top of page
Writer's pictureFoodCircle Team

Let’s be honest, Episode 21: Metaverse and Sustainability

Let’s be honest is a Food Circle project to open up the conversation about the

challenges when being or becoming a member of the SC (Sustainability Club). This series

will shine a light on the different approaches to making life more sustainable and the

step-backs and difficulties that arise. Being more kind and understanding, instead of critical,

will hopefully help to encourage us to try instead of giving up when facing a step-back or

failure. This is made possible thanks to Sapient, the mother company of Food Circle, which

every year offers internships to students from all around the world, creating a uniquely multicultural environment.


Let’s celebrate the achievements and give room for honesty and struggles!



What are we talking about?


Numerous daily activities are done through the Internet, and this environment plays a vital role in our actions in the real world. With the development of Internet structures and the optimization of conditions by companies, institutions, and even educational associations, the approach to our activities has changed and taken a more straightforward form. Tech companies, professional designers, Web developers, etc., seek to create better ideas on the Internet, making more complex explorations to facilitate attracting more audiences.


The Metaverse phenomenon helps create creative ideas about the future life to create a virtual perspective of life on the Internet. Although it does not seem to be widespread yet, the designs created in this way can form new mentalities. On the other hand, we need creative plans to develop sustainable communities with sustainable development goals. In this regard, Metaverse can assist us by encouraging sustainability and human needs in sustainable cities.


“The keyword of the paradigm of the 2020s is “metaverse.” Metaverse is a concept derived from the novel “Snow Crash” published by Neal Stephenson in 1992 and represents a three-dimensional virtual world in which ‘Meta’ means virtual and abstract, and ‘verse’ means universe. The metaverse is a virtual construct in which participants interact with themselves through avatars created by themselves to participate or reproduce real life in a virtual metaphorical environment without temporal and spatial constraints. (Jee Young Lee, 2021)” [1]


Metaverse Helps Sustainable Designs


The necessity to implement climate change-related action plans through design thinking and system thinking is one of the most significant sustainable development concerns. When a combination of imagination and initial design is created, and a design thinking system designs sustainable development plans based on numerous elements of sustainable scenarios, the importance of a powerful executive to demonstrate system thinking would be increased. The transition from modern life to sustainable life requires the display of patterns created in systems thinking. By visually presenting these creative ideas, we can prepare people's minds inside of communities for a sustainable lifestyle in the future. The metaverse is a virtual environment on the Internet that has considerable capabilities to demonstrate creative thinking.



Metaverse has a remarkable capacity for imaginative illustration. In designs related to sustainable ideation and sustainable product development, sustainable lifestyle, and sustainable housing, can express creative ideas through Metaverse. Indeed, those nature-inspired sustainable designs that incorporate new technology-inspired models using nature motivation can use Metaverse to define their styles and products.


"As a highly integrated form of industry, the innovation of digital media in the new media industry will be an organic integration of various aspects such as technology, content, and art. For example, digital products and services should have a high level of usability while meeting the aesthetic characteristics of the design. (Jiamu Lin, 2022)" [3]


Metaverse has all the mental features of creating a conceptual and transcendent world in 3D for the future. The details in Metaverse are very accurate. A dynamic ecosystem in a virtual world! The power of design thinking and decision-making in Metavars is much more progressive than in other comparable technologies because this digital concept is created from a combination of several leading technologies.


“The new generation of applications and platforms requires a shift to Metaverse to promote their goals in the future and to adapt the audience to the complex future environment.”

Singly as artificial intelligence and the powerful blockchain technology have changed the digital world approach in recent years, Metaverse will be able to take the initiative by combining these technologies and intelligent assortments. Adapting Metaverse to the sustainable development ideation process can be used as an innovative way to demonstrate a new concept of world and sustainability.


The idea of a metaverse as a parallel world is very inspiring. The mental impact of sustainability will be formed more quickly if we can demonstrate a sustainable thinking manner through 3D illustration. Although the idea of Metaverse has happened early concerning blockchain, the gaming industry, and related technologies, sustainable development ideas can be developed using all of Metaverse's dimensions and the potential of illustrate-based design.


"The Metaverse is the hot top of shifting the real economy to the digital economy around the world during pandemics in recent years. The traditional lifestyle, business model, and work culture in different industries and communities changed, which also acted as a catalyst to accelerate the deployment and development of the digital economy. Apart from the early practitioners in Metaverse like gaming, and cryptocurrency, we see the trend of Metaverse will change the business model in other aspects. (Kwok Tak Kit, 2022)" [2]


Metaverse Business Approach Based on Sustainable Development


As noted, Metaverse has made significant progress in some industries. Regarding sustainability, an idea can be that by creating a parallel area on the Internet, audiences can purchase educational subscriptions based on the information available about the concept of sustainability and its sub-categories. On the other hand, due to the value of Metaverse in online markets, these subscriptions can be profitable for them because users and audiences together play a role in the development of this area. This idea can be used as a subscription purchase to visit and use sustainable development information or through the sale of virtual space development subscriptions, such as strategy games, etc., to increase content value and thus increase user account values.


The Metaverse commercial approach is not just about the business development of value in the markets. This process will also lead to the development of numerous content production skills and will create sustainable entrepreneurship through this method.


In Conclusion:


Metaverse combines those technologies which design a world parallel integrated with reality. We can merge this procedure of illustration with real life. We can use it to form fundamental ideas for developing sustainable cities, ecovillages, sustainable agriculture, sustainable food industry, product development, sustainable lifestyle, education, sustainability awareness, and achieving targets related as a significant opportunity. Although the extensive capabilities of Metavars may be more commercial in some industries, as one of the tools to develop the concept of sustainability, it can be considered for designing various sustainability approaches.


Author: Majid Zamanshoar


 

Read our other blogs:



Check out our recipes to reduce food waste:



Follow Food circle over on social media:



Download and use food waste apps


Download the international “Too good to go”


 

References:


  1. Jee Young Lee, A Study on Metaverse Hype for Sustainable Growth, [online] Available at: https://www.koreascience.or.kr/article/JAKO202128054633800.pdf

  2. Kwok Tak Kit, Sustainable Engineering Paradigm Shift in Digital Architecture, Engineering and Construction Ecology within Metaverse, [online] Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/359892741_Sustainable_Engineering_Paradigm_Shift_in_Digital_Architecture_Engineering_and_Construction_Ecology_within_Metaverse

  3. Jiamu Lin, On the Innovative Design of Digital Media Under the Background of the Metaverse, [online] Available at: https://www.atlantis-press.com/article/125974259.pdf



Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page