Paul Romer: The world's first charter city?

Translator: Liridon Shala Reviewer: Robert Lokaj

In 2007,

ne 2007,

I decided that we needed to reconceptualize

Une vendosa se na duhet te re-konceptojme

how we thought about economic development.

se si mendojme rreth zhvillimit ekonomik

Our new goal should be

Qellimi yne i ri duhet te jet

that when every family thinks about where they want to live and work,

qe secila familje qe deshirone te punoje dhe te jetoj diku

they should be able to choose between

ata duhet te kene mundesi te zgjedhin ne mes

at least a handful

te qyteteve te

of different cities

ndryshme

that were all competing to attract new residents.

te cilat bejne konkurence njera tjeteres per te marrur resident te ri.

Now we're a long way away from that goal right now.

Tani ne jemi shum large per t'ia arritur atij qellimi.

There are billions of people in developing countries

Jan miljarda njerez neper shtete te zhvilluara

who don't have even a single city that would be willing to welcome them.

te cilat nuk kan nje shtet te vetem i cili mundet ti mirpres ata

But the amazing thing about cities

mirpo gjeja e mire rreth qyteteve

is they're worth so much more

eshte ato jan te shum te vlefshme

than it costs to build them.

qe kushton ti ndertosh ato

So we could easily supply the world

Pra ne mundemi shum thjesht ti ofrojme botes

with dozens, maybe hundreds,

me dhjetra, apo mijera

of new cities.

qytete te reja.

Now this might sound preposterous to you

Tani ky mund te tinglloj disi e pamundur per juve

if you've never thought about new cities.

pershembull, nese kurr nuk keni menduar per qytete te reja

But just substitute apartment building for cities.

mirpo vetem i keni ndrruar apartamentet neper qytet

Imagine half the people who wanted to be in apartments already had them;

Imagjinoni sikurse gjysma e njerezve te cilet deshirojne te jene ne nje apartament pothuajse jane;

the other half aren't there yet.

ndersa gjysma tjeter nuk jane akoma.

You could try and expand the capacity

Ju mundeni te provoni ta rrisni kapacitetin

by doing additions on all the existing apartments.

duke shtuar neper apartmentet eksistuese,

But you know what you'd run into

mirpo ju e dini qfar do te hasni ne to

is those apartments and the surrounding areas

apartamente dhe vende rrethuese

have rules to avoid discomfort

te cila kan rregulla per te prishur planet

and the distractions of construction.

dhe mos prishje te konstruksioneve.

So it's extremely hard to do all of those additions.

Pra eshte shum veshtir te shtohen te gjitha ato shtesa

But you could go out someplace brand new,

mirpo ju mundeni te dilni jasht diku tjeter

build a brand new apartment building,

te ndertoni nje nderties te re , apartmente te ri

as long as the rules there

derisa rregullat jane aty

were ones that facilitated construction

te cilat e perkrahin konstruksionin qe ju po e beni

rather than getting in the way.

me mire se sa te humbeni diku.

So I proposed

Pra uen propozoje

that governments create new reform zones

qe qeveria te krijone zona te reja reformuese

big enough to hold cities

te jen te gjendje te mbajne qytetet

and gave them a name: charter cities.

dhe t'ju japin atyre nje emer: qytetet me qira.

Later I learned that at about this same time,

Me vone e mesoave se gati per te njejten kohe

Javier and Octavio

Javier dhe Octavio

were thinking about the challenge of reform

ishin duke menduar per ndryshimin e reformave

in Honduras.

ne Honduras.

They knew that about 75,000 Hondurans every year

Ata e dinin qe rreth 75,000 Honduras ( qytetar) gjdo vite

would leave to go to the United States,

do te ikini per te shkuar ne Shtetet e Bashkuara,

and they wanted to ask, what could they do

dhe deshironin te pysin se qfar mund te benin

to make sure that those people could stay

per te bere te sigurt qe keta njerez te rrine

and do the same things in Honduras.

dhe te bejne te njejten gje ne Honduras.

At one point, Javier said to Octavio,

Tek kjo pike, Javier i tha Octavios,

"What if we took some of our empty land --

"Qfar nese ne e marrim disa nga toka jone boshe--

what if we just gave it to an embassy --

Qfar nese i dhem nje ambasade--

give some to the U.S. embassy; give some to the Canadian embassy --

ti japim ca ambasades Amerikane; disa asaj Kanadeze --

and then if people want to go work

dhe pastaj nese njerezit deshirojne te shkojne te punojne

under the rules of Canada or under the rules of the United States,

me rregullat e Kanades ose rregullat e SHBA-se

they can go get jobs,

mund te shkojne te marrin ndonje pune,

do everything they do on those embassy grounds

do te bejne gjdo gje qe munden ne keto ambasada

that they would otherwise have to go to Canada or the U.S. to do?"

qe ne menyren tjeter do te kishin shkuar ne Kanad ose Amerik

In the summer of 2009,

Ne veren e 2009,

Honduras went through a wrenching constitutional crisis.

