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New York - A prototype of the world’s first sustainable floating city has been revealed. The design, created by UN-Habitat, the Busan Metropolitan City of the Republic of Korea and blue tech company OCEANIX, aims to provide breakthrough technology for coastal cities threatened by climate change.

Ninety per cent of mega cities worldwide are vulnerable to rising sea levels. Now, UN-Habitat, the Busan Metropolitan City of the Republic of Korea and the blue tech company OCEANIX have unveiled the design of the world’s first prototype sustainable floating city. OCEANIX Busan aims to provide breakthrough technology for coastal cities facing severe land shortages due to climatic threats, according to a statement

It is the world’s first prototype of a sustainable floating city and is the work of the best designers, engineers and sustainability experts led by New York-based OCEANIX. It was unveiled at the Second UN Roundtable on Sustainable Floating Cities after Busan was announced as the host city last year. “We joined forces with UN-Habitat and OCEANIX to be the first to prototype and scale this audacious idea because our common future is at stake in the face of sea level rise,” said Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon in the statement. 

OCEANIX Busan has 6.3 hectares of modular neighbourhoods on interconnected platforms, with areas for living, research and lodging, as well as mixed-use space. The floating platforms connect to the land with bridges and have systems for zero waste, closed loop water, food, mobility and coastal habitat regeneration. These interconnected systems will generate 100 per cent of the required energy on site through floating and rooftop photovoltaic panels, according to the statement. The floating city will start with three platforms but has the potential to expand to more than 20. 

“We are on track to delivering OCEANIX Busan and demonstrating 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,” said the Chief Executive Officer of OCEANIX, Philipp Hofmann, in the statement.