# No Longer Just Concrete: the Collapse of Private Space || Una Wang

- Channel: [Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress](https://streameth.org/ethereum-cypherpunk-congress)
- Date: 2026-08-09
- Duration: 11:26
- Topics: web3, privacy, now, crypto, cryptography, blockchain, data, security, human right, rights, tech, technology, internet, open source, free, freedom, ethereum, hackers, ethics, cypherpunk, dev, developer, dapp, decentralization, bitcoin, computer, surveillance, cyber, peer2peer, p2p, love, solidity, zk, zero knowledge, education, academy, w3pn
- Watch: https://streameth.org/watch/yt-6oIzZRsk4e8
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oIzZRsk4e8

## Description

Privacy in the built environment and smart buildings

Una Wang
Una is a polymathic researcher, engineer, designer and maker expanding the boundaries of architecture, technology, and decentralized systems. Holding a PhD from ETH Zurich, she led no1s1 project — pioneering work in decentralized autonomous buildings, cyber-physical systems and regenerative built environments that is shaping the future of interaction with physical space. Bridging deep engineering expertise and craftmanship, she turns concepts into real-world cyber-physical products and artifacts. Her work exhibited at MoMA NYC, Art Basel Miami, The House of Electronic Arts, WEF ETH Pavillion, etc. As a globally engaged speaker and community builder, Una brings sharp insight and earnest dialogue to stages across culture, industry, academia, and beyond — connecting dots between technology, people, and place.

