An architecture firm has plans to design a metaverse centering around self-governance. Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) – one of the world’s most prominent architecture firms – has shared plans to develop a utopian digital world, according to a new report by The Sun.
Several illustrations of the futuristic and urban metaverse, designated Liberland, were also shared by ZHA. Curved buildings, a city hall, collaborative working spaces, shops, and business incubators can be found throughout the virtual platform. Perhaps most notably, the architecture firm’s digital community will focus on self-governing ideals based on Liberland.
– a micronation founded in 2015 by Czech politician Vit Jedlicka. “If you start off with a clean environment, and…you don’t throw garbage around, that can be maintained without much policing,” ZHA principal architect Patrik Schumacher told CNN.
Wedged between Serbia and Croatia, the 2.7-mile territory, which is larger than the Vatican and Monaco, is a disputed land and claimed by neither country. Since its founding, no one has moved to Liberland, which lacks any infrastructure, nor has construction started in earnest.
But it does have 7,000 approved residents and 700,000 applications, according to Jedlicka, who told CNN in an email. The micronation also has a national flag, anthem, and currency — the cryptocurrency Liberland merit. At the time of its founding, both Serbia and Croatia dismissed the micronation in statements to CNN, with the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying they considered it “a frivolous act which needs no further comment.”
Liberland has not been recognized by any other nation. But now the micronation is hoping to stake its claim in the virtual world. Metaverses, which are often built using blockchain technology, are an ideal space for libertarianism ideals to thrive, according to ZHA principal architect Patrik Schumacher, because of the political philosophy’s shared goals of decentralization and autonomy.
He has been interested in Liberland since it was founded in 2015 and soon after attended his first conference.
“It’s a very lively scene of contributors…a lot of IT and crypto and tech entrepreneurs who find the world too restrictive,” he described.
