Virtual Land and Virtual Property Markets: The Real (Virtual) Estate Discipline During the Digital Transformation. Is the Metaverse a New Frontier for Land Investment?

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land Socio-Economic and Political Issues".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 673

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Architecture, Università IUAV di Venezia, Venice, Dorsoduro 2206, 30123 Venice, Italy
Interests: land
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
ICEA, Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, University of Padova, via Venezia 1, Padova, 35131, Italy
Interests: economic feasibility; public investment and works; real estate and construction costs
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Today, it may be surprising to find that some of the most expensive properties are not physical at all, as many investors are paying premium prices to acquire virtual properties in the virtual world of the Metaverse. Investing in these “meta-estates” shares many similarities with traditional real estate investment. Factors such as market segmentation, ownership, investment, holding, development, and the use of virtual spaces for commercial and professional activities remain pertinent. However, the platform itself is (obviously) fundamentally different, and moving from the physical world to a virtual one alters some of the rules.

This Special Issue is dedicated to novel research on the sale of virtual land within the Metaverse. The scope of this Special Issue includes the exploration of how real estate theories are applied within the Metaverse. What aspects will change? Which dynamics will stay the same? How should the “meta-estate” discipline be structured? How can a virtual market be defined? What is the appropriate method for valuing a virtual property? What new investment dynamics and opportunities will emerge?

The aim of this Special Issue, therefore, is to collect papers (original research articles and review papers) that provide insights concerning the following topics:

  • methods to assess the value of virtual land,
  • virtual land new market dynamics,
  • market segmentation in metaverse platforms: new rules,
  • a review of the existing literature on this new emerging topic,
  • new problems emerging from the virtuality of the market,
  • ownership of virtual land,
  • new horizons for land investment in virtual platforms,
  • Metaverse’s platforms to invest in land: comparison and analysis.

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Dr. Aurora Greta Ruggeri
Dr. Giuliano Marella
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • land
  • metaverse
  • land investment
  • virtual land
  • real estate
  • virtual estate

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

23 pages, 39886 KiB  
Article
Land Development 1985–2023 as a Function of Road Improvement, Employment, and Mobility: A Case Study of Tennessee
by Jayanta Biswas and Anzhelika Antipova
Land 2025, 14(5), 1025; https://doi.org/10.3390/land14051025 - 8 May 2025
Viewed by 235
Abstract
Metaverse environments aim at replicating physical reality at various scales. While the potential growth of digital land is limitless, certain development factors may drive greater growth and lead to changes in surrounding land use and the expansion of developed land. In this study, [...] Read more.
Metaverse environments aim at replicating physical reality at various scales. While the potential growth of digital land is limitless, certain development factors may drive greater growth and lead to changes in surrounding land use and the expansion of developed land. In this study, we are bridging digital and physical world living environments using physical land as an example. Specifically, we focus on Tennessee as a study area and offer a spatial perspective on factors of urban land growth and study the relationship between infrastructure (road) development, employment, mobility, and land use change in the physical world, which may help understand this connection in the digital land and real estate domain. We show a significant role of employment hubs in driving developed land growth (i.e., land development). Economic activity consistently appears significant in urban land expansion, with the land development effect of employment stretching over a larger area well beyond immediate proximity to road infrastructure. Land development is measured in this study by a developed land density in both urban and rural areas. Mobility (measured by VMT) has a weaker impact on land development though still positive and statistically significant. This research is crucial for developing sustainable land growth strategies and informing future transport planning and land-use policies. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop