Oceanix is building cities not to resist rising water but to float on it
Global sea levels are predicted to rise significantly over the next century due to climate change and as glaciers melt coastal cities are looking for ways to cope with the growing threat of flooding.
With the world sinking, one startup — Oceanix — is making waves with its concept of building cities not to resist rising water but to float on it.
The company presented the concept of floating city in the UN roundtable conference along with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and US-based Explorers Club. It has gained huge support.
The idea involves building areas on floating concrete platforms and planted to the seafloor. The platforms are then linked to by walkways to form communities with urban life. The floating platforms are being designed by the Center for Ocean Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while the water structures are designed by New York and Copenhagen-based group of architects.
The company claims buildings will be of timber from sustainable forests, and will have green houses, vertical farms and underwater gardens in them. Renewable power sources like wind and solar would be used to provide necessary power to the city and would have sewage and waste-recycling systems and desalination plants to provide potable water.
With the modular design, the city can organically transform and adapt over time. Six of the hexagonal platforms could form a floating village big enough to hold almost 2,000 people. Six villages combined to form a floating city could accommodate 10,000 people.
Oceanix wants to make it affordable and available to all coastal areas in need and is planning to produce a prototype of the floating platforms on an artificial island located on New York’s East River.
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