Whether you believe it or not, sea levels are rising and not much is being done about it, so the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) are building a floating city for the future.

At the rate climate change is progressing right now, we’re all going to cop it pretty hard soon and the first people to feel these effects will be those who live on the coast – which is currently about 50% of the global population.

In order to prepare for that possible future, Bjarke Ingels Group have gotten the green light from the UN-Habitat and the Metropolitan City of Busan to start building their proposed Oceanix floating city.

This has come in response to not just climate change but also rapid population growth. As the Oceanix mission statement reads,

“As coastal cities struggle to cope with rapid population growth, many simply pour sand into the ocean to create new land. Unfettered coastal urbanisation is destroying millions of hectares of the ocean and marine life – close to 50% of people in the world live in coastal areas. The rising sea and climate change are compounding the problem. Oceanix is taking bold steps towards a more resilient future.”

UN-Habitat Executive Director, Maimunah Mohd Sharif, said in a statement, “Sustainable floating cities are a part of the arsenal of climate adaptation strategies available to us. 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.”

The actual floating city is made up of three parts that build on each other to create a whole. The core of these parts are the 2-hectare 300 resident neighbourhoods. These neighbourhoods then connect to form 12.2-hectare villages that house 1,650 people. Then those villages make up the entire 75-hectare city that houses 10,000 people.

Residents can walk or ride boats through the city very easily and public buildings will be a part of the experience. These will include a public square, marketplaces, art installations, schools, sports clubs, and more.

As soon as 2025 we may see this artificial archipelago around Busan, South Korea. Why Busan? As the co-founder of Oceanix, Itai Madamombe, said, “It just happened that Busan is the best place for us to deploy this prototype. But this is something that we hope will be useful to all coastal cities around the world, and all coastal communities who are facing the challenge of sea-level rise.”

The floating city will also be completely self-sustainable. They will source their own food through scallops, kelp, and such. It will produce its own energy and fresh water through the use of a fully integrated, closed loop system which will apparently create zero waste.

They have also ensured that the modular design can withstand any kind of natural disaster the ocean can throw at them. Unless Poseidon is angered by our invasion of his domain that is. That’s part of the reason all the buildings will be under seven stories to create a lower centre of gravity.

For more information, check out their website.