Venice and Miami Beach are just two popular destinations that are constantly hampered by frequent flooding. According to the Coastal Risk Screening Tool created by Climate Central, other major cities that are at risk of persistent flooding in the next 80 years include Tokyo, Mumbai, New York City, Bangkok, San Francisco, London, Sydney, and more. Various solutions have been implemented in the construction world to combat the threat of rising waters, including flood barriers, surge barriers, seawalls and breakwaters, relocation to higher elevations, restoring wetlands, and remodeling utility infrastructure. While it is commonplace to continue building structures to protect our current infrastructure, a more sustainable and permanent solution is preferable to tackle the rising water threats of this century. Industry pioneers are using new technology and innovation, while callenging today’s traditional construction methodologies to reimagine new sustainable living environments that will address precarious climate challenges that lay ahead. For example, UN-Habitat in conjunction with Oceanix, launched the idea of Oceanix Busan, a zero-waste, hurricane-resistant, floating city, to make this pioneering dream a reality. Nevertheless, creating an offshore environment comes with many challenges, and although inspiring, it is a complicated concept that shows that innovation and implementation of technology are essential for the future of housing, not just for prospective building and sustainable solutions but for navigating all the unfamiliar challenges faced along the way. In short, technology must be a part of the solution.

Another challenge, and perhaps one of the greatest challenges that needs to be addressed when building this new environment is the waves and ocean tide. The platforms need to be able to rise with the waves and according to the height of the ocean tide, yet in a livable manner in which residents don’t feel the oscillation of the waves. This requires engineered metal frames that can serve as dynamic foundations for the building to render the wave forces obsolete. This is just one of many examples of new engineering feats required just to build in the ocean. Many new technological tools will be required to address living in a new, unique environment, and ensure that they are durable, cost effective, and comfortable to live in.

Not only are floating cities an innovative and impressive solution to combat rising water levels, but they can also be a solution for rising population challenges across Europe and Asia, and where accessible land is scarce. The world’s growing population is creating a demand for residential and public facilities that is greater than ever before. The Oceanix project is particularly interesting due to the visionary and bold way they are reimagining new living environments from scratch. Many of the principals and approaches harnessed in the Oceanix project can help reframe the way we build traditional neighborhoods and help create processes that will allow sustainable decentralized living environments at scale. Questions that should be considered are, if we are creating a decentralized, independent system from scratch, is it feasible and cost effective to scale the approach? And, in terms of the population crisis, would it make more sense to repurpose cities, rather than creating an entire environment from scratch, or is it harder to refurbish infrastructure in an optimal way when working off of “legacy” networks from a couple of decades back? Either way, one thing is for certain. The change that is required for maintaining a sustainable future is complicated, and technology is and will most likely continue to play a critical role.

Would you be willing to live in a floating city?

Do you believe that it is a solution at scale?

Is there a topic in construction technology that you would like to learn more about?

I would like to send a special thank you to Matteo Pietrobelli, the chief engineer and CTO at Oceanix, who was our inspiration for this article.