Imagine a small Himalayan kingdom that:
Absorbs more carbon than it emits
Mines Bitcoin using hydroelectric energy
Is building a massive new city to bring its youth home
Has a King who led democratization, even though most people were content with the old system
That’s Bhutan. And during Edge Patagonia, I met Chirag (a super interesting local), who blew my mind by telling me about their new experiment:
Gelephu Mindfulness City
A 2,600 km² Special Administrative Region on Bhutan’s southern plains, bordering India.
Following Singapore’s corporate, commercial, and governance laws and Abu Dhabi’s Global Market regulations for financial services, GMC is adding economic growth to Bhutan’s “Gross National Happiness” while adopting sustainable practices, like building no taller than trees and using electric-only vehicles.
Some recent developments:
They are already building an international airport as well, and establishing railway connectivity with India is next on the list.
This Mindfulness City will support 200,000 residents with sectoral clusters established in eight core areas:
Green Energy & Technologies
Finance & Digital Assets
Education & Knowledge
Agri-Tech & Forestry
Aviation & Logistics
Health & Wellness
Spiritual
Tourism
The city will be, of course, the result of a decade-long plan. After losing a significant amount of their youth talent in recent years, this is Bhutan’s incentive to bring them back.
A power play to come up with winning strategies and apply them to the rest of the country, without disrupting it in the process.
It is the perfect regulatory sandbox for experimenting with cool things.
One country, two systems.
Hope you learned something today :)
See you next week,
Mike