The Steemit model highlights socially valuable ideas and rewards impactful content. Imagine if that same strategy was used to restore value towards neglected landmarks and monuments in physical communities around the world.
What if you could empower your neighborhood just by taking a walk?
Concept User Interface : Exploring Your Neighborhood
The decentralized platform of Steemit supports new ways for cities and private property owners to engage the public. This could be a groundbreaking new way of allocating city resources for public projects, while being fully integrated with upvotes via the public. It would allow for transparency of resources from the top and empower local voices from the bottom. Steemit could give new meaning to “grass roots” activism.
How would a map of local Steemit projects influence the way you interact with your own neighborhood? Would it challenge you to discover new places, uncover lost histories, support local initiatives through a global network?
Boiling It Down - The Theater Example
Let’s start with something simple. Imagine a historic building. This building once was a theater. Decades ago, this place was where all the greatest actors and musicians would want to stop on tour, perform and share their craft on stage. Decades later, the theater is abandoned and beaten down. Old advertisements half torn away, the marquee hanging crooked and the interior stage splintered through. Today, you might walk by this place and remember the good ‘ol days of bumping concerts and a brightly lit marquee.
But… What if you could harness the power of those memories and histories to literally aid in the restoration of this theater?
Today’s first solution for raising awareness would be rallying the internet community through social media, forums and online petitions. You could gather 1,000 signatures to grab the attention of your local preservation society or a non-profit organization. If you’re lucky, that petition might lead to a town hall meeting with political figures interested in saving it or perhaps installing a historic marker commemorating its past history and cultural value. Alternatively… in the world of Steem and Steemit… this place could potentially be saved faster, with a more comprehensive funding model and less of a traditional single-source / top-down approach.
A New Model for Funding
I’ve seen a growing number of projects on Steemit that involve fundraising for physical interventions; be it a billboard, a school project, or new infrastructure for underprivileged communities. Seeing this kind of action taking place on Steemit is exciting, because for the last decade or so online fundraising for similar projects would have to take place through a third party company like indiegogo or kickstarter. It’s still very early on, but Steemit could effectively end the need for these types of platforms. With the decentralized network in place here, we no longer need a third party to oversee the logistics of funding.
Modernizing Philanthropy
Even philanthropic institutions could play a role here too. Government entities, foundations and NGOs could have “crypto” branches invested in Steem and designed to seek out fundable projects. In the same way we have weekly challenges for photography, poetry, puzzles etc… philanthropic groups could propose a challenge or theme and, in turn, make a tremendous impact on projects by a combination of upvotes, re-steeming, and curating a list of projects nominated to receive funding.
The present-day process of applying and receiving grant money is completely outdated. Many deserving projects are created by folks who lack the access, and resources necessary to get a decent spot at the top of the pile. Decentralized philanthropy could overhaul and democratize resources for those that deserve it the most.
The Inherent Risks - Inaccuracy & Gentrification
With new territory (and new money) come new risks that must be mitigated and planned for. The upvote-bot mentality is a risky one. Bot-votes on Steemit, while an important element for growth, are essentially like digital gentrifiers. For those who don’t know, gentrification is a process most commonly observed in urban planning. In neighborhoods, the process occurs when an influx of wealthy residents begin to replace the more established base of lower-income residents. In the world of Steemit, bots follow a leader and have a tendency to upvote the same family of users on a daily basis. This concentrates the power and amplifies the risk of that power being misdirected at substanceless posts.
Uninformed voters and bots become risky once the divide between digital and physical is bridged. Here’s a quick example of what I mean… imagine a small neighborhood block with 3 historic buildings in need of equal attention. If the so-called “philanthropy bots” only catch wind of one (a theater), the other two become neglected. With the theater being upgraded, the other two look increasingly problematic. An influx of crypto-investment would heighten the pressure on surrounding buildings to be re-developed into something new and capitalizing on the momentum next-door. This is where there’s a risk for gentrification. The old city fabric loses its historical value and the mission of revitalizing a neighborhood block is lost.
The Future : A More Collaborative Built-Environment
The physical and digital worlds are overdue for a new stage of interaction. The pairing of cryptocurrency with social media is a catalyst that has an opportunity to bridge the gap between how we live digitally and physically. While there are risks and uncertainties there are also massive opportunities. We are heading towards an exciting future alongside a more collaborative built-environment.
NOTE :
I originally wrote this post about 9 months ago. Since then, I’ve been working hard behind the scenes to bring some of these early concepts to life. I’m excited to say that we ( 
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