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What if the solution to ramping up housing supply and getting more people into homes wasn’t to do it on land, but on water?
Get ready: It’s happening. And depending on how it goes, it could keep happening.
A group of designers, architects and engineers have collaborated with the United Nations to design what they call a floating city, a community built atop the water and anchored to the bottom that, ideally, would use fewer natural resources and be more sustainable than inland communities while also proving resistant to the potential rise of sea levels.
The project was the focus of a South by Southwest panel titled “Floating Cities: Combatting a Global Housing Crisis.” The session left an Austin Convention Center audience both in awe and with questions.
OceanX, the group behind the project, plans to open a prototype in Busan, a port city in South Korea, and then do it again in other port cities. The hope is for it to open in five years, according to co-founder Itai Madamombe, one of four panelists who led the SXSW discussion. The Busan community will accommodate maybe 1,000 residents, not the 10,000 residents anticipated in future developments.
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Here are five takeaways from the session:
Complement cities, not replace them
The combination of climate change, rising sea levels and population growth is expected to displace 1.5 billion people globally by 2050. But, no, they won’t all seek shelter in the ocean.
The idea is for floating cities to not be a substitution for port cities, but an extension of those cities — reachable by boat and only a mile or so from shore. The communities would include mainland mainstays like theaters, fitness centers and restaurants, but provide for flexibility to easily return to land.
Support from United Nations
If this entire concept seems a little goofy, consider this: the United Nations likes it.
In November, The UN’s urban development agency helped bring the vision to reality by signing an agreement with Busan and OCEANIX for the prototype community.
“I think that the partnership has really been critical in both keeping us honest but also opening some doors with governments and so forth,” Madamombe said.
Madamombe, the panelist and a former UN employee, indicated Busan was not the first choice and that OCEANIX turned to the city after negotiations with other governments fell through.
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Not only for ‘escapists’
Living on the water might sound fun for a night or two, but who exactly would give up the comfort of traditional living to do it? That’s to be determined, but one panelist made clear the community is for more than “escapists.”
“This is a pretty damn cool place to live,” said Henry Elkus, founder of Helena Projects, which aims to solve global crises. “I think this is a really kind of sexy pitch for the future of urban planning.”
It will likely appeal to those committed to the goal of net neutrality and who don’t mind eating meals from plants grown at the community.
Costs still uncertain
The costs for these communities are to be determined. Units in the prototype are not yet available to purchase.
Madamombe said she hopes they will be affordable, but acknowledged that affordable is a relative term in housing.
Financing comes from venture capital and loans.
Access is not limited to residents. Visitors are permitted.
Will this hurt marine life?
Actually, maybe the opposite, according to the panelists.
By establishing floating communities, there would be less of a need to extend the footprint of coastal cities by dumping more sand in the water.
