The Open Block system is a digital urban system that regulates independent planning for its users, maximizing flexibility while maintaining defined spatial goals. By operating at the scale of the urban block as a basic unit, the system is able to take into account the specific needs and circumstances of each block, including its existing plots, programs, and stakeholders. Unlike traditional urban plans and regulations, which are fixed and static, the system provides users with flexible, adaptable guidelines that can be adjusted over time, and react to changing values. Users of the system have varying levels of decision-making power, with block planners having the ability to set super-values, such as density goals.

 

The Open Block system has the potential to serve as a tool to challenge the disproportionate influence of economic powers and corporates in shaping the built environment. By decentralizing decision-making power and empowering citizens and communities to participate in planning processes, the system helps city dwellers become more active in shaping their built environment. The system’s focus on flexibility and adaptability allows it to resist gentrification and displacement and enables the ongoing negotiation and revision of rules and values in response to changing needs and circumstances. The placement of a physical hub in the center of each block provides a space for community organizing and activism, helping to build collective power and agency among residents.