Decentralized Web3 technologies such as blockchain emerged as instruments for creating an alternative “trustless” system that uses cryptography and decentralized consensus mechanisms to obviate the need for third party human intermediaries, but suffered significant setbacks due to massive frauds and speculations throughout the past decade of their evolution. This report investigates a variety of case studies that showcase emerging efforts to employ decentralized trust-building technologies (DTTs), especially those central to web3, in the physical realities and the built environment of our social institutions.

This blog post is an intro to a white paper that details a proposal for decentralized fractional property ownership and collective governance in local development. 

On December 1st, the Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) Project hosted its third and last panel Policymaking in Web3 as part of a three-part Perspectives in Web3 Virtual Series. It was joined by legal scholars, lawyers and policy researchers who work at the forefront of this domain, including Primavera De Filippi, Research Director at the National Center of Scientific Research and Faculty Associate at Harvard’s Berkman-Klein Center for Internet & Society; Connor Spelliscy, Executive Director of the DAO Research Collective; Miles Jennings, General Counsel and Head of Decentralization of a16z Crypto; David Kerr, Principal of Cowrie LLC; and Lindsey Kelleher, Senior Policy Manager at Blockchain Association.

On November 17th, the Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) Project hosted its second panel Investing in Web3 as part of a three-part Perspectives in Web3 Virtual Series. It was an especially timely discussion given the series of events which have unfolded over the last few weeks surrounding the collapse of FTX, formerly the second largest centralized crypto exchange platform. Joining the conversation wereNick Ducoff of G20 Ventures,Lauren Stephanianof Pantera Capital, andBrandon Hoffmanof Sunset Ventures. This blog serves as an event recap and outlines some key takeaways from the event.

On October 20th, the Technology and Public Purpose Project's fellows Sarah Hubbard and Helena Rong hosted Mary-Catherine (MC) Lader of Uniswap Labs, Joshua Tan of Metagov, and Scott Fitzsimons of CityDAO to join them in conversation about Building in Web3 as the first panel in a three-part Perspectives in Web3 Virtual Series. This blog serves as an event recap and outlines some key takeaways from the event.

"One way to restore trust [in institutions like local government] is to empower citizens to play a greater role in shaping their cities through more direct participation in local city development and policymaking, as this would allow cities to better reflect the needs of their residents."

Throughout this blog, Technology and Public Purpose Fellow Helena Rong introduces the concept of participatory urban development and planning as an interesting model for democratic processes; highlights how DLTs such as blockchain and its associated concepts of "tokenization" could potentially contribute to building digital tools that elevate fundamental principles of democracy, such as public participation and ownership; and finally, outlines the goals and objectives of her fellowship project that will aim to dive into some of the key questions stated above.

Announcement for the 2022-2023 class of Technology and Public Purpose Fellows.