Floating Metropolis

The United Nations has issued a warning: two out of five people in the world live within a hundred kilometres of the coast and 90% of mega-cities are vulnerable to sea-level rise. It is now certain that, since we can no longer go back, one way to challenge climate change is to welcome it and adapt.

The South Korean port city of Busan, population 3.4 million and among the world's leading maritime cities, has hit the nail on the head, designing its future with OCEANIX Busan, the first prototype of a resilient and sustainable floating community, unveiled precisely in collaboration with UN-Habitat, the UN agency that focuses on socially and environmentally sustainable urbanization.

The new district, developed in collaboration with the architects of the Bjarke Ingels Group, will consist of a series of interconnected platforms of hexagonal shape prefabricated on land and towed and completed at sea. All together up to 12 thousand people will be able to live there and will connect to the mainland with connecting bridges that frame a lagoon protected by floating areas dedicated to recreation, art and shows.

Being a modular structure, for now the project will start with three platforms, but can potentially expand to more than 20.

Given its purpose, OCEANIX Busan has the most comprehensive focus on sustainability: zero waste through circular systems, closed-loop water systems, food, net zero energy, innovative mobility, and coastal habitat regeneration. 100% of the operational energy is produced by photovoltaic panels, both floating and on rooftops. Each neighbourhood will treat and recycle its own water, reduce and recycle resources and provide innovative urban agriculture supported by a predominantly plant-based diet: in addition to the products grown on the platforms, the inhabitants will be able to eat oysters, mussels, scallops and clams that will be cultivated on biorocks under each platform.

They are both good and useful to clean the water and accelerate the regeneration of the ecosystem.