The city as a (p2p) grid: appeal for research assistance

This is a project started by Florent Thiery on our p2pfoundation wiki.

Here is just the introduction:

This transversal article is a mere attempt to isolate items of the emerging shapes of a globally, distributed p2p-oriented city model.

It is intended as a placeholder for resources linked to a hypothetical City-as-a-grid model, where resource creation and distribution are done in such a way that the city is stable on local/proximity scale, yet scalable in a global, virtual scale.

Based on such a model, there seems to be a need for separating the local-scale variables from the global ones, the global one using the Internet or similar network to have reality. While reducing transportation costs and enforcing local manufacturing, it also is easier to maintain autonomy on local scale.

Being citizen in such a city would mean having two lifes: the local one, and the global one. The local being represented by the workforce needed for local autonomy, and the global for telework-powered immaterial, high level activities.

This model shares similarities to the Global Villages and Multi-local Societies, yet aims to have a more applied insight: trying to draw a draft.

Notions such as a part-time chore concept (citizen local participation), peer to peer learning, alternative currency models or the implications of 3D replication/printing technologies or of immersive telepresence (enabling telework) will be studied keys.

A wider goal for this project is to study the dynamics of the needed resources in conjunction with population evolution, of the local cost of the infrastructure per inhabitant, and to try estimating the progressive adoption potential.

Ultimately, the use of virtual worlds based technologies or role plays as simulation basis might help compare the discerned approaches and notions impacts.”

Florent adds the following query and appeal:

“I was wondering if anyone knowing other resources that would let scalable/distributed “city” models exist (like distributed power generation) could participate to the inter-linking in the wiki.

While i am deeply convinced that alternative models and uses will progressively rise up, under economical constraints or not, i have begun looking at them and listing them as building blocks.

Also, does anyone know of virtual/software tools that can be used to simulate scenarios (some open source SimCity) ?”

1 Comment The city as a (p2p) grid: appeal for research assistance

  1. AvatarDante

    in case anyone would be interested in programming such features described in this post in a SimCity like simulation game, it seems that the original simcity game is now open source under gpl , and has been renamed Micropolis.:

    sources for the software :

    http://www.donhopkins.com/home/micropolis/

    related article :

    http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2008/01/simcity-goes-open-source-as-micropolis.ars

    “Will Wright’s original SimCity has now gone open-source under the GNU General Public License. Though the name and some code have been changed due to EA’s requirements, the core of the title remains intact and is now open for the public.”

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