brendanmc6
commented
7 years ago Disclosure: I have a relationship with the author of this district proposal through academia and other collaborations related to sustainability and governance.
From what I've seen of District0x proposals so far, this is by far the most impactful and the one with the greatest potential for success. People have long been talking about the possible match between the challenges of sustainability and blockchain based solutions. Some have moved beyond proof-of-concept and into real world application-- see the work that provenance.org is doing for sustainable fishing and ethical supply chains.
While there is still room for specificity in this proposal, I think the possibilities are quite numerous and promising. Cities are looking for ways to both become more intelligent, and more sustainable. There are always more opportunities for capturing underutilized or wasted resource flows-- whether material, liquid, gaseous, thermal, or even space and labor. District0x's structure and governance seems quite fitting for such urban applications.
I look forward to following this proposal, and others as they come to fruition! Good luck!
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slack name: a.bonneau Name: Circular Economy Platform: Data Infrastructure for Increased Resource Flow Efficiency Purpose: This Circular Economy (CE) district is designed to fill a void in circular economy development by providing a digital infrastructure by which resources can be traded more efficiently. In order to frame the purpose of this district and the utility of District0x in meeting these demands, a brief background on the circular economy concept will be provided.
The linear way of producing and consuming goods is under pressure. As the population approaches nine billion people by 2050, and, as cities continue to urbanize and become increasingly important centers of innovation and economic output, their demand for resources will increase. This demand, combined with a finite supply of resources, will likely lead to increased scarcity and damaging price fluctuations. As such, more and more companies are opting for the transition to a circular economy, which offers opportunities for innovation and the export of new business models and production techniques. The core tenet of the Circular Economy concept is the preservation and enhancement of natural capital via optimized resource yields and increasing economic system effectiveness through efficiency improvements. This last point, regarding the economic efficiency of a system, is where District0x provides tremendous utility.
Currently there are numerous resource streams which go unused in our urban environments (e.g., material wastes in the construction sector, food and other biological wastes, etc) due to incomplete market information on production and process outputs. By providing a digital layer to the economy which provides information on the availability of these resources, opportunities arise for the reprocessing and re-purposing of these underutilized resource streams.
Description: Two core modules are necessary to utilize District0x as an infrastructure for a circular economy initiative:
The CE district provides a portal through which stakeholders can post the availability of resources along with information on pricing and other characteristics. Opportunities for business creation can be realized by tagging available resources by location (value creation in areas by locating available resources). Searches aided by filtering should be designed to produce results for such queries as, “find 2 waste plastic suppliers and plant-based biowaste within a 10km radius of X.” Additionally, this module would include functionality to rate and rank users of the system based on the quality and accuracy of the received goods.
Material Marketplace: Platform by which entities can trade resources. Stakeholders must be able to search for specific resources and their availability as well as connect with traders to exchange these resources. Here, registered users can access the database of available resources and place an interest via token deposit held in escrow for the seller. This will initiate a communication opportunity whereby buyer and seller work out the details of the transaction - including the transfer of the resource. Confirmation by both the buyer and the seller of a successful transfer will result in the token being taken out of escrow and distributed to the parties involved. While exact functionality is of yet to be determined, it will be reliant on District0x’s capabilities as a platform for sending invoices and collecting payments.
Expandability and adaptation through a governance procedure whereby new modules can be implemented. The utility of Aragon in this regard would be to manage a voting system for users of the district, including the submission, voting, and timeline procedures for district initiatives.
A number of auxiliary modules could address other opportunities that arise when economic intelligence is increased regarding resource flows:
Resource statistics - computes the usage of resources registered in the system and their associated flows. This information has the potential to aid policymakers when developing strategies to reduce waste and increase the sustainability of their regional economies.
Environmental Performance - automation of environmental indicators such as carbon footprinting can be built into resource transactions such that sellers can certify savings and carbon offsets due to the recycling of wastes.
Flagging mechanism for takedown removing spam and non relevant content.
Currency exchange automation, whereby transactions can be done in ETH and exchanged with the local currency of the physical district. In this case there is potential for partnering with altcoin exchanges.
Ultimately, a CE district powered by District0x provides an avenue by which core tenets of circular economy can be realized. The nature of District0x, as an Ethereum application tied to the blockchain, provides a robust and transparent platform for the trading of resources. Should hierarchical functionality be integrated, it is possible that physical regions (e.g., Amsterdam metropolitan area) are nested within larger districts (e.g., the EU). This would allow the overall system to capture a greater percentage of the economic market and increase the network effects of its impact. For the purposes of this district proposal, an initial district would make the most sense in a region where fundamental support already exists. Therefore, a district for material waste flows in Amsterdam provides the best test case for this technologies utility.
Regarding the question of how funds will be raised to maintain this system and pay for new development, there are two main avenues that I can currently envision: 1) Purchasing of a network token to join the district (The incentive being that joining a network will provide valuable market intelligence). Such tokens could be purchased by individual stakeholders (i.e., businesses, individuals, etc) or purchased by city governments for distribution to test of the efficacy of this system. I encourage readers to check the resources below, particularly the paper on current circular economy initiatives in Amsterdam to really appreciate the momentum behind initiatives like this. There are currently multiple calls for proposals in the EU for digital platforms with functionality that District0x can provide. 2) Trading fees or fees to access modules which provide additional functionality (such as environmental performance calculators or modules which provide data on resource flows in a friendlier format than can be gauged from the blockchain alone).
Potential Issues: The strength of this district, as with any, is the networking effect of the users in creating value. In this case, it is heavily dependent on stakeholders utilizing the system and sharing their information regarding resource availability. However, there is considerable political inertia behind the circular economy concept. Cities such as Amsterdam are already implementing policies which seek to create a digital economic intelligence layer to increase the resource efficiency of their regional economies.
Maintaining system use after initial contact. Should two entities set up a valuable partnership in trading resources, would they still be active in the CE district? It’s a possibility that there could be a dropout of stakeholders after setting up an initial business relationship unless new and attractive offers continually emerge. Dynamism in regards to the material registration and marketplace activities is thus critical.
The relationship between a digital district and the physical world is one that may at first seem abstract and daunting to potential stakeholders. An inviting user interface is important, as is security and streamlining the system for payments. Blockchain technology in general still lies within murky waters for most of society; that being said, a well developed CE district would undoubtedly be an asset in showcasing the value of such systems.
Resources: Circular Economy Overview: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy/overview/principles Amsterdam Initiative: http://www.circle-economy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Circular-Amsterdam-EN-small-210316.pdf District0x White Paper: https://district0x.io/docs/district0x-whitepaper.pdf