[h=1]Floating cities: Is the ocean humanity’s next frontier?[/h] August 4, 2014 Paul French
Floating cities are nothing new. In the early 1960s, Buckminster Fuller designed a city – Triton – that was intended to float off the coast of Tokyo Bay. It was later considered but never commissioned by the US government.
“Three-quarters of our planet Earth is covered with water, most of which may float organic cities,” Fuller explains in his book Critical Path. “Floating cities pay no rent to landlords. They are situated on the water, which they desalinate and recirculate in many useful and non-polluting ways.”
Fifty years on, with heavy pollution causing climate change and rising sea levels, Fuller’s floating city concept is being seriously considered as an antidote to those problems.
[h=3]China’s enthusiasm[/h]
With almost 20% of the world’s population living in China, it is no surprise that the People’s Republic is one of the keenest countries to translate Fuller’s idea into a modern reality.
At the behest of the Chinese Construction Company (CCCC), British firm AT Design Office has planned a four square mile floating city that could ease the overcrowding and environmental problems that plague the country.
Using the same technologies that CCCC used to build a 31-mile bridge between Hong Kong, Macau and Zuhai, a series of prefabricated 150m x 30m blocks would be created in a factory and floated out to site for construction.
The city’s infrastructure includes a cruise dock, walkways and a network of roads and canals that will be used by electric cars and submarines, keeping the island free from congestion and air pollution.
Recreational green spaces would be located above and below the water’s surface while farms, hatcheries and rubbish collection facilities would allow the community to produce its own food and sustainably dispose of waste.
“The project offered an opportunity to develop a new urban nucleus of world-class residential, commercial and cultural facilities, as well as to promote a zero-carbon, energy-efficient and self-sufficient city,” says AT Design architect Slavomir Siska. “China Transport Investment Co is reviewing the proposal and is likely to start to test this ambitious project from a smaller scale next year.”
Read More at:
Floating cities: Is the ocean humanity?s next frontier? | Factor
Floating cities are nothing new. In the early 1960s, Buckminster Fuller designed a city – Triton – that was intended to float off the coast of Tokyo Bay. It was later considered but never commissioned by the US government.
“Three-quarters of our planet Earth is covered with water, most of which may float organic cities,” Fuller explains in his book Critical Path. “Floating cities pay no rent to landlords. They are situated on the water, which they desalinate and recirculate in many useful and non-polluting ways.”
Fifty years on, with heavy pollution causing climate change and rising sea levels, Fuller’s floating city concept is being seriously considered as an antidote to those problems.
[h=3]China’s enthusiasm[/h]
With almost 20% of the world’s population living in China, it is no surprise that the People’s Republic is one of the keenest countries to translate Fuller’s idea into a modern reality.
At the behest of the Chinese Construction Company (CCCC), British firm AT Design Office has planned a four square mile floating city that could ease the overcrowding and environmental problems that plague the country.
Using the same technologies that CCCC used to build a 31-mile bridge between Hong Kong, Macau and Zuhai, a series of prefabricated 150m x 30m blocks would be created in a factory and floated out to site for construction.
The city’s infrastructure includes a cruise dock, walkways and a network of roads and canals that will be used by electric cars and submarines, keeping the island free from congestion and air pollution.
Recreational green spaces would be located above and below the water’s surface while farms, hatcheries and rubbish collection facilities would allow the community to produce its own food and sustainably dispose of waste.
“The project offered an opportunity to develop a new urban nucleus of world-class residential, commercial and cultural facilities, as well as to promote a zero-carbon, energy-efficient and self-sufficient city,” says AT Design architect Slavomir Siska. “China Transport Investment Co is reviewing the proposal and is likely to start to test this ambitious project from a smaller scale next year.”
Read More at:
Floating cities: Is the ocean humanity?s next frontier? | Factor
