World’s first ‘floating city’

Designs for the world’s first “floating city” were released on Tuesday as a possible solution for coastal towns threatened by rising sea levels connected to the climate issue.

The urban design project is planned for the port of Busan, South Korea, a metropolis of 3.4 million people.

Renderings depict buildings grouped on floating platforms, linked to one another and to the mainland through pedestrian bridges. The concept is that when the water level rises and falls, so will these platforms.

According to a press release, the three primary platforms would be allocated to “lodging,” “research,” and “lifestyle.”

The project is a collaboration between the city of Busan, the UN Human Settlement Programme, and Oceanix, a technology and design business.

According to the concept, the floating metropolis will be home to “a community of 12,000 residents and visitors” with the potential to grow to 100,000 people.

The cluster of floating structures will be totally energy independent, thanks to a system of solar panels, and will be able to “process and refill its own water,” according to the idea.

The project is expected to begin construction in 2023, according to an Oceanix spokesman.

Rising tides and increasing floodplains threaten to upend life in coastal communities throughout the world, making sea level rise one of the key concerns of the climate crisis.

According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, sea level has already increased by roughly 21–24 centimetres (8–9 inches) since 1880.

But that’s only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what’s to come. The sea level is expected to increase by roughly half a metre (20 inches) by the end of the century, according to the latest study from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

As the waters push inland, storms pose a risk of flooding. The Category 5 Super Typhoon Chaba hit Busan in 2016.

According to the United Nations, more than 600 million people about one out of every ten people on the planet live below sea level.

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