Global environmental and socio-economic shifts are presenting new and disastrous realities on Earth. Global warming and climate change have become an alarming reality and a lot of island states and coastal areas are at the forefront of pushing the need for climate awareness.
As sea levels rise due to global warming, more and more coastal areas are getting flooded worldwide. It is estimated that more than 800 million people from across 570 cities may have to be relocated by 2050. By 2050, 90% of major cities across the globe will be facing a wave of climate change. But instead of relocating people, what if we could move an entire city to the sea?
Someone is floating the idea of building an island city over the ocean. Floating settlements are not a new idea but are a realistic solution for rising sea levels. That’s why people around the world are developing cities concept, not on land but on the sea. Technically the idea is similar to an artificial island, which has been around for a long time.
However, artificial islands are built on landfills and they don’t float or move. Also, their construction can be environmentally disruptive. On the other hand, a floating city is an interconnected modular structure shaped to mimic an island naturally formed that floats on the water without affecting the ocean ecosystem. This concept has even been approved by the United Nation.
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What is a floating city?
Floating cities are a common theme in speculative fiction. These imaginary towns may be islands that float in water or in the atmosphere of a planet. Ultimately, the purpose of the experiment is to develop a floating city model that is both robust and effective. By measuring the weight of various floating structures in water, scientists learn which shapes are the most effective and durable.
With that knowledge, floating cities are becoming a reality sooner than expected, especially for coastal metropolis facing rising sea levels. The seasteading Institute is an organization that aims to build a floating state. They hope that it will free mankind from politicians and political power. For the moment, however, the concept is just a dream. It has many possibilities. If we can figure out how to build it, we’ll soon have a modern-day utopia.
This new form of living is a utopia that many people wish to have. This concept isn’t new, human beings have been living in floatable habitats for centuries. Floatable cities have even been featured in the 1936 science fiction film Flash Gordon. In addition, they can be seen in the Star Trek episode “The Cloud Minders.”
Floating cities have a long history, going back to the chinampas of the Aztec Empire. Today, they range from the canal city of Venice, Italy, built on 118 islands in the Venetian Lagoon. In the Tonle Sap, residents live in floating houses made of bundles of reeds. And in Lagos, thousands of disadvantaged people live in floating shantytowns.
Why floating city is becoming important?
A floating city would be a utopian concept. Although 40% of the world’s population lives in areas that are below sea level, 21 of the world’s 33 megacities are located on the ocean’s coast. The melting polar ice caps are one of the factors contributing to sea-level rise, and according to some estimates, 90% of all coastal cities will be affected by flooding by the end of the century.
While it may seem like science fiction, buoying cities are an incredibly important concept and are being discussed by the United Nations. A recent article, states that we need floating communities for two reasons. First, they would help us address climate change. And second, it would provide us with an offshore refuge from climate hazards.
These two factors would work together to make this concept more feasible. As such, the floating cities concept could help solve both of these issues. Currently, coastal areas are running out of land. If we continue to use the same land, we will be left with a future where many coastal metropolises will be underwater.
Climate change will increase sea levels by seven inches by 2030. In addition, 90% of the largest cities around the world are already vulnerable to climate change. In some cases, country such as Singapore is pouring sand into the sea to reclaim their coast. Yet sand is becoming a scarce resource, so floating cities would provide a solution to these problems.
In addition, floating cities also provide new land for coastal ones. This will allow them to expand and adapt to rising sea levels. With sustainable energy and water production system, these communities would eventually become self-sufficient in food, energy and water. The wastewater from citizens’ homes would be recycled or used for agriculture.
Moreover, they could use advanced technologies that have already been developed in the marine industry. Global water levels are rising due to global warming and floating cities are an effective solution. These communities would also solve problems like real estate and receding coastlines.
As the world population is increasing, urban areas are becoming larger, pushing them closer to water. Cities like Lagos and Singapore are growing fast and their residents are living in buoying villages. The UN has supported research into floating cities and many believe they can help fight the growing housing crisis. The concept could even help climate refugees by providing a place to live.
Building floating communities can provide more housing for climate change refugees. By 2030, it is estimated that 60% of the world’s population will live in cities. To address this problem, urban planners are investigating innovative housing solutions. The concept of floating conurbation could help alleviate this housing crunch and depopulate overcrowded areas.
If we can get the technology right, the idea of floating cities could be the answer to the housing crisis. While we’re at 7.9 billion people on the planet, if we build them we can reduce the pressure on real estate. The global population is rapidly growing and so are the demands for real estate.
