Economics of Joy: The Web3 Space
The concept of and the word “economy” have come to be associated with unfairness, imbalance, and inevitable outcomes. However, there are opposing currents that are important for the development of the built environment.
The Site Magazine will be concentrating on the subject of “Economies of Joy” in 2022. Through the perspective of the built environment—the creation, production, and habitation of the physical world—we are investigating new economic modalities. The Site Magazine is releasing a unique, digital/print hybrid edition and starting Web3 experiments as part of this exploration.
Web 2.0 has transformed into a landscape of walled gardens, where major businesses expand by controlling value flows, eventually taking over the entire digital experience. The concept of Web3 is a decentralized internet that uses blockchain technology and a token-based economy. The new net will enable new options for peer-to-peer collaboration and direct ownership over the actions, interactions, and artifacts that exist online by permitting the unmediated transfer of value between parties that desire to interact online.
Moreover, this special issue will look at how Web3-enabled virtual worlds and new token-enabled economic systems are changing how we live, work, and play in space. In fact, we will be holding a live NFT marketplace and inviting people to sell content or carry out experiments pertaining to the representation or design of the built environment.
What we’re looking for and interested in:
- How decentralized technologies are rewiring the hardware of our civilization is something that interests us.
- We’re curious to see how the real estate market will behave when property assets are deeded on a public ledger, when the real estate is on virtual land, or when server farms start to outperform traditional farms in terms of profitability.
- We are curious to learn how Web3 might give designers fresh opportunities to conjure realistic economic fantasies and realities that exist before, alongside, or independently of actual physical locations and architectural goods.
- We are interested in technologies that address systemic coordination challenges as well as tools for decentralized governance.
- We have an interest in digital assets and currencies.
- We are curious in how life will be in virtual “verses.”
We are looking for contributions in three forms:
Essays
Critical views on web3, decentralized technologies, cryptocurrency, the metaverse, NFTs, and everything about blockchain and the built environment. Therefore, essays should ideally discuss the economic and/or societal implications of these technologies. Critical viewpoints on web3 as a newly created reality and/or fantasy are particularly interesting to us.
Cases of Use
Examples of actual or potential technology use in the design industry. These should not be directly about architecture, building, or real estate, but rather they should demonstrate how design empowers, enables, and cheers up people and communities all across the world.
Projects by NFT
The first-ever NFT marketplace for architecture and design will allow for the creation of an infinite number of projects. Therefore, NFTs should be very high-resolution single images or drawings (JPG or PNG files), or brief animations (MP4 files). The creation of and listing of NFTs will be free of charge. The owner will receive all proceeds.
