ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with an ongoing process: the digitalisation of commercial real estate under the combined effects of smart technology embedded into the very fabric of the built environment and the implementation of pervasive computing, a sweeping concept in computer sciences. It introduces a new concept of property rights in smart cities: digital rights. Smartness in buildings is the product of an urban system including the smart grid, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure, and the digital skin. Smart buildings come with “new boundaries” that extend beyond their physical structures and follow smart space’s layered structure. The premise of the model is that interactions between occupants and a smart building define the property’s value. Hedonic pricing models are based on the fundamental assumption that a good’s observed market can be linked to observed utility-bearing characteristics. Property rights are a fundamental tenet of real estate, its legal dimension.