Una Wang: https://www.linkedin.com/in/una-wang-36b56b22/

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## Transcript

Yeah, thank you everyone. Um actually um I didn't today I made up a different slides because it was supposed to be a panel session. And then 2 days ago it changed to my talk and so I didn't actually prepare about decentralized autonomous space. Uh sadly, but I'd like to introduce myself a little bit before probably diving diving into this topic. Um I'm Mona and I'm a researcher at the ETH Zurich in Switzerland at Technical University. I had an architecture background did a whole spectrum on architecture engineering construction. Um a long-term community steward steward different communities and I love the intersection between physical space physical um space also space and community and web three. So that's where I operate. Um Um and my project actually my PhD is called No One's Land a self-owning house on chain. So I put the kind of a smart house on blockchain and made it have its own wallet and had all the states of the smart smart building on smart contracts so that it operates by itself and owns itself. It was originally inspired by works of a plantoid by Primavera. She has a self-owning flower. I don't know if you know about that project. Um it's really a OG art piece and then also a lot of work from Soviet Nature Initiative from Andrea and Trent's. I don't know if you know also Trent McConaghy's blog in the early days about nature 2.0 where they're all kind of early in the days in 2015 to 2017 imagine that actually you can put things on chain and when you know combine IoT and AI and blockchain you can have self-owning things. And that's basically where the decentralized autonomous space come from. And actually, I wanted to dive into a little bit. I graduated from my PhD 2 months ago. And so, I wanted to dive a little bit more into about the privacy. And today, I have actually rather philosophical take. It's I made this slides in this 2 days. So, hopefully it works. About basically I'm trying to solve the theories between public space and the privacy. Hopefully it works. Hopefully it works. And yeah, I mine presentation's name it's changed called exposed and isolated. No wild left in digital and physical public space. And potentially synthesizing privacy as an oscillation machine. I'll explain what it means. So, this is one as graphs upon I search around some philosophers philosophers basically. What does it mean for privacy? Obviously, I think not want to make make myself a like we are all there's a lot of privacy experts here, right? But I'm looking for a specific angle that can help me to bring privacy into the public space. And how do we think about public space and privacy? So, one one theory I thought is super interesting is from a Yeah, this um Merleau-Ponty. I mean, it's a French name. So, I don't know I don't know I don't want to pronounce wrong. But his main theory is that so for for human, we have two different experience. We have a lived body and then we have a objective body that can be measured. And his thesis is that the measured body is not that your living experience. And your lived body is different. And so, the measured body can never be overtake actually your living experience. So, there's called cops proper and cops objective. And he says the objective body is not the truth of the phenomenon body. And that is of the body that's given to us in experience. It is an abstract and uh impoverished image of it. And what's interesting about it that caught my eyes is that I think nowadays what we can measure actually is only the objective body. And when when when our measurement of our experience is taking over our own experience, that means we're only taking a slice of what we actually experience as human. Um and then I started thinking, "Wow, it's pretty interesting." Because actually in architecture, um I'm originally coming from China and this letter on the side called the "jian" and it's a it's actually you call a room at the end and a space "jian" in Chinese. And that's literally called in-between space. So, what do you call actually a space? Actually it's that white space in between. Not being closed, uh also not It's the white space in between. And I thought it's super interesting and started to thinking it, "How do I relate this to public space?" Because I I mean everyone feels that we're so algorithmic and then like there's so much just um certainty happening. We cannot almost go just out to nature and place. And there's no Where's the wild space in between? Where's the basically the white space in between? Um and then um very interesting I found another theory that um from the environmental environment and social behavior um philosopher. And um he uh he actually um says um define basically privacy as a dialogue, as a dialogue, as a process, as the kind of a oscillation machine um between self and one's group uh and between our human desire of hope openness and so close. And how do I understand that? Is that um there's our own lived feeling and there's like kind of two aspects, but we all also want openness and close and and closeness at the same time. Meaning that actually we want to be open and connect to other people, but we also want time and space for ourself. And this is a constant mental struggle and he actually thinks that privacy is is a machine that help us balance this desire of openness and closeness to ourselves. And um So and further someone so there's a commerce philosophical conversation between two authors. And based on also this there's privacy is not a state also but but most. So someone concluded and says oh this is a process and how do I define privacy is our privacy is a claim of individuals groups of institutions to determine for themselves when how and to what extent information about them is communicated to others. So and then he further distinguish other four modes that that need to be done for a healthy basically boundary where this process to be established between a self and others which are solitude, intimacy, anonymity, and reserve. And obviously this are probably quite different from your understanding of definition of you know anonymity intimacy and how he basically concluded is that solitude is kind of a physical separation and person is completely closed physically and you're free from observation by others. Intimacy is that you have controlled small group so that you can feel free and safe in a small group and but the information doesn't get out from the small group. And anonymity is individual rights among others but not known basically. I think that's what where we talk about here about privacy morals talk about anonymity. Unless this reserve is that it's it's kind of a physically withholding that you'll be able to choose what to share in a public space. And this are the rights he described that need to be there to be a healthy conversation between between self and others. And though then I thought this is super interesting that's a framework. So I started trying to map it I want to map it into actually our public space and we reached to the conclusion very soon and end of my presentation today. So there's a I think everyone probably knows heard about this that loneliness has been the number one problem in the world this 10 years and we're already in a very lonely society and one of the problem from architects eyes is that we lost basically our public space our common areas. And if you've seen the history this is a map done quickly by AI that's we used to have a rather stable public space areas where are the markets and then like the the forums the bathis you know in from the Roman area and then to a peak where we start building coffees and the beginning of merchants like the you know and then we start travel and this are becoming a peak area but then after that we have a long period where it's basically our model understand that public space has been decreasing. I mean I don't know like a lot of public space now when I was growing up besides I don't know Starbucks and you can argue if that's even a public space at all or to hang someplace to hang out. So we in generally lost this space basically to host in a public space to have a conversation have actually spontaneous conversation with each other. And then are we having the worst of both worlds? So I'm trying to map so thinking back a little bit back to this framework that there's like four modes that we need to achieve to have a healthy relationship for with privacy, uh which are solitude, intimacy, anonymity, and reserve. And how do I am thinking this is a very interesting and we can map it how it relates to public space and maybe digital place. And then uh this is very arbitrary scoring, obviously, I'm giving, but you can see that for the anonymity, reserve, intimacy, and solitude, which means a healthy balance of space between you and public, um you can have um for for old historical public space, we have a rather healthy and good uh which is a yellow. And then the uh the digital platforms, as you can see, um start to shrink our space for having this healthy balance, uh which are arbitrarily that's um purple purple circle. But then, if we got into digital surveilled physical space, and we are arguably we're having the worst of both worlds. Um and you can see our freedoms like wild space, freedom space, space for spontaneous intercon- encounters are getting so much less and even less than digital space. And this is really a problem, and uh I'm not going to solve it. Uh I'm going to present to you and uh hopefully have a conversation and maybe uh further research on it, but uh this is my presentation today and uh love to connect with you, um chat about this this is the idea and hopefully uh inspire you somewhat and uh yeah, thank you. >> [applause]