Kibutzum, villages, encampments - a “basic building block for community“ isn’t innovative.
Here’s what is:
Humans have lived in small, self-organized communities for probably a million years. That’s not new.
What is new is this: innovation has finally caught up with our oldest instincts, and turned these “basic community building blocks” into game changers.
There are a number of effective innovations that have miniaturized enough to be deployed into these “basic building block for community” (examples listed below). The implication is massive:
No longer do governments need to invest billions to establish top-down, centralized basic infrastructure.
When I successfully defended this contention with Libyan policymakers, speaking as Terra Global Developments’ COO/CTO, the implications blew their minds. 🤯
Video: me speaking at the Libyan–American Forum for Development and Reconstruction, in Washington DC (April, 2025).
The Libyan authorities don’t have to worry about defending a single centralized power plant against foreign attack; with power generation distributed on a massive scale, the country could keep the lights on, even in a state of extreme duress.
Likewise: water reclamation and purification tech technologies.
Likewise: waste disposal.
Likewise: job creation, education, wellness, etc.
Ironically, the seeds of these innovations were planted during the Arab spring, when the experience of watching centralized governments sever citizens (and citizen-run businesses) from the global Internet inspired a new generation of innovators to begin rethinking what it means to be decentralized.
This led to the creation of disruptive technologies inclusive to web3, and most people aren’t able to move beyond crypto’s “get rich quick” scheme to realize how decentralized web3 ideologies and supporting technologies are about to challenge every system to become more competitive, just as top-down systems are in a state of extreme distress.
Periodically, we encounter those who are generally dismissive, and they tell us about their Smart Cities initiative, which is well-meaning, but ultimately not very smart because it betrays a design bias towards top-down centralization.
Solutions that are truly decentralized are able to address the needs of those “at the last mile,” and in the United States that’s tens of million of citizens - the number of Americans who live in unincorporated communities (source: US Census Bureau).
Unable to recognize significant market opportunity, many people dismissively say things like “why don’t they just move to a city?” without acknowledging that cities are already struggling to accommodate the needs of their existing citizens, under our absolutely not position to receive millions more residents.
A truly decentralized solution must meet people where they are, utilizing resources that are already present, WITHOUT the necessity for funding from a centralized authority.
Humans have assembled themselves into small autonomous communities for most of human history, but until recently they have not been able to sustain without a little bit of technological assistance.
For instance, over 2000 years ago the ancient Persians innovated methods of “generating water from air” (the qanats, which technically delivered underground water with minimal evaporation) and keeping ice through the summer (the yakhchāl).
Today, we have a wide and growing variety of similar technical innovations that are reaching a point of miniaturization, high effectiveness, and relatively low cost.
Here’s a few examples:
Solar Energy: From Utility-Scale to Rooftop
Then:
A 1-megawatt solar installation in 1977 cost over $80,000 per kW.
Required massive land, financing, permitting, and grid infrastructure.
Primarily utility-owned, centralized, and inflexible.
Now:
A home solar system now costs around $2.50 per watt installed.
Portable solar generators like the EcoFlow Delta 2 Max or Jackery Explorer can power appliances, recharge tools, and run communications systems; no grid required.
Entire village microgrids now operate on repurposed shipping containers.
Water Reuse & On-Site Treatment
Then:
Greywater treatment and rain capture were industrial or military-scale operations.
On-site septic or treatment required state permits, heavy machinery, and routine pumping.
Now:
Greywater filtration kits are available at hardware stores.
Systems like Bio-Microbics FAST or EcoFlo coco filters offer compact, low-energy onsite treatment.
Atmospheric water generators (like EcoloBlue or Watergen) can now pull clean water from humid air, even in arid climates.
Net-Zero & Modular Construction
Then:
Building energy-efficient or net-zero homes meant luxury premiums and architect-led design.
Construction was slow, labor-intensive, and required high land and utility infrastructure costs.
Now:
Pre-fab modular builders (e.g. Boxabl, Mighty Buildings, Plant Prefab) offer factory-built, zero-energy homes with integrated HVAC, solar, and water systems.
Rammed earth, hempcrete, and compressed earth block (CEB) techs have been democratized by YouTube, CNC tooling, and local fabrication co-ops.
Communications & Governance Infrastructure
Then:
Community organizing and governance required in-person meetings, flyers, long timelines, and opaque bureaucracy.
Only institutions had secure voting, reputation, and record-keeping tools.
Now:
Platforms like 214 Alpha offer communities turnkey governance, secure chat, identity verification, voting, arbitration, and banking - all from a low-cost phone.
LoRa mesh networks and Starlink RV kits allow Internet access even far from fiber.
This is a game changer: that’s what a TerraCore is.
A Terra Global Developments TerraCore isn’t a product. It’s a strategy: meet people where they are, deploy what already works, and let small communities thrive again, on their terms.
That’s not science fiction. That’s infrastructure, reimagined.
