South Korea's largest port city of Busan said Wednesday it has partnered with the U.N. agency focusing on sustainable urbanization and the U.S. tech company Oceanix to build the world's first prototype floating city near a Busan port.
Busan, the UN-Habitat and Oceanix have unveiled the design of the city named Oceanix Busan at the U.N. headquarters in New York to provide breakthrough technology for coastal cities facing severe land shortages that are compounded by climatic threats.
Two out of every 5 people in the world live within 100 kilometers of the coast, and 90 percent of mega cities worldwide are vulnerable to rising sea levels, they said in a joint statement.
"Today is a pivotal milestone for all coastal cities and island nations on the front lines of climate change," Oceanix CEO Philipp Hofmann said in the statement.
"We are on track to deliver Oceanix Busan and demonstrate that floating infrastructure can create new land for coastal cities looking for sustainable ways to expand onto the ocean, while adapting to sea level rise."
Oceanix Busan, the world's first prototype of a sustainable floating community, will have six integrated systems: zero waste and circular systems, closed loop water systems, food, net zero energy, innovative mobility and coastal habitat regeneration.
The 15.5-acre-wide interconnected platforms can initially accommodate 12,000 residents and have the potential to expand to accommodate 100,000 people. Each neighborhood is designed to serve a specific purpose -- living, research and lodging -- it said.
"We cannot solve today's problems with yesterday's tools," Maimunah Mohd Sharif, executive director of UN-Habitat, said. "We need to innovate solutions to global challenges."
In 2019, the UN-Habitat and Oceanix suggested the prototype floating city project to several international cities. The Busan metropolitan city signed a memorandum of understanding with the two partners in July last year, an official at the Busan city government said over the phone.
"Oceanix will be in charge of conducting a feasibility study for the floating community, planning the city and attracting investments from the private sector, while the Busan city will provide administrative support, such as licensing," the official said.
