Foam (http://foam.space/), a community of Architects, will be leading a workshop about urban initiatives and community organization using blockchain technology (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_chain) at the Civic Art Lab in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.



We will begin by explaining how Foam began while providing participants with an introductory presentation to blockchain technology — the decentralized public ledger at the heart of Bitcoin and related cryptocurrency projects. There will also be a demonstration of BoardRoom, a platform for community organization and decision-making built on the blockchain. Finally, there will be a presentation on the potential impact of blockchain technology on local communities, focusing specifically on Fulton Mall in Downtown Brooklyn.



The workshop portion of the event will be a think tank session for participants who will brainstorm conceptual implementations of blockchain technology in creative and open ways to share skills, ideas and urban projects. The focus here will be to have participants thinking of new parallel economic models. The workshop will take advantage of a combination of diverse perspectives and skill sets in order to discover real world applications of the blockchain that engage the community and foster social change.



We will also demonstrate how groups can use the blockchain to organize themselves and manage their activities, such as crowd-fund and govern the use of a shared space. We will discuss how communities could distribute decision making capabilities and power amongst the group fluidly. In this workshop we will explore how sustainable technology can be built alongside communities who manage and evolve them democratically.



About Civic Art Lab



This event is part of the Civic Art Lab, a community storefront in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn in collaboration with the Bridge Street Development Corporation’s (http://www.bsdcorp.org/) Pop-up Program. This environmental, arts, and educational initiative calls on neighbors to co-produce creative and open ways to share skills and showcase recent cultural and environmental initiatives happening locally in order to amplify the diverse voices and encourage future community engagement.



Civic Art Lab is a project of the GREENSPACENYC (http://greenspacenyc.org) Collaborative.