San Francisco – U.S. company Seastading Institute is planning to build a floating city in Tahiti. A corresponding agreement has already been concluded with the government of French Polynesia.
The Seastading Institute has been working on its vision of floating cities since 2008, as is explored in an article by the Swiss Tages-Anzeiger. The Institute plans to hold a conference on the topic in Tahiti from 15 to 18 May 2017, at which the President of French Polynesia, Edouard Fritch, will be among the speakers.
The advantages of floating cities have already been tried and tested on a range of different floating buildings. Above all, this will quite simply mean more space is available in those areas where it is in short supply on densely populated land. The use of floating hotels is already common today where there is insufficient space on land, during trade fairs, for example. The Hotel OFF Paris Seine is anchored on the Seine in Paris. The hotel’s architect Gérard Ronzatti feels there is a great benefit to its sustainability. The Tages-Anzeiger reports that embankments are not required and the shores remain unaffected. Materials can also be transported on the water. In Germany and the Netherlands, the use of floating hollow concrete blocks or concrete pontoons is being combined with traditional housing construction to develop floating houses.
However, there are some legal questions that must be addressed when it comes to creating floating cities at sea. For example, these communities would form outside national borders in international waters. Consequently, the aspect of jurisdiction would need clarification beforehand.
