In 2019, the United Nations officially confirmed its interest in floating city projects, including the fledgling Ocean X project. The concept was developed by the Danish architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group-BIG and renowned research institutes such as MIT in the United States.
The concept of the floating city means the development of platforms with an area of 20,000 square meters, each of which can accommodate 300 people. These linked units together can form a unified and independent community of 10,000 residents. Read also To distribute it to marginalized schools..a Thai university turns old smartphones into microscopes for scientific research Smart Home..A Quick Look at Wireless Standards After securing $4 billion from investors, rapper “Akon” builds a cryptocurrency city in Senegal Watch.. The Futurism Museum and a view of the future of nature, people and technology
Of course, this water city, which is similar to the city of Atlantis in the legends, will be 100% eco-friendly. Not just in the matter of “concreting” the seabed, as some critics of the project fear; But even as a complete ecological project for an independent city.
Studies show that by 2049, 9 of the world’s 10 largest megacities will experience sea level rise, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that sea level could rise by 1.10 meters by 2100, affecting the lives of 1.4 billion people living on Earth. the coast.
And more than 280 million people are at risk of becoming “climate refugees”. All in the context of the demographic explosion and urban migration that will require the doubling of urban buildings in just a few decades; But where will these millions of people live? How can this demographic pressure be contained?
Technological challenges
“This year, we were able to determine the scale and techniques needed to build the first prototype,” says Mark Collins Chen. “We have been successful in demonstrating that our concept will be effective in some countries, which have seen a sharp increase in the costs of building traditional cities over the same period.”
As a result, the idea of floating cities has become increasingly accepted, and is now capturing the attention of both public and private investors. Ocean X has already begun working with the Bouygues Group to produce a prototype.
“We must commit to building sustainable for 150 years, and using environmentally friendly materials,” said Ocean X’s CEO; But how do you do that when you don’t have information about the durability of “green” concrete, which will be immersed in water for decades?
For example? What about waste storage, wastewater reprocessing? It is also necessary to imagine how these platforms will be towed to their final destination, once they have been built on the ground.
All these questions were solved one by one by the engineers who were excited about this new concept. Since 2019, the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers have alerted young engineering students to the value of investing in this still relatively unexplored field.
The result is that in 2025, the first floating areas will appear on the African and Asian coasts. Awaiting the first gigantic city located entirely on the ocean.