Hondurasi kishte nje kriz konstitucionale.

At the next regularly scheduled election,

Tek zgjedhjet e rregullta

Pepe Lobo won in a landslide

Pepo Lobo fitoi ne krahun e tokes

on a platform that promised reform,

ne nje platform qe premtoi reforma,

but reconciliation as well.

mirpo edhe pajtim gjithashtu.

He asked Octavio to be his chief of staff.

Ai i kerkoj Octavios te behet shefi i stafit.

Meanwhile, I was getting ready

Gjersa, une isha duke u bere gati

to give a talk at TEDGlobal.

per te them nje fjalim per TedGlobal.

Through a process of refinement,

Neper nje proces to riformimit

trial and error, a lot of user testing,

perdorimit me gabime, shum shfrytezues duke testuar

I tried to boil this complicated concept of charter city

Provova te zie ket koncept te qytetit me qira

down to the bare essentials.

duke i shoshitur vendimet.

The first point was the importance of rules,

Pika e pare ishte shum e rendesishme per ligj-beresit

like those rules that say

sikurse keto regullat qe thone

you can't come in and disturb all the existing apartment holders.

nuk mund te vish ketu dhe ti shqetsosh te gjith pronaret e apartamenteve eksistuese.

We pay a lot of attention to new technologies,

Ne kemi kujdes te madh per teknologjin e re,

but it takes technologies and rules to get progress,

mirpo duhet proces per teknologjin dhe rregullat qe te marr rruge,

and it's usually the rules that hold us back.

dhe zakonisht rregulloret jane ato qe neve na mbajne large

In the fall of 2010, a friend from Guatemala

Ne dimrin e 2010, nje shok nga Guatamala

sent Octavio a link to the TEDTalk.

i dergoj Octavios nje lidhje direkt per nje ligjerat Ted-i

He showed it to Javier.

Ai i'a tregoj Javier-it

They called me.

dhe me thirren mua.

They said, "Let's present this to the leaders of our country."

Ata than " le ta prezentojna kete tek lideret e shtetit tone"

So in December we met in Miami,

Pra ne Dhjetor ne shkuam ne Miami,

in a hotel conference room.

nje dhe konference ne nje hotel.

I tried to explain this point

Provova t'ju shpjegoj kete pike

about how valuable cities are,

sesa te vlefshum qytetet jane

how much more valuable they are than they cost.

sa me te vlefshum jane sesa qe kushtojne ata.

And I used this slide

dhe e perdora kete slide ( faqe per prezantim ne kompjuter)

showing how valuable the raw land is

duke ju shfaqur atyre sa e vlefshme eshte toka

in a place like New York City:

ne nje vend sikurse qyteti i Nju Jorkut:

notice, land that's worth thousands of dollars, in some cases,

kujdes, toka qe eshte e vlefshme qindja e mijera dollar ne disa raste

per square meter.

per nje meter katrore.

But it was a fairly abstract discussion,

mirpo ishte nje bised shum abstrakte por e natyreshme

and at some point when there was a pause,

dhe tek disa pika kur ishte ndonje pauze

Octavio said,

Octavio thoshte,

"Paul, maybe we could watch the TEDTalk."

"Paul, ndoshta mundemi ta shikojme biseden e Ted-it

(Laughing)

(Qeshen)

So the TEDTalk laid out in very simple terms,

Pra biseda ne Ted ishte shum me terma te thjeshtesuar,

a charter city is a place

nje vend me qira eshte nje vend

where you start with uninhabited land,

ku ti fillon ti zhvillosh nje tok te patrasheguar

a charter that specifies the rules that will apply there

nje qiradhenje e cila specifikon rregullat qe aplikohen atje

and then a chance for people to opt in,

dhe nje shance per njerezit qe te jen te afte ne.

to go live under those rules or not.

te jetojne me keto rregulla ose jo

So I was asked by the president of Honduras

Pra une kerkova nga presidenti i Hundurasit

who said that we need to do this project,

i cili tha se na duhet te bejme kete projekt

this is important,

kjo eshte merendesi

this could be the way forward for our country.

ky mund te jet menyra per te arritur sukses shteti yne.

I was asked to come to Tegucigalpa

Me ishte kerkuar to vije ne Teguciagalpa

and talk again on January fourth and fifth.

dhe te flas prap me 4 ose 5 janar.

