What do you think of as a floating city? Some may imagine various sci-fi movies. Rising sea levels are gradually destroying many islands and coastal towns. While in the past the idea of floating cities was just a utopia, nowadays there are a number of companies considering building them. The number of people on planet Earth is constantly growing. There are currently 7.9 billion people in the world, and by 2050 it could be around 10 billion. More and more people are moving due to climate change, with more than 40 million people displaced due to climate change in 2020 alone.
Designs of floating cities
Previous proposals have focused mainly on cities that would be located on land and could stand on stilts, such as near Venice. Oceanix came up with interesting proposals, which designed a floating city. Do you know the UN-Habitat program? It is a United Nations program promoting sustainable urban development.
In 2019, many architects, designers, entrepreneurs and various experts were convened under this program to discuss the possibilities of floating cities. The conference was attended by Oceanix, the MIT Center for Ocean Engineering and the U.S.-based Explorers Club. The idea of Oceanix City was presented at the conference.
What could a floating city look like?
This city would be hurricane resistant and would produce no waste. It would consist of 4.5 acres of hexagonal floating islands. There could be 300 people living on each island. The 6 islands would form a ring-shaped village and it would be connected around a protected port. These villages could be connected and expanded. For example, 6 connected villages would already form a city with 10800 people.
This city is designed by Danish starchitect Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), in collaboration with Oceanix. It is not just a project that will remain on paper, Oceanix really wants to build a prototype of such a city for 300 inhabitants, which will have 5 acres.
“The cities we’re talking to are incredibly keen to leverage this technology to prepare for their own future,” says Oceanix CEO Marc Collins.
The floating city is certainly an interesting project, and while today these cities look like science fiction, in the future it may be a common way of living for many people.
Source:
Oceanix, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/in-face-rising-seas-are-floating-cities-real-possibility-180978409/
