The South Korean city of Busan, UN-Habitat and the blue tech company Oceanix have signed an agreement to build the world’s first prototype sustainable floating city off the coast of Busan, according to an article from the online news portal Cities Today. With 90 per cent of mega cities worldwide vulnerable to rising sea levels, the initiative aims to demonstrate solutions.
The Busan proposal includes a floating community made up of modular interconnected islands, expected to accommodate up to 10,000 residents over 75 hectares, writes the article. There are plans for communal farming, wind-resistant buildings that provide shade and generate solar energy, and underwater ecosystem regeneration solutions. The infrastructure will rise with the sea and have its own fully integrated zero-waste closed-loop systems.
Speaking to Cities Today, Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, described sustainable floating cities as a part of the arsenal of climate adaptation strategies. He said, “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.”
Through supporting the project, Busan, which is one of the world’s busiest shipping ports, says it aims to cultivate a new generation of blue tech innovators, entrepreneurs and researchers.
