The metaverse ecosystem is built and operated by technologies enabling multi-sensory interaction with the virtual environments, virtual objects and virtual representations of other users (the avatars). It is a complex multi-layered meta-system with a number of sub-systems supported by advanced technologies — high speed networks, VR/AR, AI, edge computing, hyper-ledger, blockchain etc. It allows exchange between the physical and virtual world in real-time, supporting a large and increasing number of users, vendors, businesses and enterprises, requiring a hyper-connective and hyper-interactive platform as well as immense resources for its running.

It might sound overwhelming at first, but let’s remember that emergence of any phenomena is an effect of a cause. That any new technology or a concept is a result of “readiness“ to take the next evolutionary step, and that current state of things usually call for an advancement. Considering the current state of spatial systems in general, let’s review the following:

1. The systems of the physical world are already so complex, that risking another expansion into greater complexity within the physical dimension will push the systems closer to the collapse and spontaneous implosion (read more here)

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2. Extended Reality offers a dimension where these systems can be operationally extended without further burdening physicality

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3. By starting to build a prototype of the metaverse — a proto-verse, we can initiate the process of infrastructural transfer and conceptual re-build of infrastructural systems

Building from Scratch (But Not Entirely)

The word “transfer“ refers to moving existing things from one (physical) into another (virtual) world. Extended Reality is quite literally a different space that has to be built practically from scratch. Building the metaverse does not mean simply adding new elements and objects into an existing spatial ecosystem as it does in the case of physical world architecture and cities. The new virtual ecosystems are being built from scratch. To build a fully operational metaverse ecosystem, the architecture consists of three layers: infrastructure, engine and interface.

The virtual environment, of course, includes a lot of scenery, along with non-player characters (NPCs) and the real users (avatars). To create a virtual scene, a design process is carried out, which consists of many traditional and non-traditional design phases. Design and construction based on existing objects and structures that will be transferred from the physical world via 3D modeling (3D DCC — 3D digital content creation) is called the process of digital twinning. It is carried out by the methods of 3D measurement, usually by laser scanning and photogrammetry, to create digital copies — digital twins of objects from the physical reality and place it into the virtual environment.

If we create a new virtual object that does not exist in the physical reality, but will enter the virtual ecosystem, we refer to them as digital natives. This is an opportunity to go beyond traditional design that is subjected to architectural and urban typology, physics and system engineering that we use in the physical reality. This is not a plea to abandon the restraints of the physical world, it is merely an extension of the possibilities and advancement of the critical points of environmental design that are now being released from the long-standing framework of rules.

So it is a mixed environment consisting of “realistic“ and “fantasy“ architecture, each having its own purpose, not just functional and aesthetic, but representational to which “realm and order“ they originate from and mirror on a larger scale. Fantasy architectures and objects are, of course, appealing to many curious users who want to enhance their experience. But we must keep in mind that ultimately, with the metaverse, we are leaving the sole domain of the gaming environment (in which we can trace the VR origins) and we are transitioning to the general use, and that calls for architecture of regular typologies as well.

Ecosystem Patterning and Evolving Typologies

The metaverse is a meta-sized virtual world that mirrors and overarches physical reality. It is self-sustained, persistent and shared by real users. Technology is a critical factor sustaining its infrastructure, as it allows users to coexist in a shared digital space supplied by data and information that executes the real-time feedback to the physical world and vice versa.

The design and constructional novelties do not come only as technologies, they come as typologies — spatial and behavioral. In the real world, architects and planners design cities according to a strict set of rules for spatial design and utilize them for use. What constitutes “use“ to humans can vary in the physical and the virtual world. But if we speak of mirroring of realms, most infrastructures will, at least at this point of time, carry similar properties because they are based on human habits and habitual responses.

As an example, some might argue: is it necessary to design furniture for sitting when realistically your avatar does not get tired from standing? This is what is meant by habitual response. Human brain is used to recognize actions and movement based on its long-term neural patterning rooted in physical reality. And while the avatar does not get tired from standing, the brain of the user behind the avatar will respond based on their physiological needs in the physical reality and they will eventually want to sit down, because this is mirroring their real world experience based on their physiological response to such a situation.

Another example is travel. The metaverse is, quite literally, a tool for transcending space. In virtual reality, a person can appear in multiple places around the world without the need to physically travel, all through their digital extension. This is done via portals that transport the user to various parts of the virtual world or to other metaverses within seconds. But the metaverse will still have a transportation network of roads, railways and subways along with pedestrian sidewalks and plazas, because they create the basis for spatial existence, and foremost, they supply the communal function that reinforces coherence of the ecosystem, just like in physical cities.

Virtual Cities

The “coexistence of realms“ and “reality extensions“ can be translated as borrowing foundational principles of spatial order (existing patterning) and evolving it through the use of advanced technology that will gradually calibrate new typologies as a result of user behavior in virtual spaces. In the virtual realm, we will not be inventing new ways of existing from scratch. But we will be building upon the existing patterning that is derived from human physicality, routines and instinctual behavior.

The new designs and typologies will evolve gradually on many different scales. Along with the architectural design, the virtual cities will be based on a re-organized concept of urban planning. This will be majorly impacted by blockchain and the erosion of the traditional centralized concept of a traditionally planned city governed by traditional governance. Decentralization and distribution of space in virtual planning will result in new blockchain-based typologies of cities and space.

Most of the current research material on architecture, urban planning and the metaverse is oriented towards how virtual reality is going to influence real world cities, with the optics of the metaverse being a complementary element to the physical reality. Although this is an important topic, my point is the opposite — how are the metaverse cities going to be built as a native synthetic environment, of course with a degree of influence from the real world cities as well. How does real city planning differ from virtual city planning? What does the introduction of blockchain and semantic networks mean for city planning frameworks, spatial typologies and urban design in a virtual environment? The metaverse city or a virtual city is not a digital twin — whether design-wise or functionally. It contains digital twins as well as digital natives in individual architectures. Some of the environment may be digitally twinned, some of it will be native. But it is a new type of environment where not everything architects and planners do in the real world, applies. In the real world, it is the role of architects and planners to accompany the spatial development process and in the virtual world, it should be the same.

Fostering digital convergence and development of the virtual environment is by no means a statement of unimportance of physical space. Digital world will not replace the physical world, and any such claims can be considered to be a part of the current upheaval that is at every beginning of every technological revolution. The role of Extended Reality is to improve the functioning and operational standard of physical reality, not to make it obsolete. The point is to make our life easier, especially in times of great complexity and chaos, the more room for expansion (extension) we have, the better for humanity. Obviously, in many way the physical realm is at full capacity and at its limits. This is a call for innovators to consider current options and available technologies we have, and use it wisely. I do not support absolutistic claims, whether it is new technologies promising magical solutions for everything or solutions for “escaping reality“, because the world got so dire. What I do support is a sober evaluation of present options fostering innovative thought.

Reality should not be escaped, it should be created.