Oxymoron City (2023)
Taejae Research Foundation: Robust Compact City and Technology
3rd Prize (30K USD in total)
Team: Saem Hong
Role: Team Leader
Oxymoron City: Robust Compact City and Technology
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[A] Robust Compact City and Technology
[B] Oxymoron City
Oxymoron City is a place where seemingly contradictory elements converge to generate new forms of value. It marks a break from binary oppositions, instead opening up new directions for urban development. What, then, does it mean to imagine a city that is both robust and compact? An Oxymoron City does not pursue easy or clear-cut conclusions; rather, it embraces complexity and is continuously shaped through its multiplicity. In this context, technology becomes a means of realizing ways of life that break free from fixed preconceptions.
[C] Beyond Smart City (Level 3: Applied)
The origins of the smart city can be traced to Constant Nieuwenhuys’s utopian project New Babylon. He envisioned a radical future in which all land would be collectively owned by citizens, labor would be fully automated, and the city would be interconnected through computational infrastructures. New Babylon embodied the vision of liberating people from burdensome labor through technology, enabling them to live creatively and autonomously. Later, in 1974, the Community Analysis Bureau (CAB) conducted urban restructuring experiments by employing computerized data collection and storage, statistical analysis techniques, and aerial photography. These initiatives laid the groundwork for what would become the smart city, founded upon computer simulations and sensing technologies.
However, in contemporary cases such as Masdar City or Songdo Smart City (Level 3: Applied), the emphasis has shifted toward generating profit from vast amounts of data or obsessively applying new technologies, often at the expense of deeper reflection on urban life and vision. Computational systems—such as CCTV surveillance, traffic signal control, and public transport arrival-time prediction—have already become embedded in the city through applications in security, safety, and mobility. Yet adopting technology without a critical perspective does not guarantee the creation of a robust compact city; rather, it risks reinforcing existing ways of life.
Even so, technology holds the potential to enhance urban sustainability, fairness, and resilience. What, then, is lacking in the current smart city? Can the relationship between technology and the robust compact city be reconfigured to connect people, protect citizens, and improve quality of life? The development of smart cities inevitably entails extensive data collection, but in advanced smart cities, does the role of human beings risk being reduced to the mere exploitation of their data? For a robust compact city to progress to Level 4: Accepted, it must move beyond the pursuit of novel technologies alone, embracing older city functions: recognizing the talents of its members, fostering relationships, and instilling a sense of ownership.
However, in contemporary cases such as Masdar City or Songdo Smart City (Level 3: Applied), the emphasis has shifted toward generating profit from vast amounts of data or obsessively applying new technologies, often at the expense of deeper reflection on urban life and vision. Computational systems—such as CCTV surveillance, traffic signal control, and public transport arrival-time prediction—have already become embedded in the city through applications in security, safety, and mobility. Yet adopting technology without a critical perspective does not guarantee the creation of a robust compact city; rather, it risks reinforcing existing ways of life.
Even so, technology holds the potential to enhance urban sustainability, fairness, and resilience. What, then, is lacking in the current smart city? Can the relationship between technology and the robust compact city be reconfigured to connect people, protect citizens, and improve quality of life? The development of smart cities inevitably entails extensive data collection, but in advanced smart cities, does the role of human beings risk being reduced to the mere exploitation of their data? For a robust compact city to progress to Level 4: Accepted, it must move beyond the pursuit of novel technologies alone, embracing older city functions: recognizing the talents of its members, fostering relationships, and instilling a sense of ownership.
[D-1] Oxymoron City Alliance: City Network
During the period of quantitative urban growth, the twentieth-century urban planning system followed a functional hierarchy structured through tree-like networks. Similarly, the Fourth Comprehensive National Territorial Plan adopted a network-based regional–urban system which, by emphasizing linkages between metropolitan areas, large cities, medium–small cities, and rural hinterlands, also reveals certain limitations. In the present context—where provincial cities face the threat of extinction—new planning proposals such as compact cities or modified garden cities have emerged. Yet these often either (1) encourage only isolated pastoral lifestyles, or (2) fail to overcome the weak connectivity between medium–small cities, given their substantial physical distances. The urban planning system of the twenty-first century must instead generate regional diversity through bottom-up strategies that emphasize sustainability and the redistribution of metropolitan functions.
The Oxymoron City network can be envisioned through the superimposition of digital networks and rhizomatic urban networks. In contrast to the hierarchical and vertical tree structure, the rhizome represents a non-hierarchical, horizontal network without a singular, unified order. A rhizomatic network can foster new relationships in response to the uncertainty and unpredictability of contemporary, rapidly changing society. However, in physical urban space, the rhizomatic network has yet to be fully realized in its true sense. As a first step, the insertion of micro-urban nodes—small-scale cities of fifty thousand residents—between existing medium–small cities structured in a tree-like hierarchy could shorten inter-network distances. Furthermore, if these Oxymoron City nodes were connected through a hyperloop system, the foundation for a genuinely decentralized urban network could be established.
The Oxymoron City network can be envisioned through the superimposition of digital networks and rhizomatic urban networks. In contrast to the hierarchical and vertical tree structure, the rhizome represents a non-hierarchical, horizontal network without a singular, unified order. A rhizomatic network can foster new relationships in response to the uncertainty and unpredictability of contemporary, rapidly changing society. However, in physical urban space, the rhizomatic network has yet to be fully realized in its true sense. As a first step, the insertion of micro-urban nodes—small-scale cities of fifty thousand residents—between existing medium–small cities structured in a tree-like hierarchy could shorten inter-network distances. Furthermore, if these Oxymoron City nodes were connected through a hyperloop system, the foundation for a genuinely decentralized urban network could be established.
The rhizomatic network can be compared to an artificial neural network, in which the strength of connections between nodes fluctuates in real time. Within such a framework, Urban Air Mobility (UAM, Level 2: Operational) and drones (Level 3: Applied) provide flexible modes of inter-city linkage—particularly in logistics, healthcare, and emergency response—without the need for large-scale infrastructure investment. Nam Kichan and Kim Hongseok’s study, Does Urban Function Depend on Scale? Focusing on the Applicability of Network City Theory, an empirical analysis of inter-city connectivity (Level 2: Operational) based on work-trip data from the 2005 OD dataset provided by the Korea Transport Institute. The development of quantitative analytical systems—measuring variables such as energy consumption, freight volumes, and demographic change—will strengthen the legibility of cities and inform planning decisions.
The network of Oxymoron City, conceived as an organic system, thus operates through iterative feedback loops that integrate both qualitative and quantitative dimensions. This perspective opens the door to a new form of urban planning, one that prioritizes adaptive, decentralized connectivity over fixed, hierarchical structures.
The network of Oxymoron City, conceived as an organic system, thus operates through iterative feedback loops that integrate both qualitative and quantitative dimensions. This perspective opens the door to a new form of urban planning, one that prioritizes adaptive, decentralized connectivity over fixed, hierarchical structures.
According to OMA’s Countryside: The Future, the seemingly static countryside has, in fact, proven more agile and flexible than the metropolis in accommodating new domains. Today, rural areas are actively experimenting with diverse initiatives, including data centers, fulfillment logistics hubs, genetic engineering, smart farms, robotic automation, institutional economic innovations, migrant labor, and even private land purchases for ecological preservation. In this sense, the Oxymoron City enables the introduction of industries that are difficult to implement in metropolitan contexts, often supported by central government initiatives.
The regulatory sandbox is a system that temporarily suspends certain regulations under specific conditions, thereby enabling the testing and commercialization of innovative technologies and services. In urban contexts, it provides a framework for verifying the applicability of emerging industries by exempting them—wholly or partially—from existing regulatory regimes. The data collected throughout this process then forms the basis for rational improvements in regulation.
In such a system, nodes form loose, provisional linkages with surrounding medium–sized cities based on their specialized industries. Yet, because entirely new sectors are being introduced, even experts cannot predict with certainty which industries will ultimately be most closely interconnected.
The regulatory sandbox is a system that temporarily suspends certain regulations under specific conditions, thereby enabling the testing and commercialization of innovative technologies and services. In urban contexts, it provides a framework for verifying the applicability of emerging industries by exempting them—wholly or partially—from existing regulatory regimes. The data collected throughout this process then forms the basis for rational improvements in regulation.
In such a system, nodes form loose, provisional linkages with surrounding medium–sized cities based on their specialized industries. Yet, because entirely new sectors are being introduced, even experts cannot predict with certainty which industries will ultimately be most closely interconnected.
Through the concepts of facility integration and the compact city, the Oxymoron City can realize a 10-minute living zone, where commuting, education, shopping, healthcare, and leisure activities are all accessible by walking or cycling. Yet, a closed, pastoral lifestyle alone lacks competitiveness when compared with the diverse industries, educational opportunities, and cultural resources of the metropolis. The hyperloop, however, allows all Oxymoron City networks to be connected within 15 minutes.
The hyperloop (Level 2: Operational) is a futuristic, eco-friendly mode of transport that propels pods through vacuum tubes at speeds exceeding 1,200 km/h. On the Korean Peninsula, it could traverse east to west in under 15 minutes, effectively dissolving physical distances within provincial regions. Moreover, the hyperloop emits only about 30% of the carbon dioxide produced by high-speed rail, and its construction costs are approximately 50% of expressways. By installing solar panels along the hyperloop tubes, the energy consumption required for travel can be further reduced.
Each node within the network may be specialized around hub industries, niche education, or autonomous tourism. If these nodes form an alliance, they could collectively attain competitiveness comparable to that of major metropolitan areas. New industries would be integrated with urban research, education, and everyday life. For instance, one day a student might attend a specialized course in a smart farm city, dine on meals prepared from ingredients harvested there, and the next day participate in a robotics fabrication course in another city. Such experiential, practice-based education demonstrates how city, industry, and academia—when allied—can introduce and interconnect new industries, thereby generating employment opportunities and fostering novel urban lifestyles for citizens.
The hyperloop (Level 2: Operational) is a futuristic, eco-friendly mode of transport that propels pods through vacuum tubes at speeds exceeding 1,200 km/h. On the Korean Peninsula, it could traverse east to west in under 15 minutes, effectively dissolving physical distances within provincial regions. Moreover, the hyperloop emits only about 30% of the carbon dioxide produced by high-speed rail, and its construction costs are approximately 50% of expressways. By installing solar panels along the hyperloop tubes, the energy consumption required for travel can be further reduced.
Each node within the network may be specialized around hub industries, niche education, or autonomous tourism. If these nodes form an alliance, they could collectively attain competitiveness comparable to that of major metropolitan areas. New industries would be integrated with urban research, education, and everyday life. For instance, one day a student might attend a specialized course in a smart farm city, dine on meals prepared from ingredients harvested there, and the next day participate in a robotics fabrication course in another city. Such experiential, practice-based education demonstrates how city, industry, and academia—when allied—can introduce and interconnect new industries, thereby generating employment opportunities and fostering novel urban lifestyles for citizens.
[D-2] Oxymoron City Alliance: Peninsula-Scale
Process of Constructing the Oxymoron City Alliance
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Establish decentralization through concentric hyperloop connections that counter the metropolitan-centered tree-structured network.
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The new network is superimposed upon the existing metropolitan-centered railway and road systems.
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Each Oxymoron City network bypasses major metropolitan areas while maintaining the potential for connectivity with adjacent medium- and small-sized cities.
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The Oxymoron City network responds to the crisis of population decline by balancing and linking cities of various sizes (populations of 50,000, 100,000, 200,000, etc.).
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Oxymoron City nodes are gradually introduced between medium- and small-sized cities, based on feedback related to their cultural and industrial needs.
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At least one Oxymoron City node is deployed within each administrative district.
- A total of N Oxymoron City networks form a variable artificial neural network or rhizomatic network through UAM and autonomous vehicles.
Analysis of the Transportation Network
Most of South Korea’s railway, bus, and automobile networks are organized as radial systems centered on the metropolitan area and major cities. According to studies of net population migration by age (2021) (under 40: blue / over 40: red) and changes in population density over the past 20 years, long-term demographic trends indicate continued movement toward the metropolitan region and large cities. Moreover, OD (Origin–Destination) analyses of inter-provincial cities (excluding the capital region) reveal that horizontal, east–west movement across the peninsula is particularly pronounced. However, as research on accessibility to expressway interchanges and on average travel time demonstrates, the infrastructure supporting horizontal mobility remains insufficient relative to actual demand, thereby exacerbating regional disparities between large cities and medium–small cities.
[D-3] Oxymoron City Alliance - Human Network
This oxymoronic concept can be realized through a culture of sharing and DIY (Do-It-Yourself) practices. In other words, the Oxymoron City aspires to create a decentralized urban form in which individuals pursue voluntary, self-determined lives while simultaneously participating in a non-coercive, sharing-based community culture. Since the 2010s, alternative modes of living such as share houses and cohousing have emerged, embodying forms of loose community.
The governance of the Oxymoron City could be structured through blockchain-based DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations), which establish collectively agreed-upon rules among members and encourage residents to share knowledge and resources on common platforms. Individuals would be able to choose among various hyperlocal sharing platforms and contribute to those they prefer; the more actively these platforms are operated, the more they would enhance individual choice and accessibility. Technology, in turn, is drastically reducing the costs associated with sharing idle resources.
The Oxymoron City also expands the notion of a sharing community beyond housing to encompass a wider range of urban life. Its multiple sharing platforms not only involve government, corporations, and research institutions but also strengthen the role and participation of citizens. For instance, IKEA has produced inexpensive, mass-produced modular furniture and, by offering diverse templates, has granted citizens the freedom to construct personalized homes. Wikipedia, meanwhile, stands as a leading example of collective intelligence, enabling anyone to freely contribute to a global knowledge commons. In this way, citizens become active agents who generate and adopt diverse urban lifestyles. In the Oxymoron City, the sum of individual choices and experiences (e.g., classes or workshops) can be organized into personalized modes of living, akin to a tailored “campus life.”
Here, individuals share ideas and resources, shaping their lives through direct choice and participation. Rather than being confined to fixed, traditional networks based on kinship, regional origin, or alma mater, they inhabit fluid, ever-shifting networks that embrace nomadic lifestyles. This aligns with the sociologist Barry Wellman’s concept of Networked Individualism, which describes how individuals in the digital age operate as the hubs of their own personalized, flexible, and multi-layered social networks rather than being embedded in a single cohesive group.
Ultimately, a culture of hospitality emerges in Oxymoron City—citizens treat one another as welcome guests. The city ceases to be a rigid, static structure and instead becomes a dynamic platform through which strangers, technologies, and cultures continually flow. An urban network built on kindness, openness, and reciprocity will thrive precisely because it is chosen and sustained by its citizens.
Here, individuals share ideas and resources, shaping their lives through direct choice and participation. Rather than being confined to fixed, traditional networks based on kinship, regional origin, or alma mater, they inhabit fluid, ever-shifting networks that embrace nomadic lifestyles. This aligns with the sociologist Barry Wellman’s concept of Networked Individualism, which describes how individuals in the digital age operate as the hubs of their own personalized, flexible, and multi-layered social networks rather than being embedded in a single cohesive group.
Ultimately, a culture of hospitality emerges in Oxymoron City—citizens treat one another as welcome guests. The city ceases to be a rigid, static structure and instead becomes a dynamic platform through which strangers, technologies, and cultures continually flow. An urban network built on kindness, openness, and reciprocity will thrive precisely because it is chosen and sustained by its citizens.
[E-1] Oxymoron City Node
An Oxymoron City Node is conceived as a micro-urban unit with a radius of approximately 0.75 km, accommodating a population of 5,000 to 10,000 residents. However, the robust compact city is not formed merely by clustering buildings together. Ultimately, it is through the relational configuration of diverse urban elements that the vision of the robust compact city is realized.
1. Blocks
Blocks are categorized into three types depending on privacy levels and scale. The farther from the station, the higher the privacy, with Block A being predominantly located in these areas.-
Small Block A: Residential and commercial functions
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Medium Block B: Offices and educational facilities
- Large Block C: Event and community spaces
2. Streets
The distributed infrastructure of an Oxymoron City Node is organized into internal and extended infrastructures, with street widths increasing as they approach the station.-
Horizontal Adaptive Streets (vertical axis): Circulatory routes for autonomous PODs + waterfront spaces + events + pedestrian and bicycle paths
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Vertical Adaptive Streets (horizontal axis): Circulatory routes for autonomous PODs + events + pedestrian and bicycle paths
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Recreational Streets (pink/blue): Pedestrian circulation + exercise + activities + events + bicycle paths
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Courtyard Streets (yellow): Pedestrian passages connecting inner courtyards
- Logistics Routes: Truck and vehicle circulation linked with extended infrastructures
3. Node Infrastructure
The distributed infrastructure of an Oxymoron City Node comprises both internal and extended facilities.-
Internal Infrastructure: Small-scale facilities located within the node.
Examples: Fab labs, mobility centers (bicycles, PODs), smart farms, ESS, warehouses, drone centers, communication hubs, emergency stations, community centers, rooftop zones for energy and food production.
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Extended Infrastructure: Facilities that expand laterally from the node as needed.
Examples: Data centers, water management facilities, material banks, livestock farms, wind farms, solar power plants, agricultural fields, factories, research facilities, wastewater treatment plants.
4. Logistics
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Goods enter the Oxymoron Node via Hyperloop and autonomous trucks.
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Upon arrival, goods are stored in logistics centers, warehouses, and material banks, and are then distributed to blocks via autonomous POD delivery.
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For emergency transport and small-scale logistics, resources are delivered to other nodes or regional cities through UAM (Urban Air Mobility) + drone centers.
5. Technologies of the Oxymoron Node
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Self-sufficiency and distributed systems within the city node
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User-friendly no-code urban design platforms and computational urban design methodologies
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Innovations in construction methods (ConTech, mass timber, eco-friendly buildings)
[E-2] Oxymoron City Node – Smart Block
When proposing smart cities, experts often focus predominantly on either the scale of individual buildings (IoT and smart homes) or large-scale infrastructure and network-level issues. However, it is through the intermediate realm—the block system—that the relationships between individuals, communities, and urban life can be more thoroughly explored. Smart blocks can serve as platforms for encounters and interactions among individuals and communities without relying on massive public facilities.
- Each block integrates multiple programs, creating a “3-minute living sphere.” Owing to their self-sufficiency, blocks can be developed incrementally.
- The calculation of program areas within blocks is based on required floor area per person standards, typically used to estimate thermal loads for HVAC systems.
- Depending on their primary programmatic composition and size, blocks are categorized into: Type A (Residential and commercial), Type B (Research and office), Type C (Cultural and community)
- Constructed with 15m x 15m mass timber modules, block units can be easily modified, allowing the introduction of new programs.
- Lower floors house public and shared facilities, upper floors contain private facilities, and rooftops are dedicated to energy and food production.
- Residents of each block communicate with one another through a blockchain-based community app (DAO).
- Courtyard blocks, though privately owned, are utilized as semi-public spaces for green areas, parks, or public events organized by residents.
- Energy and food produced within each block are distributed to surrounding blocks, introducing the concept of prosumers, thereby blurring the boundary between producers and consumers.
Block A: Residential & Commercial-Oriented
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Composed primarily of residential and retail programs.
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The smallest unit, measuring approximately 60m x 60m.
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Shared facilities include co-housing, hotels, and communal kitchens.
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Prioritizes personal privacy, making it the most private block type.
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Blocks of this type are more densely distributed as the distance from the Hyperloop station increases.
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Small courtyards foster intimate interactions.
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Composed primarily of office, education, and research programs.
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A medium-sized unit, measuring approximately 120m x 60m.
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Shared facilities include co-working offices and mobile classrooms.
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Serves as a mediator between Block A and Block C, facilitating academic exchanges and diverse events.
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The minimum block size that accommodates a market.
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Composed primarily of cultural and community facilities.
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The largest unit, measuring approximately 120m x 120m.
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Shared facilities include rentable spaces such as meeting rooms, party halls, and cinemas.
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Its courtyard is large enough to host diverse events and gatherings.
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Accommodates facilities absent in Blocks A and B, such as healthcare, sports facilities, and Fab Labs.
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As the most public-oriented block type, Block C is most frequently located adjacent to Hyperloop stations.
[E-3] Oxymoron City Node – Street
Streets of the Oxymoron City
In the Oxymoron City nodes, streets function not only as corridors of movement for residents but also as public spaces where diverse social interactions occur. William H. Whyte’s concept of Triangulation defines this as “the characteristic of public spaces that can bring strangers together.” Triangulation events act as stimuli and rational contexts for encounters with strangers, realized through three methods:-
Providing external stimuli that allow strangers to spend time in close proximity.
– Events, pop-up stores, performances, etc.
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Maintaining an appropriate distance between crowds to avoid overly intrusive physical encounters.
– Ample and varied spatial arrangements, etc.
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Offering common points of interaction as a basis for engagement.
– Resting spaces, playgrounds, artworks, etc.
Adaptive Streets (Variable Use of Streets)
Adaptive streets integrate technologies such as piezoelectric paving, illuminated paving, and dynamic signage to enable flexible use of roadways. By leveraging diverse methods of data collection and analysis, street space can be rented or repurposed by time of day, enabling more efficient use.
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Sensors / IoT: Collect data on pedestrian flow, street usage, and activity through low-cost sensors.
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Data Center: Instead of sending all data to a central server, information is stored in distributed data centers located within Oxymoron nodes.
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DAO: A city governance program used for collective decision-making and social consensus on data use.
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Mobility Center: Analyzes DAO decisions to develop use plans, allocate PODs on demand, and manage parking and repair for robots/PODs.
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Dynamic Signage / Paving: Facilitates real-time interaction with city residents, e.g., by informing them of operational changes via Light Pavement.
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Mobility App: Provides citizens with accumulated data on street use and allows them to communicate diverse needs to the Mobility Center.
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Robots / PODs: Operated autonomously, transmitting and updating usage data to the Mobility Center.
[E-4] Oxymoron City Node - Self-Sufficiency and Distributed Resource System
Oxymoron City nodes aim for urban self-sufficiency by incorporating eco-friendly Distributed Generation (DG) facilities, water treatment systems, urban farming for food production, and community and welfare infrastructure, rather than depending on external resources from other cities. Establishing small-scale Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) allows the city to minimize reliance on centralized infrastructure, thereby significantly reducing both construction and operational costs. Moreover, through Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) as an integrated management system, Oxymoron City alliances can exchange resources, optimize production, and forecast demand more efficiently.
In the case of renewable energy sources such as solar PV and wind power adopted in Oxymoron Cities, weather variability inevitably leads to fluctuations in electricity supply. Here, Energy Management Systems (EMS) and Energy Storage Systems (ESS) — (Level 3: Applied) — play a key role by storing electricity during off-peak hours and providing a stable supply during peak demand, while simultaneously optimizing the scale and capacity of generation. Similarly, distributed water treatment facilities, such as building-integrated purification plants, together with recycling systems, can ensure the effective management of water and waste. The deployment of VPPs integrates multiple small-scale DG units into a single, coordinated power plant (Level 3: Applied), enabling inter-node energy exchange across Oxymoron Cities and preventing excessive generation.
In the case of renewable energy sources such as solar PV and wind power adopted in Oxymoron Cities, weather variability inevitably leads to fluctuations in electricity supply. Here, Energy Management Systems (EMS) and Energy Storage Systems (ESS) — (Level 3: Applied) — play a key role by storing electricity during off-peak hours and providing a stable supply during peak demand, while simultaneously optimizing the scale and capacity of generation. Similarly, distributed water treatment facilities, such as building-integrated purification plants, together with recycling systems, can ensure the effective management of water and waste. The deployment of VPPs integrates multiple small-scale DG units into a single, coordinated power plant (Level 3: Applied), enabling inter-node energy exchange across Oxymoron Cities and preventing excessive generation.
[Urban Node Self-Sufficiency]
1. Eco-friendly Building Materials
- Use of sustainable construction materials such as CLT (Cross-Laminated Timber), TCC (Timber-Concrete Composite), and low-VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) materials.
- Approximately 30% of global CO₂ emissions stem from inefficient building lifecycles; Digital Twin technology can mitigate these emissions.
- Modularization enables recycling and redistribution through Material Banks.
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Locally sourced timber enhances self-sufficiency and reduces transport-related carbon emissions.
2. Smart Farms
- Smart farming typologies include vertical farms, greenhouses, rooftop gardens, courtyard farms, hydroponics, and aquaponics.
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Food demand and supply are forecasted and managed through Food Banks, enabling storage, trading, and redistribution.
3. Energy
- Renewable energy production: PV panels, transparent PV panels, solar thermal panels, hydrogen storage tanks, wind turbines, and geothermal systems, with potential future applications of PVDF and piezoelectric generation tiles.
- Energy generated at the block level is managed via HEMS (Home Energy Management System).
- Surplus energy is stored in ESS (Energy Storage Systems).
- Block-level Microgrid Systems, optimized through Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), ensure resilient energy distribution.
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Together, these constitute Distributed Generation (DG) within nodes, contributing to the wider framework of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs).
4. Water Resource Management
- Water resources include roof rainwater harvesting, road surface runoff collection, WWTPs with biogas recovery, and natural water sources.
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Managed through distributed water treatment systems integrated into the urban microgrid.
5. Economy
- Citizen participation through prosumers, crowdfunding platforms (e.g., Wadiz), Fab Labs, and upcycling-based branding.
- Recycling centers serve as circular-economy hubs, producing goods and supporting R&D.
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Citizens engage with the Oxymoron City platform to design, prototype, and produce goods, reinforcing decentralized urban production.
[Distributed Integrated Resource Management (DIRM)]
- A Digital Integrated Resource Bank consolidates multiple small-scale Distributed Resource Banks into a unified Virtual Management System.
- IoT technologies capture real-time resource flows, while machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) predict future consumption.
- Blockchain-enabled P2P trading minimizes intermediaries, enabling secure, autonomous transactions.
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Integrated with Hyperloop infrastructure and multi-modal logistics corridors for inter-node transportation of resources.
Resource Bank System
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Material Bank: Specialized industrial goods and modular construction materials recycled and redistributed within and across nodes.
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Food Bank: Locally adapted food resources stored and exchanged (livestock, spices, plant-based products, etc.).
- Energy Bank: Renewable energy stored and redistributed across the network, managed through Virtual Power Plant (VPP) systems to balance supply and demand.
[Logistics and Transportation System]
- Resources required by each Resource Exchange are transacted and delivered through a multimodal logistics system.
- Adoption of sustainable transport technologies such as Hyperloop and electric vehicles (EVs) for eco-friendly distribution.
- Drones and Urban Air Mobility (UAM) platforms transport goods to small and medium-sized cities, which are relatively less constrained by noise issues, and are particularly suited for emergency deliveries.
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Autonomous logistics trucks manage the “middle-mile” segment, transporting goods between warehouses and distribution hubs.
[E] Oxymoron City Node – Innovations in Construction Methodologies
According to the UN IEA, in 2020, the building sector accounted for approximately 30% of global energy consumption and 38% of total CO₂ emissions. To minimize environmental impacts while providing a healthy living environment, Oxymoron City is designed not only to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions during the building-use phase, but also to ensure environmental sustainability across the entire building life cycle—from design and material sourcing through construction and operation to eventual demolition. Buildings in the Oxymoron City are constructed through the adoption of Mass Timber and ConTech innovations.
Mass Timber
Mass Timber (CLT, NLT, DLT, GLT) refers to engineered structural wood panels manufactured in prefabricated modules at factories. Mass Timber (Level 3: Applied) significantly reduces carbon footprints by promoting modular efficiency and reusability. Within the Oxymoron City network, cities specializing in Mass Timber and ConTech act as material banks for the entire alliance.Key Advantages:
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Strength and fire resistance comparable to concrete and steel.
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Approximately 25% of the weight of concrete, enabling lighter structures.
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Reduction of building life-cycle costs by up to 50%.
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Modularization and material banking enable 2.5 times faster construction, with easier assembly and installation than concrete.
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Reduction of onsite construction waste via OSC (Off-Site Construction), cutting carbon emissions from waste transportation.
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Innovative architectural designs enabled by CNC machining and BIM-based computational modeling.
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Local sourcing of timber reduces transport-related carbon emissions.
- Use of sustainable carbon-reducing materials, recyclability, and the potential conversion of waste into biomass energy (Biochar).
ConTech (Construction + Technology)
ConTech (Level 3: Applied) digitizes construction processes to enhance efficiency, reduce risks, and promote eco-friendly practices through minimized waste and carbon emissions. According to the Korean Construction Policy Research Institute’s report (“Innovation Strategies for the Construction Industry under Digital Economy Acceleration”), the construction industry ranked the lowest among all sectors in terms of digitalization index and productivity growth, even below agriculture and fisheries.ConTech development is not only financially valuable in terms of productivity but also essential for achieving ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) goals in corporate management. By leveraging regulatory flexibility, Oxymoron City shares construction-related data gathered through pilot projects with surrounding cities, thereby promoting sustainability throughout the construction process.
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Construction efficiency and risk reduction
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Big data-based safety predictions, improved structural reliability via BIM, and reduced accidents through robotics and drone monitoring.
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Enhanced productivity through construction simulations, modular building methods, waste collection systems, and collaborative platforms.
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Big data-based safety predictions, improved structural reliability via BIM, and reduced accidents through robotics and drone monitoring.
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Sustainability
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According to the UK Government Construction Strategy, adopting OSC, BIM, and 3D printing reduces unnecessary temporary installations, decreases construction waste by 30–60%, and lowers carbon emissions by up to 50%.
- Above all, ConTech minimizes the gap between the initial urban planning intent and the final built outcome in terms of cost and quality.
ConTech companies can carry out a variety of projects for construction firms and suppliers through regulatory sandboxes, including collaborative platforms, construction simulations, modular and robotic construction, and IoT-enabled waste collection. On the condition of regulatory relaxation, data obtained from trial-and-error in construction processes is shared with surrounding robust compact cities, thereby building an integrated alliance.
Through sustainable forest management, ecological values such as carbon sequestration, biodiversity preservation, and water resource protection are pursued, while timber is harvested within limits that do not lead to forest destruction. Mass timber can be:
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reused in the construction of other buildings,
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recycled into other products such as particle boards,
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upcycled into new products through Fab Labs,
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converted into biomass energy, or
- turned into biochar for composting to improve soil quality.
1. Computational Design and Innovation in Urban Design Methodologies
Oxymoron City is not a city of high-cost, cutting-edge technologies applied to individual buildings, but rather one composed of low-tech architecture designed through computational urban design methodologies. By introducing computational design, it becomes possible to embrace diverse local variables and particularities, in contrast to the idealized city models proposed by traditional urban planning.
Historically, standardized urban models were difficult to adapt to local contexts, and in practice, they tended to be replicated in identical forms under the banner of “productivity.” However, urban design programs, through procedural modeling techniques and generative design methodologies, can generate tens of thousands of city prototypes and individual buildings that reflect local specificity.
These diverse urban prototype models can then be classified according to various evaluation criteria, such as solar exposure, building coverage ratio, gross floor area, pedestrian comfort, energy production, carbon emissions, material consumption, estimated construction costs, green space ratio, and distances between buildings and public facilities. For instance, Scout by KPF UI is a program that enables users to directly adjust variables, generate urban prototypes, and analyze them from multiple perspectives. Users can then filter and select models that best align with the characteristics of each specific region.
Moreover, such evaluation metrics can be introduced in response to requests from citizens or experts, and post-hoc criteria may also be identified through A/B testing, a widely used method in website design and advertising.
A/B testing is an experiment that compares two or more variables (A and B) to determine which is preferred by a larger number of participants. By applying A/B testing, it is possible to identify more valuable variables and select optimal design scenarios. Given the complexity of variables in evaluating urban prototypes, it is often uncertain which approach will yield the best outcome, making this an effective exploratory method. Direct user feedback thus becomes a powerful driver of design in both urban and architectural contexts.
As a result, the prototypes selected by individual citizens based on diverse variables will be highly heterogeneous. In short, Oxymoron City is not composed of a single ideal city model.
Historically, standardized urban models were difficult to adapt to local contexts, and in practice, they tended to be replicated in identical forms under the banner of “productivity.” However, urban design programs, through procedural modeling techniques and generative design methodologies, can generate tens of thousands of city prototypes and individual buildings that reflect local specificity.
These diverse urban prototype models can then be classified according to various evaluation criteria, such as solar exposure, building coverage ratio, gross floor area, pedestrian comfort, energy production, carbon emissions, material consumption, estimated construction costs, green space ratio, and distances between buildings and public facilities. For instance, Scout by KPF UI is a program that enables users to directly adjust variables, generate urban prototypes, and analyze them from multiple perspectives. Users can then filter and select models that best align with the characteristics of each specific region.
Moreover, such evaluation metrics can be introduced in response to requests from citizens or experts, and post-hoc criteria may also be identified through A/B testing, a widely used method in website design and advertising.
A/B testing is an experiment that compares two or more variables (A and B) to determine which is preferred by a larger number of participants. By applying A/B testing, it is possible to identify more valuable variables and select optimal design scenarios. Given the complexity of variables in evaluating urban prototypes, it is often uncertain which approach will yield the best outcome, making this an effective exploratory method. Direct user feedback thus becomes a powerful driver of design in both urban and architectural contexts.
As a result, the prototypes selected by individual citizens based on diverse variables will be highly heterogeneous. In short, Oxymoron City is not composed of a single ideal city model.
2. Open-Source and No-Code Urban Design Programs that Encourage Citizen Participation
Jane Jacobs, the American urban planner, argued that a city can offer something to everyone only when it is created by everyone. Following her reasoning, the Oxymoron City will be shaped by millions of ordinary citizens. The introduction of no-code urban design programs (Level 3: Applied) could shift the paradigm from top-down urban planning—dominated by experts and politicians—towards a bottom-up design paradigm in which citizens actively participate in city-making. But how exactly can citizens contribute directly to urban planning?
First, the open-sourcing of architecture and urban planning can empower citizens to become proactive city designers. Austrian architect Christopher Alexander, in his seminal book A Pattern Language, argued that building users know better than architects what kind of architecture they truly want. He developed the concept of pattern language, which profoundly influenced not only architecture but also computer science. This concept suggests that within a formal grammar, diverse architectural and urban designs can be expressed and communicated. Although Alexander’s social experiments at the University of Oregon failed to mobilize significant public participation, his theoretical foundations later influenced scholars such as Carlo Ratti of MIT’s Senseable City Lab. In his book Open-Source Architecture, Carlo Ratti advocates using open-source architectural data to enable crowdsourcing, mass customization, and other network-based processes.
Citizen participation can be facilitated through strategies such as the platformization of programs, user-friendly, accessible interfaces, gamification, and reward systems linked to individual contributions, as exemplified by Google Sidewalk Labs’ Delve project. Citizens may simply download and utilize the abundant open-source materials disclosed by architects and urban designers, or take a more active role by participating in open-source communities—studying, experimenting, and sharing their insights. The accumulated trial-and-error processes and shared data continuously enrich and advance the program. Ultimately, through urban design programs that offer flexible, provisional frameworks, diverse stakeholders can reach consensus, generate prototypes, and collaborate with local architects to build the city.
In the future, beginning with open-source initiatives, architectural and urban design data could evolve into AI-driven systems capable of addressing pressing social challenges and creating new forms of value for urban life. In this process, the critical role of governments, architectural firms, and academic institutions will be to digitize and structure diverse architectural datasets so that AI systems can learn from them. Groundbreaking AI models such as conversational AI (ChatGPT) or text-to-image models (MidJourney) also began with the establishment of massive datasets. According to Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, there were approximately 7.31 million buildings nationwide in 2022. Including architectural design proposals submitted for public design competitions and feasibility reviews, the potential for accumulating high-value datasets is already considerable.
First, the open-sourcing of architecture and urban planning can empower citizens to become proactive city designers. Austrian architect Christopher Alexander, in his seminal book A Pattern Language, argued that building users know better than architects what kind of architecture they truly want. He developed the concept of pattern language, which profoundly influenced not only architecture but also computer science. This concept suggests that within a formal grammar, diverse architectural and urban designs can be expressed and communicated. Although Alexander’s social experiments at the University of Oregon failed to mobilize significant public participation, his theoretical foundations later influenced scholars such as Carlo Ratti of MIT’s Senseable City Lab. In his book Open-Source Architecture, Carlo Ratti advocates using open-source architectural data to enable crowdsourcing, mass customization, and other network-based processes.
Citizen participation can be facilitated through strategies such as the platformization of programs, user-friendly, accessible interfaces, gamification, and reward systems linked to individual contributions, as exemplified by Google Sidewalk Labs’ Delve project. Citizens may simply download and utilize the abundant open-source materials disclosed by architects and urban designers, or take a more active role by participating in open-source communities—studying, experimenting, and sharing their insights. The accumulated trial-and-error processes and shared data continuously enrich and advance the program. Ultimately, through urban design programs that offer flexible, provisional frameworks, diverse stakeholders can reach consensus, generate prototypes, and collaborate with local architects to build the city.
In the future, beginning with open-source initiatives, architectural and urban design data could evolve into AI-driven systems capable of addressing pressing social challenges and creating new forms of value for urban life. In this process, the critical role of governments, architectural firms, and academic institutions will be to digitize and structure diverse architectural datasets so that AI systems can learn from them. Groundbreaking AI models such as conversational AI (ChatGPT) or text-to-image models (MidJourney) also began with the establishment of massive datasets. According to Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, there were approximately 7.31 million buildings nationwide in 2022. Including architectural design proposals submitted for public design competitions and feasibility reviews, the potential for accumulating high-value datasets is already considerable.
Architect and author Jinmo Lee, in Architectural AI, categorized the challenges of architectural datafication into five key aspects:
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Social consensus on what information should be datafied
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Budget procurement
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Intellectual property rights
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Scope of information disclosure
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Data standardization (e.g., BIM)
Once these datasets are collected and comprehensively analyzed, they could drive systemic and infrastructural transformations for the public good.
[F-1] Relational Population and Oxymoron City DAO
The concentration of younger generations in large metropolitan areas is a natural phenomenon driven by the search for stable employment, social relationships, and cultural opportunities. At the same time, declining birthrates and the risk of depopulation in regional cities have become pressing demographic challenges in South Korea. Meanwhile, policies encouraging migration to small and medium-sized cities—often short-lived depending on political decisions—combined with migrants’ limited sovereignty and broader industrial changes, make relocation to provincial cities a decision that requires excessive caution and gravity for young people.
Against this backdrop, the concept of “Relational Population (Kankei Jinkō)”, proposed in 2016 by Hiroyuki Takahashi in Japan, seeks to revitalize small and medium-sized cities through an intermediate domain that transcends the binary of tourism versus permanent residency. Specifically, it was introduced as a “third category of population” located between the stable population (those who reside permanently) and the visiting population (those who engage only temporarily). Relational Population refers to individuals who, while not residing in a locality, establish sustained and diverse forms of connection with it. This may include commuting, studying, tourism, leisure, work, or regular exchanges.
Can we not move beyond the notion of a single birthplace determined at birth to create a “second hometown”? Oxymoron City does not seek to physically anchor people to a single mid-sized city but rather embraces a nomadic lifestyle in which individuals retain the freedom of choice and continuously move in pursuit of new values. In this context, the question arises: how can technology strengthen relational population communities and contribute to open, decentralized governance?
Against this backdrop, the concept of “Relational Population (Kankei Jinkō)”, proposed in 2016 by Hiroyuki Takahashi in Japan, seeks to revitalize small and medium-sized cities through an intermediate domain that transcends the binary of tourism versus permanent residency. Specifically, it was introduced as a “third category of population” located between the stable population (those who reside permanently) and the visiting population (those who engage only temporarily). Relational Population refers to individuals who, while not residing in a locality, establish sustained and diverse forms of connection with it. This may include commuting, studying, tourism, leisure, work, or regular exchanges.
Can we not move beyond the notion of a single birthplace determined at birth to create a “second hometown”? Oxymoron City does not seek to physically anchor people to a single mid-sized city but rather embraces a nomadic lifestyle in which individuals retain the freedom of choice and continuously move in pursuit of new values. In this context, the question arises: how can technology strengthen relational population communities and contribute to open, decentralized governance?
City DAO + Living Lab
The Oxymoron City DAO can integrate the abstract concept of relational populations into a concrete urban governance software alongside resident populations. A DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) is a new form of community enabled by blockchain (Level 3: Applied). Unlike conventional centralized organizations with hierarchical management structures, a DAO operates through decentralized decision-making and smart contracts that encode its rules transparently in code. These rules are publicly accessible, tamper-proof, and cannot be altered by any single individual.
The City DAO can be further integrated with the recently implemented Living Lab (Level 3: Applied). A Living Lab is an innovation platform where diverse social actors actively participate in solving real-life problems arising during the urban planning process, often through the use of ICT. Through the Relational City DAO, the limitation of Living Labs being confined to permanent residents can be overcome. Members of the Oxymoron-DAO, both residents and relational populations, gain voting rights, thereby reinforcing civic sovereignty and enabling democratic decision-making in a wide range of policy experiments. Examples include community-based land ownership, multi-address systems to institutionalize relational populations, public ownership of ground-floor air rights, and the recognition of data rights, a key concern in contemporary smart cities.
The Oxymoron City DAO also incentivizes active participation by granting tokens to both residents and relational populations based on their involvement and contributions, as recorded in smart contracts. Rather than functioning solely as currency, tokens serve as indicators of the degree of contribution, interest, or duration of stay in a mid-sized city. Depending on the initial DAO framework, tokens could grant tangible benefits such as hyperloop transit passes, access to co-working spaces, or shared housing, or alternatively provide policy voting rights for relational populations. The measurement of interest and contribution could draw upon existing typologies from relational population research. Importantly, however, rules must prevent an overemphasis on token accumulation, which could lead to a capitalist “plutocracy.” Ultimately, if individuals can contribute to and engage with multiple hometowns, this could help mitigate regional conflicts and promote the efficient use of national territory through integrated governance across regions.
The City DAO can be further integrated with the recently implemented Living Lab (Level 3: Applied). A Living Lab is an innovation platform where diverse social actors actively participate in solving real-life problems arising during the urban planning process, often through the use of ICT. Through the Relational City DAO, the limitation of Living Labs being confined to permanent residents can be overcome. Members of the Oxymoron-DAO, both residents and relational populations, gain voting rights, thereby reinforcing civic sovereignty and enabling democratic decision-making in a wide range of policy experiments. Examples include community-based land ownership, multi-address systems to institutionalize relational populations, public ownership of ground-floor air rights, and the recognition of data rights, a key concern in contemporary smart cities.
The Oxymoron City DAO also incentivizes active participation by granting tokens to both residents and relational populations based on their involvement and contributions, as recorded in smart contracts. Rather than functioning solely as currency, tokens serve as indicators of the degree of contribution, interest, or duration of stay in a mid-sized city. Depending on the initial DAO framework, tokens could grant tangible benefits such as hyperloop transit passes, access to co-working spaces, or shared housing, or alternatively provide policy voting rights for relational populations. The measurement of interest and contribution could draw upon existing typologies from relational population research. Importantly, however, rules must prevent an overemphasis on token accumulation, which could lead to a capitalist “plutocracy.” Ultimately, if individuals can contribute to and engage with multiple hometowns, this could help mitigate regional conflicts and promote the efficient use of national territory through integrated governance across regions.
In summary, the Oxymoron City DAO may be understood as a blockchain-based digital governance map that overlaps with existing administrative regions. Unlike traditional territory-based governance, it is established in a bottom-up manner across three nested scales: 1) the block, 2) the Oxymoron City Node, and 3) the Oxymoron City Network. Only minimal, flexible rules exist within the DAO to prevent larger networks from disproportionately dominating smaller ones.
The integration of Relational Population and the Oxymoron City DAO can be structured according to the following principles:
- The relationship between “Time of Stay” and “Sustained Contribution and Participation” influences the acquisition of tokens.
- Sustained contribution and participation are associated with three main domains: (1) economic activities, (2) cultural activities, and (3) social engagement, with weights varying by each node.
- The relationship between “Time of Stay” and “Sustained Contribution and Participation” can be divided into two phases: (1) a Volatile Growth Phase and (2) an Incremental Growth Phase.
- In the Volatile Growth Phase, the speed and effort required to acquire tokens vary by node specialization.
- In nodes that require broad participation and diverse ideas, members of the relational population can be granted voting rights more quickly.
- In contrast, for nodes tied to local industries that require long-term participation and a degree of industrial protection, relational populations are granted voting rights more slowly.
- The Incremental Growth Phase operates under different rules for residents and non-residents. In this phase, various benefits can be granted, provided that no excessive disparities emerge between relational populations and residents.
- Residents are granted suffrage regardless of their level of contribution and remain within the Incremental Growth Phase.
- Non-residents are granted voting rights based on their sustained participation and contributions. However, if their engagement with the region declines, their status reverts to the Volatile Growth Phase.
[F-2] Relational Population and Oxymoron City DAO - DAO Structure
1. Oxymoron City Block (Sub DAO)
A SubDAO is a smaller, specialized decentralized organization nested within a larger DAO, tasked with decision-making and governance for specific communities, projects, or domains. In the context of Oxymoron City, the SubDAO of a Smart Block serves not only as an online community for its residents but also as a mechanism for establishing community rules and electing block representatives. Decision-making authority within the SubDAO is equally distributed among all block residents, thereby ensuring a stable foundation for daily life. By transparently disclosing decision-making processes related to block residency on a communal bulletin board, residents can cultivate a stronger sense of ownership and participation.
Examples of DAO applications at the block level:
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Allocation of rooftop garden resources
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Rental or sale of individual block units
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Adjustment of streetlight brightness near the block
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Discussions on daily living issues, such as noise
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Decisions on the use of block courtyards (events, green spaces, markets, etc.)
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Rental of spaces in front of blocks
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Reservations for shared kitchens, offices, or hotels
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Analysis of building energy consumption (heating and cooling)
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Measurement and sale of renewable energy production (solar, wind, etc.)
2. Oxymoron City Node (Sub DAO)
The concept of hyperlocality refers to tailoring services to highly specific areas or neighborhoods, enabled by technologies such as AI, data, and cloud platforms. In Korea, examples include the second-hand trading platform Danggeun Market and Somoyim, which connects neighbors for offline gatherings based on shared interests such as exercise or reading. Through hyperlocal services, digital transformation is reshaping mobility, trade, and logistics, empowering citizens to engage with and organize around local issues.
Each Oxymoron City Node possesses unique governance characteristics shaped by its local context. Both residents and relational populations can choose nodes in which to live, visit, or contribute, based on specialized industries, public facilities, and community cultures. As opportunities grow and hospitality cultures flourish, people migrate to and reside in these nodes, thereby advancing the DAO system. Relational populations are granted digital citizenship and can participate in decision-making via DAO applications, receiving visible political rights proportional to their interest and contribution to each node. Policies are then developed through elected node representatives.
Each Oxymoron City Node possesses unique governance characteristics shaped by its local context. Both residents and relational populations can choose nodes in which to live, visit, or contribute, based on specialized industries, public facilities, and community cultures. As opportunities grow and hospitality cultures flourish, people migrate to and reside in these nodes, thereby advancing the DAO system. Relational populations are granted digital citizenship and can participate in decision-making via DAO applications, receiving visible political rights proportional to their interest and contribution to each node. Policies are then developed through elected node representatives.
Examples of DAO applications at the node level:
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Deciding new block designs via open-source design programs
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Public disclosure of infrastructure information: farms, power plants, factories, medical facilities, drone centers, data centers, water resources, etc.
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Discussions on new infrastructure expansion
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Real estate transactions
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Open Data Maps: collection, sharing, and access to usage data within nodes
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Living labs and policy experimentation
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Fabrication labs: production through crowdsourcing and crowdfunding
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Education and industry initiatives: lifelong learning support for higher employment rates
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Specialized sandbox industry portals
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Access to research facility data
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Hyperlocal hubs: community centers, node centers
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Barter systems, marketplaces, and peer-to-peer sharing economies
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Reporting systems for safety and crime prevention
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Data centers processsing information locally without reliance on external servers
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On-demand warehouse resource management systems
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Online healthcare systems to address aging populations
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Creation of social consensus rules (majority rule, 80% approval, unanimous consent, etc.)
- Measurement of microclimate and micropollution
3. Oxymoron City Network (DAO-Based Transparent Information Sharing)
(1) Distributed and Collaborative Systems Across Nodes
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While each node maintains its unique characteristics, shared necessities can be addressed through reusable solutions.
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Collaborative alliances among specialized nodes can generate academic, industrial, and cross-sector synergies. In this way, individual experiences across nodes converge into a larger collective experience.
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For example, a citizen may take a class at a smart-farm-specialized node, eat meals prepared with produce from that farm, and the next day attend a robotics fabrication course at another node. These experience-driven learning environments together form the Oxymoron City Network Campus.
Examples of DAO applications at the network level:
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Mobile classrooms enabling self-directed learning environments
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Distributed learning aligned with remote work systems; learning possible during mobility
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On-demand warehouse resource systems
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On-demand gig-economy office systems
(2) Introduction of Blockchain-Based Local Currency
A blockchain-based local currency system can be established at lower cost compared to traditional local currencies. By reducing transaction fees and offering benefits to encourage circulation within the Oxymoron City Network, such a system can prevent capital outflow to major metropolitan areas and reinforce local circular economies.[G] Oxymoron City and Data
Data and Smart City
We live in an era where the idea that data can transform cities is widely accepted. Traditionally, urban planning has often fallen behind the pace of social change. However, real-time data from IoT technologies can help align planning processes with the pace of societal transformation. Yet, not all data that can be computed is meaningful, and not all valuable data can be computed. In other words, a purely technical perspective cannot fully capture the values people associate with cities. This is why multilayered discussions are essential—across governments, industries, enterprises, citizens, and academia—to apply data-driven design to urban and social problem-solving. Meanwhile, as engineers focus on technical research, issues such as data privacy, social norms, and AI ethics are emerging and cannot be overlooked.
Oxymoron City addresses this challenge by collecting, processing, and utilizing data in collaboration with diverse social groups, thereby:
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introducing the concept of living labs to allow for more experimentation and testing,
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conducting analysis and research for policymaking, and
- creating places that provide improved services through data sharing.
1) Data, Privacy, Rights, and Law
Jane Jacobs first proposed the concept that later became foundational to CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design). In her 1961 book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, she introduced the idea of “Eyes on the Street,” arguing that natural surveillance in spaces where strangers gather is essential to sustaining civilized urban life. She emphasized that environments where people can circulate freely at all hours form a precondition for establishing both safety and freedom in public spaces.
In 2019, the Shenzhen & Hong Kong Urbanism/Architecture Biennale (UABB), curated by Carlo Ratti of MIT’s Senseable City Lab, revisited Jacobs’ idea under the theme Eyes of the City. The exhibition explored how, as AI, deep learning, and image recognition develop, cities will soon be saturated with IoT-based sensors. In such an era, not only people but also objects, buildings, and streets themselves will act as observers of urban life. While technology-augmented cities may improve everyday life, they also risk devolving into authoritarian dystopias.
From the perspective of 2023, to oppose these technological changes unconditionally may mean giving up on the potential of small and medium-sized cities. Moreover, it is difficult to predict how societies in the 2050s will view the collection and sharing of data. At the 2019 UABB, MVRDV’s Infopoints installation offered a telling example: visitors were asked at the entrance and exit whether they would consent to facial recognition tracking. In return for consent, they gained access to additional exhibition-related information. Surprisingly, most visitors agreed to tracking. This suggests that, under conditions of transparency and non-authoritarian data use, many people are willing to provide data for urban development. Could we, then, create interactive urban systems that allow individuals to decide whether to provide data in exchange for fair compensation? Whether online or offline, the reality is that we are already constantly monitored and our data extracted in countless spaces of everyday life.
From the standpoint of architecture and urban planning, establishing systems that protect the rights of urban users is essential to securing a minimum safety net for future generations. The societal implications are too significant to leave solely to computer scientists. Many websites today request permission to track user activity, often offering only partial opt-out options, and rarely provide services if full refusal is selected. Similarly, mobile apps frequently demand access to data far beyond what is necessary. Such private data is monetized in real-time auctions, generating immense profits for ad networks, publishers, attribution firms, data brokers, private companies, and even government agencies. Although such data is generally said to be anonymized, data brokers can combine it with information from other apps to re-identify individuals.
Before sensor-embedded objects such as autonomous vehicles permeate cities, regulations on privacy and data use must be established. Jacobs’ values of “decentralization and spontaneity” from her Eyes on the Street remain vital in shaping urban data collection rules. For data to become a genuine civic resource, legal mechanisms at the governmental level are necessary. In the United States, for example, the Freedom of Information Act and the Sunshine Act serve as tools to ensure transparency in records and codes. Such regulation can bring engineering practices into the open and empower citizens with greater agency.
In 2019, the Shenzhen & Hong Kong Urbanism/Architecture Biennale (UABB), curated by Carlo Ratti of MIT’s Senseable City Lab, revisited Jacobs’ idea under the theme Eyes of the City. The exhibition explored how, as AI, deep learning, and image recognition develop, cities will soon be saturated with IoT-based sensors. In such an era, not only people but also objects, buildings, and streets themselves will act as observers of urban life. While technology-augmented cities may improve everyday life, they also risk devolving into authoritarian dystopias.
From the perspective of 2023, to oppose these technological changes unconditionally may mean giving up on the potential of small and medium-sized cities. Moreover, it is difficult to predict how societies in the 2050s will view the collection and sharing of data. At the 2019 UABB, MVRDV’s Infopoints installation offered a telling example: visitors were asked at the entrance and exit whether they would consent to facial recognition tracking. In return for consent, they gained access to additional exhibition-related information. Surprisingly, most visitors agreed to tracking. This suggests that, under conditions of transparency and non-authoritarian data use, many people are willing to provide data for urban development. Could we, then, create interactive urban systems that allow individuals to decide whether to provide data in exchange for fair compensation? Whether online or offline, the reality is that we are already constantly monitored and our data extracted in countless spaces of everyday life.
From the standpoint of architecture and urban planning, establishing systems that protect the rights of urban users is essential to securing a minimum safety net for future generations. The societal implications are too significant to leave solely to computer scientists. Many websites today request permission to track user activity, often offering only partial opt-out options, and rarely provide services if full refusal is selected. Similarly, mobile apps frequently demand access to data far beyond what is necessary. Such private data is monetized in real-time auctions, generating immense profits for ad networks, publishers, attribution firms, data brokers, private companies, and even government agencies. Although such data is generally said to be anonymized, data brokers can combine it with information from other apps to re-identify individuals.
Before sensor-embedded objects such as autonomous vehicles permeate cities, regulations on privacy and data use must be established. Jacobs’ values of “decentralization and spontaneity” from her Eyes on the Street remain vital in shaping urban data collection rules. For data to become a genuine civic resource, legal mechanisms at the governmental level are necessary. In the United States, for example, the Freedom of Information Act and the Sunshine Act serve as tools to ensure transparency in records and codes. Such regulation can bring engineering practices into the open and empower citizens with greater agency.
2) Data, Participation, and Citizen-Oriented Urban Apps
The Oxymoron City App envisions a civic platform built on citizen-generated data within a vast urban ecosystem. Critical questions include: to what extent is the platform open and accessible to citizens, who governs it, and who determines its algorithmic rules? Unlike conventional top-down master plans, Oxymoron City allows rules to emerge incrementally through citizen-driven change. Participation here is tantamount to exercising genuine civic rights. The challenge lies in how local governments and communities can collaborate effectively. Technology should not impose complexity or coercion, but rather facilitate change and encourage participation.While games are often considered an escape from reality, gamification can instead foster broader participation, collect data to inform government policy, and contribute to society. Such data can help identify and address social problems, improving the planning and delivery of services for citizens. Most importantly, however, these technologies must be deployed in alignment with democratic and open values. For example, China’s Social Credit System (Sesame Credit) conjures dystopian images of citizens being compelled to conform to the government's system. By contrast, if transparency and democratic principles are maintained, urban users would likely share their data willingly to improve their communities. Furthermore, open-source communities can repurpose technologies in unintended directions, enabling new and innovative uses.
3) Blockchain
Blockchain has the potential to become a pivotal technology by integrating Building Information Modeling (BIM), platform technologies, the Internet of Things, and digital twins. As blockchain continues to evolve toward 2050, it may establish new foundations for interaction and exchange between humans and machines, preparing society for transformative shifts in the built environment.-
IoT Security and Distributed Databases
Modern digital innovations such as IoT, smart homes, and smart cities are creating “intelligent structures.” AI systems now enable intelligence to be embedded in physical infrastructure, including buildings. Blockchain, grounded in cryptography, offers resilience against vulnerabilities such as hacking or bugs.
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Decentralized Transactions
Peer-to-peer transactions without intermediaries reduce costs and increase transparency across renewable energy, electricity, water, building materials, and other assets.
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Decentralized Identity Systems
Blockchain strengthens citizens’ data sovereignty. Through decentralized identity (DID) systems, individuals gain full control over their personal data. Users can store information in digital wallets and selectively verify identity using private keys.
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Voting and Civic Participation
Smart contracts can facilitate voting and participation, overcoming spatial limitations and ensuring secure enfranchisement.
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Public Record Preservation
Blockchain ensures that records cannot be falsified by a small group of participants while keeping past records permanently accessible. This allows for both data sharing and the protection of intellectual property rights.
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