So I presented

Une e prezentova

another fact-filled lecture

nje tjeter literatur fakti deshtoi

that included a slide like this,

e cila perfshinte nje sllajd sikurse ky,

which tried to make the point that, if you want to create a lot of value in a city,

i cili provonte te bente nje pike te cilen nese don ta krijosh nje vler te madhe per nje

it has to be very big.

qytet shum te madh

This is a picture of Denver,

Kjo eshe nje fotografi e Denver-it

and the outline is the new airport that was built in Denver.

dhe pikat kryesore te airoporti te ri i cili ishte ndertuar ne Denver

This airport alone

Vetem airoporti

covers more than 100 square kilometers.

mbulon me teper se 100 kilometra katrore

So I was trying to persuade the Hondurans,

Pra isha duke provuar ti binja Hondurasit,

if you build a new city,

se po ta ndertoni nje qytet te ri,

you've got to start with a site that's at least 1,000 square kilometers.

ju duhet te filloni me nje krah me se paku 1,000 kilometra katrore.

That's more than 250 hundred-thousand acres.

Apo me teper se 250 mije ari

Everybody applauded politely.

secili e preferoj ne menyr te zbutur.

The faces in the audience

Fetyrat ne audience

were very serious and attentive.

ishin shume serioze dhe te perqendruar

The leader of the congress came up on stage and said,

Lideri i kongresit erdhi ne sken dhe tha

"Professor Romer, thank you very much for your lecture,

"Profesor Romer, faliminderit shum per prezentimin tuaj,

but maybe we could watch the TEDTalk.

mirpo me mir ta shiqojme prezentimin ne Ted

I've got it here on my laptop."

E kam ketu ne llaptopin time"

So I sat down, and they played the TEDTalk.

U ula dhe e leshofa Ted-prezentimin

And it got to the essence,

dhe e fitoj esencen

which is that a new city could offer new choices for people.

e cili ishte se nje qytet i ri mund te ofroje mundesi te reja per njereze.

There would be a choice of a city which you could go to

Ishte mundesia e qytet ne te cilin ju mund te shkonit

which could be in Honduras,

i cili mund te ishte ne Honduras,

instead of hundreds of miles away in the North.

ne vend se te ishte mijera kilometra ne veri.

And it also involved new choices for leaders.

gjithashtu ishte involvuar zgjedhje te rela per lideret

Because the leaders in the government there in Honduras

sepse lideret ne qeveri ne Honduras

would need help from partner countries,

do t'ju nevoitet ndihme prej shteteve partnere,

who could benefit from partner countries

te cilat mund te perfitojne prej shteteve partnere

who help them set up the rules in this charter and the enforcement,

te cilat i ndihmojne atyre per te ven ne funksion rregullat dhe qiradhenjen ne fuqi,

so everybody can trust

pra te gjith mund te besojne

that the charter really will be enforced.

qiradhenje me te vertet do te jet e forcuar

And the insight of President Lobo

dhe perbrenda presidentit Lobo

was that that assurance of enforcement

ishte qe siguria dhe forcimi i ligjit

that I was thinking about

per at ishte duke menduar

as a way to get the foreign investors to come in and build the city

si nje menyr per te thithur investitoret e huaj per ta ndertuar qytetin

could be equally important for all the different parties in Honduras

mund te jet me rendesi te njejte per te gjith pjesmarresit ne honduras

who had suffered for so many years

te cilet kan vuajtur gjat gjith ketyre viteve

from fear and distrust.

nga frika dhe mosbesimi

We went and looked at a site.

Ne shkuam dhe shiquam

This picture's from there.

Fotografi nga atje

It easily could hold a thousand square kilometers.

shum lehet mund te mban mijera kilometra katrore

And shortly thereafter, on January 19th,

dhe shkurt me 19 Janar

they voted in the congress to amend their constitution

ata votuan ne kongres per te amandamentuar kushtetuten

to have a constitutional provision

per te pasur nje kushtet te permisuar

that allows for special development regions.

e cila lejon per nje zhvillim te veqant te religjionit

In a country which had just gone through this wrenching crisis,

Ne nje shtet i cili sapo ka kaluar neper kriza te mdha ekonomike

the vote in the congress in favor of this constitutional amendment

votimi ne kongres ne favorin e amandamendimit te kushtetutes

was 124 to one.

isteh 124 me nje

All parties, all factions in society, backed this.

Te gjitha palet, te gjith funksionet ne shoqeri, e perkrahet kete

To be part of the constitution, you actually have to pass it twice in the congress.

Per tu bere pjes e kushtetutes, ju faktikisht duhet ta kaloni dy her ne kongres.

