Billionaires Building Cities: Tech Utopias and the Reality Check
Silicon money is buying more than mansions now; it’s buying entire municipalities. These projects promise deregulated zones where backers can experiment with governance, longevity technologies and new currencies. The idea has attracted both genuine development plans and eyebrow-raising libertarian dreams.
Some describe these ventures as network cities, city-states or Technates where decisions lean on scientific experts rather than political debate. The original critique calls them a Technocrat playground for alternative societies where anything goes and where decisions are made by scientific fiat without political discourse. They are also tied to ambitions like pursuing the Transhuman dream of immortality and experimenting with psychedelic substances.
Venture teams pair private capital with deals struck in places willing to concede broad autonomy, and the models vary wildly in scale and seriousness. Mark Lutter, founder of the non-profit Charter Cities Institute, framed the trend as “borne out of a dissatisfaction with the current political systems,” according to Mark Lutter, founder of the non-profit Charter Cities Institute, a non-profit which seeks to “empower new cities with better governance to lift tens of millions of people out of poverty.”
Prospera, Honduras: Prospera looks like an upscale gated community with a beach and a golf course and already houses about 1,000 residents. Financing includes money linked to Peter Thiel and it features an arbitration system where a U.S. judge can decide disputes online. Notably, the zone allows looser rules on longevity treatments and has drawn visitors such as Bryan Johnson for “gene therapy that might change the future of humanity.”
Destiny, St. Kitts and Nevis: Oliver Janssens bought roughly four square miles on Nevis after making millions in crypto and wants Destiny to be a family-friendly enclave, not a libertarian free-for-all. “Playing God is the last thing I want to do. The whole point is that you don’t need a God, so to speak.” He compares local governance to an HOA and says, “We are bound by the constitution [of St. Kitts and Nevis], which is sort of a safeguard. Within our own system … You can compare it to a Home Owner’s Association where it’s only property owners [who get to make decisions].”
Alpha Cities, West Africa: Patri Friedman’s plan is plural: Alpha Cities, multiple developments intended to cluster industry and build modern infrastructure. “We’re very long on renderings and very short on everything else,” admitted Friedman, who says deals are being discussed with West African governments to attract things like geothermal-powered data centers and electric vehicle manufacturing. The host countries hope these projects will emulate Singapore’s rise from low development to high.
California Forever: This is pitched as a return to an American ideal rather than a legal experiment, backed by nearly a billion dollars and tens of thousands of acres. “It’s about restoring the California dream and the American dream,” a spokesperson said, laying out plans for manufacturing hubs in aerospace and robotics and neighborhoods centered on walkable shopping streets. The plan includes a park larger than Central Park and aims for financially attainable housing in safe and walkable neighborhoods.
Sherbro Island, Sierra Leone: Actor Idris Elba is behind a Special Economic Zone on Sherbro Island that the government cleared to become an “eco-city project.” The proposal mixes cultural roots and modern infrastructure, with a planned wind farm at its center and a stated aim to blend African tradition with state-of-the-art services. The vision is explicitly framed as a development that benefits the island and honors family ties.
Akon City, Senegal: Akon City is the cautionary example of high hopes meeting faint funding and practical hurdles. The singer’s renderings promised solar power, signature Akoin crypto and futuristic architecture, but by 2025 only a reception building was half-built and essential infrastructure was missing. Akon later acknowledged the crypto plan failed, investment dried up, and the original city project was abandoned in favor of a more modest resort idea.
Across all these efforts the pattern repeats: compelling imagery, big names and a mix of private aims and public concessions. Some projects show early traction and legal creativity, others stall under finance, logistics or local realities. What remains clear is that building a new kind of city is as much a governance experiment as it is an engineering one.