The Blockchain Innovation Hub at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) has produced a report proposing the creation of a prototype decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to aid particular precincts in Melbourne’s central business district (CBD) in recovering from the pandemic.

In particular, the report is part of a five-part series funded by the Victorian Government in Australia. It explains how blockchain technology, specifically decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), can be used to help cities like Melbourne recover from a lack of economic activity during the pandemic and survive in the future with the high likelihood of hybrid working situations.

The paper, which was developed in collaboration with the City of Melbourne, the state government, and local businesses, lays out a precise and practical strategy for a DAO pilot program named the “Docklands DAO,” which would be implemented in the Melbourne CBD’s Docklands precinct.

DAOs offer cities an innovative way to use anonymously pooled data to optimize resource allocation, increase overall efficiency, and create opportunities for strategic placemaking by collectively reimagining and reinventing public spaces, according to the report’s author, Blockchain Innovation Hub researcher Max Parasol.

A DAO is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) administered by token holders and built around a set of rules enforced on a blockchain.

“DAOs incentivize participation, so those who work for the DAO will get more governance capability and so on. Ultimately, the community gets to decide the governance mechanisms,” Parasol said.

DAOs have seen a rapid global uptake as the technology is rapidly used by a wider range of organizations interested in exploring the possibilities presented by blockchain-based digital voting processes.

More than 1.6 million people were active in a DAO at some level by the end of 2021, a massive increase from the 13,000 total DAO participants at the start of the year.

The Docklands DAO, according to Parasol, was created to address the “double shock” problem, in which localities require support in recovering from the economic effects of COVID-19 lockdowns while also adjusting to the new reality of a hybrid work-from-home paradigm.