I am very interested in bitcoin because of the underlying technology behind it – namely the blockchain. And that’s because it has the potential to be applied to and to disrupt many different industries and sectors, including real estate.
That’s why I was fascinated to learn over the weekend that Honduras, with the help of a Texas-based company called Epigraph, is in the midst of building a permanent land title registry system based on the blockchain architecture.
This is particularly important for Honduras because the country currently suffers from a significant amount of land fraud. And according to Reuters, 60% of land is actually undocumented. So the impact of a secure blockchain-based registry system could be transformational.
Obviously the impetus for Honduras doing this is to fix the broken system that they currently have in place. But there’s no reason that it couldn’t also be done in the developed world to reduce transaction costs and improve overall transparency in the marketplace.
Hopefully Honduras will show us how it is done.
If you’re curious and would like to learn more about the blockchain, here’s a short primer. Once you’ve read that, you can then check out this post I wrote talking about how the blockchain could be applied to real estate.
I was having drinks with an old friend a couple of weeks ago and I told her about my blog. She immediately asked me what it was called. At the time, it was just called “Cities.” And truthfully, I hadn’t given the title much thought. I just knew that I wanted to take a multi-disciplinary approach to examining cities.
After that night I started thinking more about the idea of a proper title for my blog and I came to the conclusion that I did need something more creative. I should have a stronger brand and identity. So I experimented with a few names and, as you’ve probably noticed, I settled on “Architect This City.”
Now that I’ve been using the name for a few weeks, I thought I would share my thinking behind it.
I wanted the name to convey 3 things. (1) I wanted it to be clear that this blog was about cities. (2) I wanted it to be something personal to me. (3) And I wanted to somehow demonstrate that this blog isn’t a siloed look at any one particular discipline, such as architecture, planning or real estate. It’s more than that.
Given my background in architecture and the fact that “city” is in the name, I think that objectives 1 and 2 made it through. But what I hope is also clear from the name is that the term “architect” is supposed to refer to something much broader than just building design. It’s about the underlying systems, processes and structures of our cities—which could tie into the real estate market, our governance structures or some new technological innovation. Cities are complex and there are many “architects.”
Finally, I wanted the name to be a directive—a call to action. I wanted it to be a reminder that cities don’t just build themselves. They require careful thought, planning and deliberation. And that’s fundamentally what this blog is all about: city building.
What do you think about the new name? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below.