Politicoid

Politicoid

An organization dedicated to infusing logical reasoning and science into political discussions

The Socioeconomics of Mall-Towns Integrating theories on cryptocurrency with the town in a mall concept to bring us closer to a more sustainable future. 

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I’ve been thinking about this town in a mall concept for quite a long time. It’s been years since I first wrote my original article on the idea. At the time, I didn’t know much about blockchain or cryptoassets, but then again, neither did anyone else. In fact, back in 2012, when I first wrote my initial article on a city in a building concept, the grandfather of all cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, was only 3 years old. Now I have a body of writing on cryptocurrency and blockchain, and how it will impact our future. So I’d like to integrate all of these ideas together into one theoretical project.

Blockchain Use as Citizenship

Those who use various blockchains and cryptoassets are tied together economically and socially. This is true, even with the very limited functionality of current blockchain architectures. As blockchain applications expand, and we begin to really use the technology to manage contractual agreements between individuals and groups, whether it’s through Agora Coin, or some other platform, a blockchain system will end up feeling more and more like a community.

In the future, I predict that pretty much all social programs will be managed by blockchain systems. Universal basic income, if it is implemented in the world, will be implemented through blockchain. The same goes with universal health coverage, social security, and other programs.

But like with current blockchain systems, there are bound to be disagreements, and those disagreements will result in forks or alternative systems, just as we saw Bitcoin give birth to Litecoin, BTC, and others. In a future world managed by blockchain, instead of changing citizenship, a person might simply change which platform they use.

Users might need to keep using the old chain for certain things, like paying certain bills that are attached to the old system, but even then it’s likely that there will be a lot of interchain compatibility. It would be very similar to obtaining new citizenship and maintaining dual citizenship, only much more voluntary. If a person doesn’t like the kind of social programs being managed by one chain, they just stop supporting it. If they don’t like the tax rate (inflation rate), then they would choose not to use the cryptoasset associated with the chain.

And if none of the blockchain systems fit what a person needs, or if they think there’s a better way of doing things, they can create a new system or fork an existing one. Some have even likened the forking of bitcoin and other blockchain systems to civil wars. And in many ways, there’s a lot of overlap, only again, its all voluntary!

One question I have about this future is whether people will identify based on what blockchain system they use. Will people start to say “I’m a Bitcoiner” in the same way that they say “I’m an American?” It’s possible. Already crypto investors seem to identify, to an extent, with which blockchain system they prefer.

Economics

If this technology is integrated into a town in a mall concept, then the answer to my previous question is likely to be “yes,” especially if each town has its own blockchain to manage local operations. This idea brings us to the next issue. How do people start interacting with the local economy?

Trading posts are necessary components of the economics of a Blockchain supported “town in a mall” concept.

Trading posts were iconic in early American history. Dungeons and Dragons players are also probably familiar with the concept. They were part of the American frontier. But modern Americans probably haven’t had much experience with them. The closest analog in modern society would be a consignment or pawn shop.

If a town in a mall utilizes a blockchain and cryptocurrency pair that’s either not that common outside of the mall, or unique to the mall itself, then there must be a way for an individual who wants to shop in the mall to get spendable currency. Therefore every mall should have a trading post, which would function as a currency exchange, a consignment shop, and a pawn shop, all in one. A person could then walk in with either USD or something else of value, and exchange it for either something else of value that the shop happens to have, or exchange it for locally used cryptocurrency.

This trading post operation would also be a great place to create an identity (citizenship) and obtain any necessary hardware. In my discussion on universal basic income and beyond, I talked about the idea of having a tablet system which would integrate with the blockchain and cryptoasset ecosystem in order to allow access to a whole host of features. The trading post is a perfect place to pick up such a device, or register an existing device with the ecosystem.

Beyond Mall-Towns

The integration of blockchain citizenship with the concept of the town in a mall idea essentially turns malls into micronations. Every person who lives in the mall-town will basically be a citizen of the mall-town. These ideas however can be expanded to larger scales. The mall-town idea is great, but I would really eventually love to see entire cities run this way. The mall idea is simply a prototype for self sufficient smart cities, surrounded by agricultural districts, and connected to one another through high speed transportation.

Town in a Mall

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I’m a big futurist. I think about what I can do to move technology, housing, sustainable living, etc forward. One of the ideas I’ve spent a considerable time looking into is the “city build” concept. This is partially because I think humans are far too spread out. Indeed, I’ve written on suburban sprawl, its impacts, and its causes before. To find out more on that, check out the article on infrastructure spending. While I have worked on discussing a small scale prototype for a city building, it’s still a huge project, and a proof of concept may be useful. A simple option for this is to take existing infrastructure, which is going to waste, and revitalize it. Another is to start an entirely new, large scale project. The latter would be far more expensive, but could be designed for complete self sustainability.

Revitalizing Malls

Malls are a dying breed. According to retail consultant Jan Kniffen, 1 in 3 malls in America are going to fail. There are roughly 1,100 enclosed shopping centers that are characterized as malls. That means over 300 malls are doomed. But they don’t have to be. They just need to change their business model. At the core of the mall’s business model is the anchor store. These are generally relatively large chain stores like Target, Macy’s, etc. However, more and more people are shopping online for general items. This weakens the anchor stores.

Buy Local

However, buying local and supporting small businesses is becoming an increasingly popular option. This again places malls on the sideline. Yes; many of the businesses in a mall are technically local businesses, but are they viewed as local? To many people, local means “where you live.” Well, who lives in a mall? No one. And maybe that’s the problem.

Residential

There’s no reason why a mall couldn’t attach an apartment building. The size of the apartment building would vary by mall size, but some empty malls are downright huge. It may seem like an odd idea, but it really isn’t. Attach a residential section to a mall and you basically have a miniature self enclosed town, especially if you include service businesses, schools, etc. In this way, many of the people who shop at the mall will feel that they are buying local. In fact, it would be likely that many people who live in this self enclosed town would also work there, so buying things from the mall would be supporting friends and family.

Conference Centers and Hotels

Additional activity can come from a variety of areas, such as conference centers and hotels. Instead of just being a place to shop for a couple of hours, malls could become destinations, bringing up people from all over the region.

Roof Top Usage

One of the biggest wastes of malls is that the flat roofs are not being utilized. They could house solar panels, but they could also house rooftop gardens, which can be used either as a common area to relax, or even to grow food. The average square footage of a mall is estimated to reach 1 million sq ft by 2017. That doesn’t give us a good idea of the rooftop space available, but assuming an average of 3 floors, that would yield over 300,000 sq. ft. of rooftop space. If only 50% could be used, that’s still 150,000 sq. ft. or 3.4 acres of usable space, per mall, just sitting being wasted.