The South Korean city of Busan recently signed an historic deal to build the world’s first sustainable floating city.
Blue tech pioneer and designer of the prototype city, OCEANIX, along with UN-Habitat, are collaborating with Busan Metropolitan City to test what promises to be a transformative solution for citizens in coastal cities threatened by sea level rises.
The flood-proof city, which will be able to ebb and flow with the sea, has been designed to produce its own energy, food, fresh water; and to withstand natural disasters like tsunamis and category 5 hurricanes.
“Sea level rise is a formidable threat, but sustainable floating infrastructure can help solve this looming catastrophe. We are excited to make history with Busan and UN-Habitat in ushering in humanity’s next frontier,” said the co-Founders of OCEANIX, Itai Madamombe and Marc Collins Chen.
The floating city, which could be completed by 2025, will have ‘fully integrated zero waste closed-loop systems’ and be able to ‘organically transform and adapt over time’ to support a neighbourhood of anywhere from 300 to 10,000 residents. It is a game-changing innovation that will be vital in providing scalable options for planners in the 90% of mega cities worldwide vulnerable to sea level rises.
“With the complex changes facing coastal cities, we need a new vision where it is possible for people, nature and technology to co-exist. There is no better place than Busan to take the first step towards sustainable human settlements on the ocean, proudly built by Korea for the world,” said Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon.
A scale model of the city is on display at the Smithsonian Museum’s FUTURES Exhibition, which runs until July 2022.