On February 17th they passed it again

me 17 Shkurt e kaluan prap

with another vote of 114 to one.

me nje votim tjeter prej 114 me 1.

Immediately after that vote,

Menjeher pas atij votimi,

on February 21st to the 24th,

me 21 deri 24 Shkurt

a delegation of about 30 Hondurans

nje delegacion prej 30 Hondurasi

went to the two places in the world

shkuan ne dy vende te botes

that are most interested in getting into the city building business.

te cilat ishim me te interesuarat per te kaluar tek nje ndertes qytet

One is South Korea.

ne Koren Jugore.

This is a picture of a big, new city center

Kjo eshte nje fotografi e nje qyteti te madh - qender

that's being built in South Korea --

e cila eshte e ndertuar ne Korel Jugore --

bigger than downtown Boston.

me e madhe se qyteti ne Boston.

Everything you see there was built in four years,

Gjdogje qe shihni atje eshte ndertuar per kater vite,

after they spent four years getting the permits.

pasi kaluan kater vite duke nxierruar dokumentacionin

The other place that's very interested in city building is Singapore.

Vendi tjeter i cili ishte i interesuar per te ndertuar qytetin ishte Singapori

They've actually built two cities already in China

Fakitisht ata ndertuan dy qytete ne Kine

and are preparing the third.

dhe jane duke pergatitur te tretin.

So if you think about this practically,

Pra nese mendon rreth kesaj prakishte,

here's where we are.

ja ku jemi.

They've got a site; they're already thinking about this site for the second city.

Ata kan nje sajt; ata jane duke menduar per nje qytet te dye

They're putting in place a legal system

Jane duke vendosur ne vend sistemin legal

that could allow for managers to come in,

i cili ua lejon menagjerve te vine,

and also an external legal system.

gjithashtu edhe nje sistem legal te jashtem

One country has already volunteered to let its supreme court

Nje shtet tashme vullnetarisht ka lejuar gjygjin supres

be the court of final appeal for the new judicial system there.

te jet pjes e nje paraqitje finale per nje sistem gjygjesore atje.

There's designers and builders of cities

jan dizajneret dhe ndertuesit e qytetit

who are very interested.

te cilet jane shum te interesuar.

They even can bring with them some financing.

Ata madje mund te sjellin me vete edhe financa.

But the one thing you know they've already solved

Mirpo njera nga gjerat me te mdha ata pothuajse e kan zgjidhur

is that there's lots of tenants.

jane shum qiramarres.

There's lots of businesses that would like to locate in the Americas,

Jane shum biznese te cilat deshirojne te vendosen ne Amerike,

especially in a place with a free trade zone,

veqanarisht ne nje vend me tregti te lire,

and there's lots of people who'd like to go there.

dhe ka shume njereze te cilet deshirojne te shkojne atje.

Around the world, there's 700 million people

rreth botes jane 700 milion njerez

who say they'd like to move permanently someplace else right now.

te cilet thone se deshirojne te shkojne diku tjeter

There's a million a year

Jane mbi nje milion ne vite

who leave Latin America to go to the United States.

te cilet e leshojn Ameriken Latine per te shkuar ne SHBA.

Many of these are a father

Shumica prej tyre jane baballare

who has to leave his family behind to go get a job --

te cilet duhet ta lene familjet e tyre per ta gjetur nje pune--

sometimes a single mother

nganjehere nje mama e veteme

who has to get enough money to even pay for food or clothing.

e cila nuk ka para per te paguar ushqimin dhe veshmathjet.

Sadly, sometimes there are even children

Nganjeher edhe femijet

who are trying to get reunited with their parents

te cilet provojne te ri-bashkohen me familjet e tyre.

that they haven't seen, in some cases, for a decade.

te cilet nuk i kan pare, ne disa raste edhe dekada.

So what kind of an idea is it

pra qfar lloje ideje eshte kjo

to think about building a brand new city in Honduras?

te mendosh per ta ndertuar nje qytet te ri ne Honduras?

Or to build a dozen of these,

apo per ti ndertuar disa nga keto,

or a hundred of these, around the world?

apo qindra te tyre, rreth botes?

What kind of an idea is it

qfar ideje eshte kjo

to think about insisting

te mendosh per insistimin

that every family have a choice of several cities

se secila familje ka nje zgjidhje per disa qytete

that are competing to attract new residents?

te cilat konkurojne me njera tjetren per te marrur resident te ri?

This is an idea worth spreading.

Kjo eshte nje ide e cila i'a vlen te shprendahet

And my friends from Honduras

dhe shoket e mi prej Honduras-it

asked me to say thank you, TED.

me kerkuan mua ta them faliminderit juve TED

(Applause)

(Duartrokitje)