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Waterworld, the 1995 blockbuster starring Kevin Costner, foresaw a not-so-distant future where the polar ice caps had completely melted and sea levels had risen above all dry land, wiping out most of humanity. Almost 30 years later, with signs of rising sea levels clearer than ever before, an international consortium is looking to prepare for a similar crisis by building fully self-sustainable communities that float on water.
The consortium is led by OCEANIX, a New York-based startup that has teamed up with a host of entities including UN-Habitat and architecture and engineering agencies BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group and SAMOO, from Denmark and South Korea respectively. In 2021, the group signed an agreement with the South Korean city of Busan, home to one of the world’s largest container ports, to begin a feasibility study for a 15.5-acre floating-habitat prototype to be built at the downtown pier. Construction on the project, OCEANIX Busan, is slated to start in 2026, subject to regulatory approval.
OCEANIX Busan will accommodate up to 12,000 people on three interconnected floating platforms, although the number of these “islands” could potentially be expanded to host up to 100,000 people. Each of the initial islands will serve a specific purpose — lodging, research, and living, for example — and there will be mixed-use areas within each neighborhood.
The buildings on all the platforms will be low-rise — none will be more than five stories high — and the infrastructure supporting them will be designed to make the community fully sustainable and to enhance the surrounding marine ecology. In line with the goal of creating an eco-friendly living environment, there will be greenhouses and organic dining facilities, as well as eco-retail options along the waterfront. The research platform will also feature hydroponic towers for farming, as well as a research platform with a co-working and maritime research hub. Meanwhile, on the lodging and living platforms, ample communal spaces will be provided to foster interaction among the residents.
In the South Korean city of Busan, an international consortium led by New York-based startup OCEANIX is planning to build a sustainable floating community
In the South Korean city of Busan, an international consortium led by New York-based startup OCEANIX is planning to build a sustainable floating community
In the bustling port of Busan in South Korea, an ambitious project is taking shape: to extend the city into the ocean by creating a resilient and sustainable floating community.
_____By Jeyup S. Kwaak
“When coastal cities run out of land, they usually reclaim land,” says OCEANIX cofounder Itai Madamombe. “But pouring debris takes a long time to settle, it’s susceptible to earthquakes, and it’s not environmentally sound.” Madamombe adds that unlike some other floating structures that have been proposed or are under construction, OCEANIX islands are designed to be fully self-sustainable, with everything from solar power generation and urban agriculture to closed-loop water systems and recycling.
Hurdles remain, however. As an early prototype of a sustainable floating community, the project is likely to face scrutiny from authorities on issues ranging from its impact on the marine environment to disaster readiness. While South Korea has already erected some small buildings on water, the country lacks a legal framework that supports a waterborne project of this scale. “There are no rules or standards that have been written,” says Jae-Sung Park, a senior official at Busan Metropolitan City Hall who is leading the project.
OCEANIX Busan was unveiled in April 2022 at the Second UN Roundtable on Sustainable Floating Cities as one solution to address the issue of coastal cities facing land shortages as well as climatic threats. Scientists agree that sea levels are rising worldwide, with one estimate putting the total urban population at risk at over 800 million people across 570 cities by 2050.
In the face of this threat, OCEANIX Busan is among a growing list of floating cities planned worldwide, from Saudi Arabia’s Oxagon project to The Maldives Floating City. And with global warming showing no sign of abating, there will no doubt be many more of these projects in the pipeline in the years ahead.
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