the world’s first floating city gets the green light

 

the south korean city of busan, UN-habitat and OCEANIX have signed a historic agreement to build the world’s first sustainable floating city prototype. the project is to be realized off the coast of busan, a city with 3.4 million residents.

 

designed by bjarke ingels group (BIG), the ambitious concept was first unveiled in 2019. made up of a collection of hexagonal platforms, the city is devised to withstand natural disasters like floods, tsunamis, and hurricanes.

 

‘sustainable floating cities are a part of the arsenal of climate adaptation strategies available to us. instead of fighting with water, let us learn to live in harmony with it. we look forward to developing climate adaptation and nature-based solutions through the floating city concept, and busan is the ideal choice to deploy the prototype,’ said the executive director of UN-habitat maimunah mohd sharif. 

BIG's floating city to be built in south korea as part of UN-backed plan
all images by BIG-bjarke ingels group

 

 

around 40% of the world’s population lives within 100 kilometers of the coast. as sea levels continue to rise, coastal cities are facing unique demographic, environmental, economic, social and spatial challenges. 

 

‘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’s mayor park heong-joon.

 

‘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 OCEANIX co-founders, itai madamombe and marc collins chen.

BIG's floating city to be built in south korea as part of UN-backed plan
oceanix city is made up of a collection of hexagonal platforms

 

 

the floating city is envisaged to accommodate approximately 10,000 inhabitants at first but more modular platforms can be added over time. as well as being flood-proof, the city will produce its own food, energy and freshwater with fully integrated zero waste closed-loop systems.

 

bjarke ingels said about the project in 2019, ‘the additive architecture can grow, transform and adapt organically over time, evolving from a neighborhood of 300 residents to a city of 10,000 — with the possibility of scaling indefinitely to provide thriving nautical communities for people who care about each other and our planet.’

 

the BIG founder added, ‘9 out of 10 of the world’s largest cities will be exposed to rising seas by 2050. the sea is our fate – it may also be our future.’

 

see designboom’s previous coverage of the project here.

BIG's floating city to be built in south korea as part of UN-backed plan
10,000 residents will be accommodated at first

BIG's floating city to be built in south korea as part of UN-backed plan
the city will produce its own food, energy and freshwater

BIG's floating city to be built in south korea as part of UN-backed plan
the floating architecture is designed to withstand natural disasters

BIG's floating city to be built in south korea as part of UN-backed plan
the project will be the world’s first floating city prototype

 

 

project info:

 

client: oceanix
size: 75 hectares
collaborators: MIT center for ocean engineering, mobility in chain, sherwood design engineers, center for zero waste design, transsolar klimaengineering, global coral reef alliance, studio other spaces (olafur eliasson and sebastian behmann), dickson despommier

 

BIG–bjarke ingels group —
partners-in-charge: bjarke ingels, daniel sundlin
project leaders: alana goldweit, jeremy alain siegel
team: andy coward, ashton stare, autumn visconti, bernardo schuhmacher, carlos castillo, cristina medina-gonzalez, jacob karasik, kristoffer negendahl, mai lee, manon otto, terrence chew, thomas mcmurtrie, tore banke, tracy sodder, walid bhatt, will campion, yushan huang, tore banke, ziyu guo