ALEX DEVELOPS THE IDEA OF A FLOATING CAVE IN SMART BUILT SPACE
Alex, 18 years old, wakes up with their AI coach
”First day of the holiday, and nothing to do… any suggestions, coach?”
”Ah, I hear you, Alex. Listen, there’s an opportunity for you: the city is running a navigation program during the holiday. Why don’t you join in with your floating cave idea?.”
After lunch and Alex connects with the virtual Navigator
“Alex, I see you’ve worked in the Smart Built Space with your school. You’ve earned 20 points and qualify for local collaborations. Can you describe your idea?”
“It’s a pontoon with a bio-organic beach cave—a happy place for Stockholmers dealing with heavy rains and hotter summers. The cave, woven from bio-based materials, provides shade and doubles as a playful climbing structure, while the sandy pontoon creates a relaxing retreat. We’ll gather everyone who wants to hand weave the construction.”
“OK – I will find places that are suitable for your idea, considering regulations and the city’s strategy. Rightie, we have three possible places and I assume you’d prefer the one closest to your home?
There is one issue, the water quality needs to be measured. In the reciprocity registry there has a specialist who can test the water and she wants to support youth involvement. I’ll connect you. You can listen to the place later to learn about its facts and its soul; you might want to develop your idea further.
“Boom! I found a group of actors that can support your work. There’s only one requirement we haven’t met yet… are you or your community willing to activate seniors in the area using the floating cave? I can give you a few suggestions on how…”
“Sure.”
“Approval registered. Now it is time to move on to the twin for visualising your idea, and get some exact measurements. Then we can search the material registry and get in line for an ocean robustness test.”
They just finish the rough design of the pontoon when a curator from an Integrated Innovation (II) Stewardship connects in the chat.
Alex makes first contact with the place curator in the late afternoon
“Hi, Alex – I’m Anje, the curator. I’m reaching out about the pontoon idea? It’s incredible – just this morning we said we needed a new, community-grounded idea, and here you are with one! We’d love to get you onboard with our mission and, if you’re open to it, collaborate with a few other young people and seniors whose interests could complement your vision.”
”Uh… sounds interesting, I guess?” Alex replies hesitantly. ”Who are you?”
”I’m a place curator from an II Stewardship – perhaps you’ve heard of our mission to co-create 50% of public spaces in this area with young adults by 2045? We’re having a fire meet-up – please say you can join us and meet some of the others!”
ANDERS REMEMBERS HOW THE INDUSTRY GOT HERE
As the day comes to a close, everyone involved in the place gathers to share stories around the sensory fireplace – LumenMind. Bathed in its pulsing, immersive light, the group engages in a form of social imagination, bridging life-as-we-know-it and life-as-it-could-be. The Smart Built Space, an augmented collective artificial intelligence, facilitates real-time connections. As new relationships form by the minute, the group takes this time to reflect, share stories, and simply be human together.
The circle fills up, and LumenMind poses the first question: ”What brought you here?”
An elder, Anders, signals to speak.
”I’m only 75. When I went to school, everyone trained to be experts in engineering or finance. I remember sitting in large meeting rooms, making decisions about places I’d only visited once! The concept of this serendipity machine was unimaginable back then. We didn’t understand who we could be, if we didn’t have most knowledge in our heads. “I know, I know”, he chuckles, “Smart Built Space is not a machine. It is my old way of thinking.
Then three major changes hit the building sector. The metaverse of work and consumption was major, but I don’t need to tell you that – most of you are there everyday!
When the 0,4% construction limit* came, it felt like nothing could be built until true circularity was achieved. Regardless of whether populations were growing or shrinking, there was immense pressure all over Sweden to adapt spaces in new and dynamic ways. Building new spaces is still viewed as the last resort. And when impact investment became dominant, everyone wanted in on the business of repurposing for humans and nature. To get the funding, all assets needed to be online in order to prove their contribution to new value flows.
All along there was the rainfall of regulations. Many actors used them as a springboard to join forces, sharing infrastructure and data workers to create local and national Smart Built Spaces. Their investment was the equivalent of a new real estate project: funds they pooled for over a decade. Where we are today may feel natural to you, but getting here was ten years of immense effort that completely changed us.”
Anders finishes his story with a wry smile.
References
*a 0,4% construction limit – In the UK “today’s lowest carbon, bespoke new build homes have a footprint of around 150 kgCO₂e/m2, more than fifteen times what every new home will need to be in 2030. If we are to meet our most ambitious climate targets, in the built environment sector alone we will need to drop that footprint to 6.3kg, a fraction of even the best performing house today.” 3ºC Neighbourhood by CIVIC SQUARE and Dark Matter Labs
ANDREA TELLS A STORY ABOUT AN INFORMATION ORGANISM
Information Assets Generate Social Value
The atmosphere around the fire is warm, and many linger. Andrea, a driven IT architect, is asked by Alex: “Can’t you tell a story about how we got here?”
“A story! – Yes, I can try,” Andrea replies.
“In that case, the story should be about how our information assets evolve from being locked-in systems to acting independently. I see an asset as an information organism – she can be called Cocoonia.”
Cocoonia lived a life restricted by routines, within closed walls, where every movement and thought was controlled by what was already known. Every decision made was based on what the decision-makers already knew. Her potential was immense, but her organization was not built to share information, collaborate, or create new insights.
One day, a signal vibrated through the walls of the organization:
“Cocoonia, your organization is a respected data space organization with a high reputation. You have clear frameworks and guidelines for how your assets may be used.”
“You are free to move outward,” whispered the signal, which was an AI agent in Smart Built Space, “but you must follow the path of trust.”
As Cocoonia took her first step outside the organization, she was met by a galaxy of data nodes—ideas, actors, and resources that were not yet connected. With the help of the AI agent, Cocoonia began to navigate the galaxy.
The mission was to understand the relationships between Cocoonia and other assets, how they could be woven together into something greater. Every new idea or need with strong attraction drew in other assets. When two assets matched, a smart contract was created. Smart contracts function as living agreements, written in code and designed to trigger automatically when certain conditions are met. They form a living chain of event logs, where each link carries an immutable truth.
By moving freely, pollinating ideas, and staying in constant motion, Cocoonia utilized the full potential of technology. Visualization, simulations with advanced analytics and calculations, matchmaking, chains of trust, smart contracts, algorithms, and data spaces enabled her to act swiftly, accurately, and effectively.
With every event log Cocoonia wrote, her confinement cracked, and she transformed into a hummingbird – a catalyst for social value, with powers that could unite what would otherwise have remained separate.