Online equity-based crowdfunding, also known as regulation crowdfunding, or Reg CF, is a financing process by which a large number of individuals pool resources towards the support of a project in return for a pro-rated stake or return. Still in its infancy, crowdfunding has been largely unexplored and minimally tested within the architecture realm, likely due to the high capital requirements and complex building regulations. Yet, as it expands into a viable market, equity crowdfunding may offer architects an alternative: a more democratic, open-source and participatory building process, and the ability to re-position their role as facilitators of catalytic projects. While donation and reward-based crowdfunding platforms (such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo) are used to fund smaller-scale projects, equity-based crowdfunding platforms (such as WeFunder, Small Change and SeedInvest) have been increasingly used in larger-scale real estate transactions. Currently less than 1% of all crowdfunded projects are civic design-focused. A recent study found only 3% of architecture campaigns use equity crowdfunding compared to 71% of reward-based crowdfunding and 14% of donation-based crowdfunding. Equity crowdfunding has raised the highest amount of funds per architecture campaign per crowdfunding type, upwards of $50,000 on average, and the broader US market projects exponential growth, upwards of $8 billion by 2020. Because investors are given equity incentives, they are more likely to contribute higher amounts, provided that there is a strong team and clear business plan. Architects can now test and receive feedback on public sentiment around once-unconventional ideas, and move forward on projects that might not have appealed to conventional investors. Additionally, architects can circulate their proposals with an international group of like-minded possibly-interested investors and support networks; build awareness around challenges they seek to address; showcase their expertise around project types; and improve the likelihood - through increased political and financial capital - that their ideas evolve into reality. This thesis overviews the landscape of crowdfunding in architecture, specifically equity crowdfunding; details how it might be integrated and initiated as an early-stage participatory tool by architects to generate support for their proposals; and explores the implications crowdfunding may have on the architecture process. The thesis tests such a process through a theoretical equity crowdfunding campaign - “Gowanus Crossing” in Brooklyn, NY, which proposes a 290-footlong water remediation bridge across the toxic waterways of the Gowanus Canal. The aggregated system of the bridge incrementally develops as financing becomes available and the project raises immediate public awareness around efforts to clean the water. Overall, this thesis suggests architects are ideally suited for facilitating crowdfunding campaigns. Equity crowdfunding becomes a financing process that will alter the traditional building process but may also become a tool architects could utilize to pro-actively respond amidst the challenges of climate change, political partisanship, and urban disinvestment. / 0 / SPK / specialcollections@tulane.edu
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_94298 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Contributors | Berg, Braham (author), Roser-Gray, Cordula (Thesis advisor), Tulane School of Architecture Architecture (Degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | electronic, electronic, pages: 75 |
| Rights | Embargo, No embargo |
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