reality in order to direct the shape of the built environment. To equip a new generation of architects to develop both themselves and new strategies, architectural education must produce new and in-depth knowledge of the forces that drive development.” -Vedran Mimica
Editor In Chief of Liberland Press, Blockchain Advocate, Founder of Blockleaders.io, Crypto Journalist, Women in Blockchain Advocate, Founder, Conference Chair, Keynote Speaker, Broadcaster, CEO, Writer, Homelessness Advocate, Former European Parliament Candidate, Law Changer, Mother, Choir Member, Hill Walker, Dreamer.
“I will be interested to see how the entrants can incorporate blockchain into the development of Liberland. Blockchain is already being used as the bedrock of the governance and I am keen to see what inspiration, real or intangible, will be derived from blockchain in the development of the built infrastructure.” -Jillian Godsil
Bruno is an architect, curator and entrepreneur. He was selected as a Ph.D. researcher for the Getty Research Institute Seminars in Architecture and Design in Los Angeles. In 2011, as founder of MLAUS (Mediterranean Laboratory for Architecture and Urban Strategies), Juricic kickstarted the international symposium series on architecture, art, and science dubbed "PROTO/ E/CO/LOGICS." In 2014 Bruno founded Atelier Bruno Juričić. The office has completed buildings in Croatia and currently it is expanding its operations in China. Bruno has taught in the post-graduate program in Urban Strategies at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, at UCLA Department of Architecture & Urban Design, at the Mitchell Lab at Texas A&M University and at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles.
Architect and Environmental consultant, founder of S+ studio, design-research oriented studio. He has diverse experience at different scales, ranging from architecture to master planning. Shady has a holistic approach and a determinant ambition in environmental and social aspect of sustainability.
"Architecture is a social art with the ability to reflect and inform, to educate and transform. It is much more than the creation of a functionally built environment. In addition to emergent design tools, architects should realize the importance of Blockchain technology and explore various ways to integrate it with architecture." -Shady Michael
Award winning architect and urban designer, Raya was named as one of the topmost influential Architects in the Middle East since 2015. As the 2017 President of the American Institute of Architects-ME Chapter, Raya’s focus is on empowering architects by supporting multiple goals and initiatives for a stronger profession. Her interests are in melding innovation, sustainability, and technology. She is a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects (FAIA), the highest rank of honor, which was granted for her excellence in design and outstanding contributions in the field of architecture.
“Our urban and architecture approach should expose an innovative, intelligent and thoughtful design process that responds to the aspirations and values of a micro-nation set to create liberty while assuming responsibility. The design has to embody those aspirations and the essence of freedom and transparency on an urban and architectural level for a free self-empowering populace.”- Raya Ani
Architect, Research associate at Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design(ITKE) at University of Stuttgart, Ph.D. candidate under Studio Flo|w at Czech Technical University in Prague. Founding Partner of Archistroj Design Studio. Author of Self-assembly discrete system MoleMOD. Born in Prague, Liberland citizen.
”Constantly changing society and human capabilities evoke that architecture should effectively react towards a more sustainable future when the architectural environment is adapting rather than rebuilding. Technologically it is already possible. The question is if society can accept it and authorities allow it. Liberland is an excellent environment to make this happened.”- Jan Petrš
Professional Researcher and PhD candidate at King’s College London. Vera’s dissertation is dedicated to private cities. At the age of 20, she was elected to the Municipal Council in Moscow thus becoming the first libertarian ever elected to public office in Russia. Her comments on local government and urban policy were published by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The Telegraph. Vera holds a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of Oxford and a BA in Journalism from Moscow State University.
“As the world is becoming more globalised, people learn to vote with their feet. Countries, in turn, have to improve their legal environments to attract the most creative and productive ones. The rise of special jurisdictions — charter cities, foreign trade zones, stateless societies — shows that nothing is as attractive as freedom. For many, the idea of a stateless utopia has been a cherished dream for decades. Today, thanks to the initiatives like Liberland, it looks less utopian than ever before.” -Vera Kichanova
Daniela is an Architectural professional, Researcher, Educator, and Scholar, with over 25 years of international experience as an architectural designer and technologist on complex mixed-use urban developments, such as Burj Khalifa in Dubai and Shanghai North Bund White Magnolia Plaza. She has been teaching for over fifteen years, most recently as full-time graduate faculty and thesis chair at Harrington College of Design. She is the curator and sponsor of ArchAgenda Debates at the Chicago Architecture Biennial, the lead strategist and curator of Liberland Design Competitions 2015 and 2020, and co-curator of the Free Private Cities design symposium. Daniela holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts diploma from the School of The Art Institute of Chicago, a Master of Architecture diploma from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and is currently a PhD candidate in computational and architectural theory at the European Graduate School in Switzerland.