Poco più di cinque anni fa (aprile 2015) è stata proclamata la Free Republic of Liberland (Libera Repubblica di Liberland), una micronazione libertaria situata su un territorio di appena 7 chilometri quadrati, contesi e dimenticati, tra Croazia e Serbia. Fondata da Vít Jedlička, che ne è anche il presidente, Liberland si basa sui princìpi di libertarismo e anarco-capitalismo, con un sistema di leggi minimo e una tassazione volontaria.
Fino ad oggi, Liberland ha ricevuto oltre 600.000 domande di cittadinanza e anche se la sua cittadinanza è stata limitata a “sole” 120.000 persone, è iniziato a sorgere il problema su come ottimizzare e organizzare progettualmente al meglio i suoi 7 chilometri quadrati di terreno (45° 46’ N, 18° 52’ E), attraverso un’architettura che crei “uno spazio vivibile, piacevole e sostenibile”.

Per questo è stato lanciato, nel mese di maggio, il concorso di progettazione Liberland Design Competition 2020, curato da Daniela Ghertovici, direttrice dell’ArchAgenda. I propositi architettonici sono liberi, ma anche piuttosto impegnativi, e per questo ancora più affascinanti, in quanto i partecipanti dovranno “sfidare lo status quo del progetto urbano e architettonico contemporaneo rispondendo ai valori fondamentali di Liberland e a immaginare il pieno potenziale progettuale di questa nuova micronazione. Il progetto proposto deve essere agile e altamente rispondente alle forze del libero mercato che sono aperte all’evoluzione perpetua”.
Inoltre, “la proposta deve includere anche scenari di progettazione che coinvolgano in modo creativo le implicazioni teoriche, sociali e tecnologiche dei sistemi di intelligence distribuiti, come Blockchain. A livello funzionale, Liberland non ha norme di zonizzazione o restrizioni municipali. Non ha una cultura del design prestabilita. Il campo è aperto all’innovazione su ogni scala. La nuova architettura di Liberland sarà assolutamente vitale per la sua sopravvivenza, successo e progresso verso le sue aspirazioni.
Piuttosto che schemi puramente fantastici o artistici, Liberland è alla ricerca di proposte radicalmente creative, ma mature per una città-Stato fertile e ad alta densità del 21° secolo che risponda alla sua avanzata società di rete. I partecipanti dovrebbero affrontare questa competizione come una sfida progettuale nel mondo reale: un processo di sviluppo lucido per un’evoluzione a più livelli verso una città pienamente funzionale, architettonicamente sofisticata e intelligentemente adattabile. I partecipanti sono liberi di proporre scenari incentrati sul design e socialmente speculativi, coinvolgendo le più ampie proiezioni economiche, politiche, sociali e tecnologiche sul futuro di Liberland”.

Di seguito, pubblichiamo il bando e il programma di Liberland 2020. Global Design Competition for the 21st Century Micronation.

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. As countries converge on drastic social control measures that aim to combat the Coronavirus pandemic, the fundamental infrastructures of every societal function system have been undermined and threatened with collapse, or at best, an unstable future (global interdependence, markets, supply chains, personal and collective liberty, healthcare, livelihood, governance, etc). There is a newfound urgency to activate novel agendas to counteract this new normal. Liberland’s agenda is an ideal contender.

Liberland, the world’s newest micronation, is an incubator and role model for a society founded on the ideology of liberty and principles of anarcho-capitalism. It is founded on the idea that the societal movement towards individual and collective freedom, prosperity and peace will not emerge through bigger governments with increased control, but rather through the distributed intelligence of autonomous innovators and agents of change through “the politics of discourses”, (“Patrik Schumacher: Politics After The Libertarian Revolution” interview at LibertyCon 2020)

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 7200 x 4800 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’.

Details >>>
Email all questions to: daniela@archagenda.com

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.

Schedule >>>
Competition Launch: May 16, 2020
Liberland Design Competition 2020 will be launched at the Liberland Architecture Conference on May 16 2020. The competition is open to all Architects, Urbanists, Interior Designers, Architecture and Design Students. Team and individual entries are welcome, only one entry fee per team.

Registration & Questions Deadline: August 16, 2020
To qualify for entry, your registration form must include all requested details. Incomplete registration forms will be automatically disqualified. Provide only ONE email address at registration, which will serve as our primary contact for your team.

Design Submission Deadline: October 16, 2020
All submissions will be electronic, and must meet the digital specifications of 7200×4800 pixels/dpi per digital poster, in JPEG format. FIVE digital posters are required per submission, whether the design team is comprised of one or several designers. You have the option of submitting SUPPLEMENTAL video(s), however this cannot replace your Jpeg posters. Submissions will be accepted via Google Drive; you will receive a link to the submission folder after you register.

Winners Announced: November 2020
Winners will be announced to your contact person’s email that you provide at registration, as well as on this website.