Cryptocurrency millionaire Jeffrey Berns has revealed plans to develop a large parcel of Nevada‘s desert to a smart city powered by blockchain technology.
Berns, who chose selling cryptocurrency last year, plans to alter the 67,000-acre (27,113-hectare) plot in the north of the US nation after paying supposedly paying $170 million (per pound;130 million) for its land.
The website called Innovation Park, which neighbours hubs of big tech giants including Google, Apple, Switch and Tesla, is already home to the headquarters of the company Blockchains — an incubator that supports partnerships and businesses utilizing blockchain engineering.
City will likely probably be”new kind of business and residential community”
A blockchain is a collection of digital records that monitor transactions chronologically as well as openly. These decentralised ledgers — not tied to a specific authority or government — ease digital monies (cryptocurrencies) like Bitcoin and Ether.
Berns produced his millions buying and selling Ether tokens, which are utilized in a computing platform named Ethereum, prior to their value crashed.
He intends to use the money to develop the remainder of his land into a smart town, billed as”a new kind of business and residential community”.
The proposed blockchain town is meant to pioneer applications for its technology within an urban environment, including houses, schools and a high tech park for Berns’ company.
Blockchain could offer greater privacy
“Our land in Innovation Park will probably be a smart city using a decentralised blockchain infrastructure inherent all of interaction,” said a statement on Blockchains’ website.
A possible key advantage of this city version is higher control of privacy of personal data — an advantage of blockchain highlighted by Dezeen Opinion columnist Paul Colleti.
For instance, residents of Innovation Park could be in a position to bank, vote and store data in the blockchain, without including middlemen businesses or the government, accounts the New York Times.
“Efficiency, sustainability, transparency and provenance will not be compromised, but guaranteed,” said the Blockchains website.
“Multiple innovative technologies will change the way its residents interact on a daily basis and blockchain technology will be at the centre of it all — keeping systems honest, fair and democratic.”
Architects enlisted to design Innovation Park
Los Angeles-based architecture companies Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects along with Tom Wiscombe Architecture were enlisted to design Blockchains’ city, with the task to also make use of other cutting-edge technologies.
“The projected town may probably encompass, among other jobs, a highly-secured, high tech park that combines blockchain technology using artificial intelligence, 3D printing and nanotechnology; residential components that will provide a new living environment to tens of thousands; and different fiscal, company and retail concepts,” said Blockchains.
A set of renderings released by the two architecture studios show a mix of low-lying buildings and towers spread across the mini metropole, although final plans are yet to be revealed.
“The buildings may try to integrate in this landscape, linking inhabitants to the surroundings and to the desert sublime,” said Tom Wiscombe Architecture in a project description.
Communal living facilities with shared amenities,”enormous workplace-manufacturing hybrids”, and civic centres and green courtyards to gather and develop ideas, are all included in the proposal. Autonomous and electric vehicles are also envisioned driving both inside and outside the buildings.
The Blockchains city would also use renewable energy sources, like solar and wind power, and reclaimed and recycled water.
Proposal follows smart cities announced for Arizona and Toronto
Innovation Park is among a host of smart cities that have been announced for North America. Others include a project in Arizona’s desert planned by billionaire Bill Gates, and a future city on the Toronto waterfront by Google’s sister company Sidewalk Labs.
Unlike Blockchains’ town, Sidewalk Labs‘ scheme plans to use and share residential data to help design the neighbourhood. It has been heavily criticised for this, particularly in the wake of the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, when data was allegedly used to influence voters in political campaigns.
While Sidewalk Labs’ assert that the development will help speed up the transformation of neighbourhoods, others are more careful of implementing new technology, as the outcome of these developments is currently unknown.
Architect and television presenter Jason Pomeroy informed Dezeen that the tech can quickly become outdated, while transport designer Paul Priestman along with urbanist Maarten Hajer are among these warning that autonomous automobiles could lead to as many problems that they solve.
Berns — now awaiting final approval for Innovation Park — is aware of this, however, eager to accept the challenges and intends to start construction next year.
“This will either be the biggest thing ever, or the most spectacular crash and burn in the history of mankind,” he informed the New York Times. “I don’t know which one.”
“I believe it’s the former, but either way it’s going to be one hell of a ride,” Berns added.
Renderings are by Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects along with Tom Wiscombe Architecture.
The post Cryptocurrency millionaire plans blockchain smart city in Nevada desert appeared initially on Dezeen.
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