City air makes you free

Stadtluft Macht Frei, "city air makes you free," was once a statement of Germanic law: a serf who lived in a city for a year and a day was freed from his obligations to his manorial master. Today, the phrase has a deeper truth, reminding us of how cities enable social, political and economic liberty. Yet too often, public power represses, rather than enables, the free genius of urban creativity. The original Germanic meaning still has some bite today. The migrant who comes from rural India to B

Stadtluft Macht Frei, "city air makes you free," was once a statement of Germanic law: a serf who lived in a city for a year and a day was freed from his obligations to his manorial master. Today, the phrase has a deeper truth, reminding us of how cities enable social, political and economic liberty. Yet too often, public power represses, rather than enables, the free genius of urban creativity. The original Germanic meaning still has some bite today. The migrant who comes from rural India to B…