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The UN Wants To Build Floating Cities To Save Us From Climate Change (wired.com)
dmoberhaus writes: On Wednesday, the United Nations convened its first ever round table on floating cities. WIRED was in attendance to hear about one specific proposal -- Oceanix City -- the creation of a co-founder of Blue Frontiers, the for-profit wing of the Thiel-backed Seasteading Institute. This project, he says, is less about libertarianism and more about survival. It sounds like paradise, but many technological, economic, and political hurdles will have to be overcome before it's a reality. "Oceanix City was designed by the renowned Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, along with dozens of experts from institutions like the UN and MIT," Wired reports. "According to Ingels, who lives on a houseboat himself, residents of the floating city will use 100 percent renewable energy, eat only plant-based food, produce zero waste, and provide housing affordable to all, not just the rich."
"At the core of Oceanix City is a 4.5-acre hexagonal floating platform that is meant to host up to 300 people," the report adds. "These platforms are modular, meaning they can be linked to form larger communities as they tessellate across the surface of the ocean. Each platform will be anchored to the ocean floor using biorock, a material that is harder than concrete and can be grown using minerals found in the ocean, which could make the anchor more secure over time. These anchors might also serve as the seeds of artificial reefs to rejuvenate aquatic ecosystems around the floating city." The community's needs and city's location will determine the design of each platform. For example, some could act as barriers to limit the impact of waves; while others could be dedicated to agriculture. Wired goes on to discuss the political and technological challenges associated with these floating cities.
"The plan for the first Oceanix City is to moor it about a mile off the coast of a major city," reports Wired. "If one of these ocean-top communities were to get parked near New York City, for example, the floating community could be treated as a new borough, or a separate city under the jurisdiction of the state..."
"At the core of Oceanix City is a 4.5-acre hexagonal floating platform that is meant to host up to 300 people," the report adds. "These platforms are modular, meaning they can be linked to form larger communities as they tessellate across the surface of the ocean. Each platform will be anchored to the ocean floor using biorock, a material that is harder than concrete and can be grown using minerals found in the ocean, which could make the anchor more secure over time. These anchors might also serve as the seeds of artificial reefs to rejuvenate aquatic ecosystems around the floating city." The community's needs and city's location will determine the design of each platform. For example, some could act as barriers to limit the impact of waves; while others could be dedicated to agriculture. Wired goes on to discuss the political and technological challenges associated with these floating cities.
"The plan for the first Oceanix City is to moor it about a mile off the coast of a major city," reports Wired. "If one of these ocean-top communities were to get parked near New York City, for example, the floating community could be treated as a new borough, or a separate city under the jurisdiction of the state..."
Fresh water production? Sewage treatment? I'm sure they've thought of these things right?
Four acres just doesn't seem big enough for 300 people, growing food, producing electricity, treating sewage, and producing fresh water.
And 21st Century? Four acres is 1.6 hectares. As an American myself, isn't time we started getting lined up with the rest of the world and use metric first? Really, it is time.
Not a workaround that will produce even more pollution and problems!
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
reasonable .
Huh?
a) What's reasonable about spending trillions of dollars on making cities float instead of spending less money on not needing to do that (eg. passing a few laws to penalize emissions, invest in renewable energy and next-gen nuclear power)?
b) What's reasonable about plans that make floating Floridas for the rich and will leave the other 99.999% of the world to fend for themselves?
No sig today...
Humanity is rocketing towards 8 billion people. Laws passed by a few countries with good intentions isn't going to stop humanity from emitting crazy amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere.
They're called ocean liners and they're about as enviromentally unfriendly as you can get.
You think rich people are going to live on 4 acres with 300 other people?
Are you fucking retarded?
b) What's reasonable about plans that make floating Floridas for the rich
According to the visionary himself, the houses will be affordable for the poor.
According to Trump, America will be great again.
and not the most serious one.
Throughout history (and prehistory) the weather phenomenon that has killed the most people is drought.