21: When Will We Live in a Network City? What Could That Look Like? // Joni Baboci

When will we live in a Network City? What could that look like? The definition of the word city is evolving. Listen in and join the CityDAO discord for more. Our guest for today is Joni Baboci, a planner, architect, and all-around urban enthusiast currently working on getting getlayer.xyz off the ground. Layer is an urban orchestration platform that enables you to plan, design, and manage better urban environments. Their vision is to be the software infrastructure that will run the cities of tomorrow.

Joni spent the last decade working in the public sector, serving as the General Director for Planning and Urban Development for the City of Tirana in Albania. His previous experiences include stints in the private sector and leading a groundbreaking planning and architecture start-up for the Albanian Government nicknamed Atelier Albania. He has consulted for various multilateral and cultural institutions including the World Bank and the Triennale of Milano.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

• 3:13 Joni thinks that we are already living in a network city.
• 5:46 Being a digital nomad is fine but Joni believes that at some point, you would want to have a place to call your home.
• 10:00 In Joni’s own perspective, when it comes to education, a more structured system of education can do more harm than good.
• 14:21 CityDAO has just dropped the official NFTs for Parcel Zero and there are currently a lot of discussions about Parcel One.
• 16:34 Joni discusses the idea of finding an existing community and putting it on-chain, which he believes is a very smart idea.
• 18:13 The issue of CityDAO embassies sits very well with Joni.
• 19:21 Joni shares another great idea from Christopher Alexander, which is all about the network approach to governments.
• 21:43 When it comes to the future of cities, Joni provides his own very interesting thoughts and ideas.
• 22:30 Eric offers some interesting analogies on the future of network cities.
• 25:53 For 10 years, Joni has worked for a local government. He believes that there’s something special with local governments because it allows him to have a major impact on everyone’s daily life.
• 28:11 There is a short article that Joni wrote called Reimagining Community Infrastructure at thinkthinkthink.substack.com. He elaborates more on his article.
• 34:20 Joni gives his own insight on the issue of electing people with certain powers versus keeping things more decentralized.
• 38:49 For people who want to know more about DAOs and network cities, Joni suggests working for a local government.
• 42:27 Joni continues to share his view on voting and delegating within a blockchain DAO space.
• 46:11 Some of us are actually living in a network city. Joni reiterates and emphasizes his view once more that he is now living in a network city.

Key Points from the Interview:

1. “And then what’s next is something that doesn’t look like the city of today. And I think that all of us subconsciously are in a way, thinking of and trying to work towards. We don’t know which, so the future is a bit like a cone, we’re narrowing the angle, we know the direction we have to walk and think towards, but we still don’t know where we’re going.”
2. “If we believe that we’re living, we should say it. I believe that I’m actually living in a network city, I’ll say this to you.”

Resources Mentioned: