UNStudio has unveiled plans to create the "smartest neighbourhood in the world" in the Netherlands, where residents produce their own resources and control the use of their data.
Brainport Smart District (BSD) will be located in Helmond, a city in the south of the Netherlands, with the construction of 1,500 new homes over the next 10 years.
Amsterdam-based UNStudio is planning the circular and "socially cohesive" development in collaboration with its sister company, the tech startup UNSense. They envision the area as a "living laboratory" that produces its own food and energy, manages its own waste and controls its own data.
They describe it as "a unique Dutch initiative for future living".
Brainport Smart District will be located in the city of Helmond The project includes a section called 100 Houses ? a live experiment where UNSense will explore the ethics of data as currency.
Seen as a direct response to the monopoly on data held by big technology companies, 100 Houses will offer its residents ? who will be drawn from across Dutch society ? full control of their data.
"Residents and communities benefit from their own data"
"The current digital business model is extremely lucrative for tech giants, but is far less advantageous for the majority of local companies, organisations and individuals," said UNStudio.
100 Houses would, alternatively, operate on "the principle that the residents and commun...