How the Metaverse Can Really Enrich Public Space

Photo: Gheorghita Constantin/iStock

Will the metaverse, a possible next step for the Internet, change the layout of the physical living environment? City Affairs Summer Session attendees have no doubts about whether the Metaverse will have an impact, but how. Virtual environments can support many functions of the physical world. This provides opportunities for a greener, more accessible and cleaned public space.

The idea behind the metaverse is that the physical and virtual worlds merge seamlessly, without using different devices or screens. Through glasses or lenses, users see a digital layer over the real world. And from any location, bespoke worlds can be visited in “virtual reality,” where you try on clothes or hold a meeting. “Space and distance no longer matter with the metaverse,” says Jan-Willem Wesselink, program manager for the Future City Foundation.

Together with Stadszaken editors, Wesselink organized a summer session on the impact of the metaverse on choices and expectations of the physical living environment. Seventeen officials, researchers and other metaverse interested parties attended to reflect on the opportunities of this stage in further digitization.

The idea has been presented to us for several years by large technology companies, such as Meta van Mark Zuckerberg. According to forecasts, the metaverse will unfold in ten to fifteen years. It’s not yet known exactly what this will look like, but this prospect is already raising questions about how our relationship to space and distance is changing. How can we organize our public space if we can also visit it virtually and design it ourselves?

In a column Wesselink describes the metaverse as a concept with a huge impact on the land use planning and development of the area. “The internet has already radically changed the concepts of space and distance, the metaverse adds a huge boost to that.”

As good as one

“Once the metaverse is a fact, it will be less and less about arranging for the citizens and more and more about arranging with the citizens,” says a participant in the City Affairs summer session , organized by Stadszaken and the Future City Foundation. Last Friday, seventeen civil servants, researchers and others interested in the metaverse reflected on the impact of the metaverse on our choices of physical living environment.

According to proponents, the new phase of the Internet offers a new space for interactions. Also, the physical world is still dominant, but perhaps more so with the metaverse. For this reason, the metaverse is sometimes also called the multiverse, in which the physical and the virtual enrich each other and become practically one for the natural user.

“No matter what world you find yourself in, you want relationships and reciprocity to remain central,” says a strategy and innovation consultant. As long as the (additional) services in the netaverse adhere to this condition, he thinks there is less reason to necessarily be in the physical environment.

Wesselink also suspects that virtual worlds make many trips superfluous. “You can be in the same virtual world from the Randstad as from the rural area.”

“Clean up public space”

Anyone who really wants to meet someone in a physical environment will make a more conscious choice in the future. There seems to be a consensus on this among many summer semester attendees. This raises the question of whether consumers and citizens will still want to physically visit the store and continue to physically meet in restaurants and in the park.

But physical public space will not become sterile because of virtual outings, participants say. The metaverse offers opportunities to make it more social and conscious. “If we can project everything into our parks and squares, then you can play table tennis and bowling without requiring a specific space. Then you have more room for greening and an open space to walk,” according to one participant.

Another participant adds: “A la Marie Kondo, we could perhaps clean up the public space a bit. It is not necessary to arrange a place for certain groups such as children or the elderly. You complete this later via augmented reality. So you get more room for openness and greenery.

Influence in the workplace

The diverse backgrounds of the summer session participants provided space for a broad exposition of the theme. For example, a participant from the infrastructure sector raised the question of whether it still makes sense for millions to invest in an expansion of a physical bridge or a new connection bridge, if it is not known in which measure virtual mobility replaces physical mobility.

There is no immediate reason to panic in the retail sector either. “Of course, many people will appreciate being able to shop virtually from anywhere, but enough people will still want to try on clothes in a real store. Just as we continue to visit restaurants and want to meet “real” friends or family, according to another participant.

In his Metaverse column, Wesselink concludes with a plea for more debate about the impending enrichment of the Internet: “It’s interesting to see where the opportunities lie and how we can use them, while counteracting the downsides (. ..) How we are transforming the metaverse into a world that truly benefits us as a society.’