Bits and Blocks of City Building [1/3]
Origins
Hi there! I'm Torin, a licensed Architect, creative technologist, and proud CityDAO citizen since 2021. This series is a part of the CityDAO writer's cohort. I am writing these posts to shine light on the significance and importance of CityDAO's current efforts by tying them to historical comparatives. As such, please forgive my broadstokes of nuanced historical events as they are meant to illuminate the significance of our current point in history. It’s my hope that by acknowledging the gravitas of ideas that came before us, we may build and create thoughtful artifacts that carry beauty and meaning into this new chapter of history.
In each of these three posts I'll outline different attributes of city building in the context of origin, monument design, and urban cores. At the conclusion of the series, I'll also be sharing a design concept for a monument dedicated to the formation of CityDAO at Parcel 0.
Special thanks to Emily DiGrazio and Selby Niumataiwalu for their contributions in creating this post.
“As an architect, you design for the present, with an awareness of the past for a future which is essentially unknown” - Norman Foster
So you want to build an on-chain, community-governed, crypto city of the future?
Where do you begin?
This isn't the first time in human history we've had to answer the question of how to start building. Many past civilizations have also had to work through these early formation logistics.
The answer?
An origin point- the locus that represents a confluence of ideas and beliefs of our shared common interest.
All civilizations have a foundational core of beliefs from which they derive their structure. Two of the most advanced ancient civilizations that influenced modern democratic structure used an object of remembrance to transpose their beliefs into a physical object. It acted as a of symbolic importance as the center of their civilization.
Let's call this the monument of origin.
The concept dates back to Hellenistic settlements of the Greek city-state. The Omphalos of Delphi, in the Temple of Apollo, marked what the Greeks believed to be the center of not just their civilization, but of the entire world. They had a legend that goes as follows:
The god Zeus, in his attempt to locate the center of the earth, launched two eagles from the two ends of the world, and the eagles, starting simultaneously and flying at equal speed, crossed their paths above the area of Delphi, and so was the place where Zeus placed the stone. Since then, Delphi has been considered by Greeks to be the center of the world, the omphalos – "navel of the Earth."1
This monument of origin was of foundational importance to the fabric of Greek culture. It created inherent beliefs that shaped the communities’ structure and acted as a central gathering point within the temple to pay respect to their gods.
However, Greek city-states weren’t the only ones to adhere to these principles. One of the most famous monuments of origin can be found in Rome. Located within the Roman Forum was a point referred to as the "Umbilicus urbis Romae" which translates to "Navel of the City of Rome".
As the legends state, this origin point was first constructed for a ceremonial purpose by the founder of Rome, Romulus:
Romulus buried Remus [...] and then set himself to building his city [...]. A circular trench was dug around what is now the Comitium, and in this were deposited the first-fruits of all things the use of which was sanctioned by custom as good and by nature as necessary; and finally, every man brought a small portion of the soil of his native land, and these were cast in among the first-fruits and mingled with them. They call this trench, as they do the heavens, by the name of "mundus." Then, taking this as a centre, they marked out the city in a circle around it.2
The pit was thought of as a gateway to the underworld around which they constructed the brick enclosure as a symbolic monument.
The original structure was torn down and reconstructed using some remnants of the original in 203 AD, during Emperor Septimius Severus’ reign. The reconstructed version still stands today.
This structure was also used as a central mapping point for all of ancient Rome. The earliest cartographers measured and mapped all of the buildings in reference to this point. A depiction of this can be seen in the Severan Marble Plan which charted ancient Rome on a series of wall-mounted marble slabs. Only a few fragments remain today. If interested, check out this article describing the Severan Marble Plan along with some beautiful Piranesi prints.
Its significance in location also extends beyond physical attributes and into the core values and belief systems of the Roman Republic. It’s situated directly within the Roman Forum- the birthplace of modern representative democracy.
This is where CityDAO’s origin comes in- Parcel 0.
Shouldn’t this land be thought of as the origin point for this new era of DAO governance in the physical world?
This plot of land in Wyoming was the first DAO governed piece of land in the world to be purchased through the unification of sovereign individuals. CityDAO represents the revolution in democratic governance and property rights that you could argue hasn’t been seen since antiquity. A reincarnated form of the original city-state. It’s the physical manifestation of all things tied to The Crypto Renaissance.
I believe this piece of land will forever anchor these ideas to a physical spot on our planet. It should be the starting point from which the network state can be mapped.
It’s a locus deserving of a monument of origin.
So, how do we move forward?
Well, we have the origin point- Parcel 0. And we have the event- the DAO vote to authorize the purchase of land (https://etherscan.io/block/13368233).
Next is creating a monument symbolizing the shared ideals that we as a community want to capture. In the second post, we will explore different types of monuments and their symbolic representations through physical form.
Thanks for reading!
P.S. Are there other modern monuments of origin you feel are significant? What values do you believe should be embodied in a CityDAO monument? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!
Voegelin E. (2000). Order and History, Volume 2. University of Missouri Press. p. 31. ISBN 9780826263933.
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Romulus*.html#ref16
And just thinking on the idea of origins of civilization... If Rome and representative democracy is a sort of watershed civilization moment worthy of a monument of origin, one reason it is so important is that its primary export has been used as a building block for many subsequent empires. you could argue the US Capitol (in its own right sort of a monument that physically manifests US democracy) is sort of like a reverberation from the architecture surrounding the original roman forum. (Dome, columns, classical style)
It would be cool if the citydao monument (or a part of it) is something that could be repeated in new lands, new network states sort of like how many State Houses, Legislative buildings are in the classical style and share similar elements.
Torin this post has provided much food for thought.... one question: your monument of origin is more about origin of a civilization, rather than an origin of a movement. I ask because there are lots of monuments that signify important moments in history, (9/11 memorial, wright brothers first flight memorial etc.) but I think you are trying to be more limited here.