Bringing collaborative design methods and frameworks from open source software to physical architecture.
The abstract made real, and the possibility of community planning by the community...
Cameron Sinclair spoke about it -- Open Source Architecture, and the Open Architecture Network. [1]
But here's Wikitecture - Radical Collaboration in Architecture [2].
The blog -- Studio Wikitecture: Opening Architecture [3] describes its motive: (beware: buzzwords abound...)
Improving Architecture and City Planning by Harnessing the Ideas behind ... Mass Collaboration, Social Networking, Wikis, Folksonomies, Open Source, Prosumers, Networked Intelligence, Crowd Sourcing, Crowd Wisdom, Smart Mobs, Peer Production, Lightweight Collaboration, Emergent Intelligence, Social Production, Self-Organized Communities, Collective Genius, Loose Networks of Peers, Collaborative Infrastructures, Open platforms, Wiki Workplace, Open Innovation, Horizontal Networks, Collective Intelligence, Global Innovation Networks, Swarm Intelligence, Decentralized Collaboration, Participatory Culture, Web 2.0...and the like.
More hype than an SEO pro on Twitter. But have a look at this interface. Second life meets Google Sketchup [4] meets Slashdot karma [5] meets wikis:
Participatory, fast, robust. And almost real?
Links:
[1] http://www.openarchitecturenetwork.org/
[2] http://radar.oreilly.com/2008/10/wikitecture-radical-collabor.html
[3] http://studiowikitecture.wordpress.com/
[4] http://sketchup.google.com/
[5] http://slashdot.org/moderation.shtml