Global warming is causing rising water levels and climate change and leaders around the world are concerned about finding sustainable real estate. The floating city concept has also inspired the seasteading movement. This movement seeks to build self-governing nation-states on the sea. By building these cities, seasteaders hope to create a human-made ecosystem of communities.
To create these water-hovering cities, the seasteaders would assemble the structures onshore and then towed to the sea. The community would be completely self-reliant and environmentally friendly and they would use marine building materials that have a negative carbon footprint. It would also reduce water wastage.
Moreover, buoying structures can create artificial reefs and they can help save lives. In this way, floating cities may be the answer to a problem that has plagued coastal regions for centuries. And in the long run, they may even provide the solution to a global environmental crisis.
A reason why we need buoying cities is that they would enable us to move from land to water without worrying about gravity. It would be completely climate neutral. And since they would be in low gravity, they would be protected from natural disasters. Moreover, the community could self-repair itself using locally-sourced innovative building materials.
They could withstand harsh weather conditions. Innovative building materials would allow floating cities to withstand harsh weather conditions without leaking. These cities would be able to use abundant solar energy and water. New technologies could help them harness these resources and grow food and other necessities.
Furthermore, they could cultivate on-land gardens and farms or even grow food underwater. And because the center of gravity of these water-hovering structures would be low, they would be protected from strong waves. It would be anchored off the coast of major global cities. Their locations would be close to the equator, where the climate is warm and more hospitable for building in such a climate.
The floating structure would also be anchored with biorock, a limestone-based material that uses low voltages of electricity to encourage the growth of new limestone. It would also be environmentally friendly, as biorock is already being used for coral reefs.
Impacts of floating cities
When we think of a floating city, we typically imagine a city on water. But it can be much more than that. They can help the world by providing new land for coastal cities that need to expand. This concept would also help urban areas adapt and have a plan for rising sea levels. Eventually, it could become self-sufficient in food, water and energy.
Wastewater would be recycled or repurposed for agriculture. The floating community would also adopt technologies found in other marine industries. It could be built on a modular platform that can be connected to the mainland by utility lines and bridges. Eventually, it could even become an independent nation.
Floating cities are possible even on a converted ocean freighter or cruise ship. It would offer a secure refuge from the hazards of climate change and provide an offshore retreat. In addition to providing a safe housing solution for flood-prone communities, it could also help alleviate the effects of sea-level rise.
Climate change is a significant contributor to rising sea levels and is already threatening coastal infrastructure. With such innovative technology, floating cities could be built to combat these problems. It can reduce pollution and allow for a more sustainable lifestyle, especially if the climate becomes more unstable.
A project that’s garnering attention worldwide is the Oceanix floating city in South Korea. Under a historic agreement, the project is helping coastal areas that are threatened by sea levels. The city is collaborating with the UN Human Settlement Programme to build the world’s first sustainable floating city prototype.
The concept consists of hexagonal platforms being developed as a prototype to provide more space for communities in coastal areas. The Oceanix project aims to create these cities, which are designed to float through the water about a mile away from a coastal metropolis.
The cities would have a self-sustaining energy system, producing heat and power through renewable resources like atmospheric water generators and rain harvesting systems. They would also have a system for removing garbage and bringing it to a remote station for recycling.
Floating cities may be the solution to urbanization and climate change. Many architects envision a hovering marine utopia as an environmentally sustainable solution for urban problems. However, this vision is still only theoretical. Various designers have proposed the creation of water-hovering communities and some of these concepts are based on structural innovations, social critiques and new materials.
In the mid-twentieth century, artists such as Metabolists, Archigram and Paolo Soleri began to envision a new kind of city, one that floats. They studied the potential environmental and human health challenges and explored the design of scale models and digital simulations. In a future world of rising water levels, many metropolises will suffer from frequent flooding.
This causes huge damage to their environment and property. In response to these environmental and human concerns, the United Nations is considering the development of floating cities as a pilot project. Its city government plans to adopt this concept by the year 2025. But there are challenges to this concept.
One of the biggest challenges of floating cities is construction costs. A single project could cost as much as $167 million to build and could home only around 300 residents. Even a smaller buoying community would be prohibitively expensive. However, floating cities have many advantages. They can be quickly established, self-sustaining and be separable naturally.
Moreover, they can also be earthquake-resistant and provide a beautiful view of the landscape. They can also be equipped with recreational equipment such as beaches and water parks. This can also be beneficial for social welfare. And not to mention that we are faced with a growing population and land shortage, if the concept does take off, it may just become the next big thing.
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