A Dutch multinational is building a floating city in the Maldives, a tropical paradise of 1,190 islands in the Indian Ocean.
Built on a turquoise lagoon, the city is just 10 minutes from the capital, Male. When completed in 2027, it will be able to accommodate 20,000 people.
Dubbed the Maldives Floating City, the project was designed by Waterstudio, a joint venture between property developer Dutch Docklands and the Maldives government.
Features of Maldives Water City
Within the two square kilometers of the lagoon, there are houses, shops and schools in the city. The design is based on a network of canals running between the buildings, which appear as hexagonal floating structures.
according to CNNresidents can begin moving into built-up areas of the city in early 2024.
The city will be built keeping in mind the pristine marine ecosystem of the archipelago. The artificial coral bank will be attached to the city’s bottom to stimulate the growth of natural corals, the developers said.
Prices start at $150,000 for a studio and can go up to $250,000 for a family home.
Why is the Maldives building a floating city?
The idea behind the creation of floating cities was not out of vanity, but for practical reasons that threatened the archipelago and all of them.
Most of the islands in the Maldives are less than a meter above sea level, meaning they will be submerged by 2100, when water levels are expected to rise by a meter.
However, a floating city can manage to remain largely unaffected as it rises with the water level.
“It can prove that water is safe with affordable housing, large communities and normal towns. They (Maldives) will go from climate refugees to climate innovators,” Waterstudio founder Koen Olthuis told CNN.
The floating city of the Maldives is not the first idea of its kind, although it may well be the first to be executed.
In December 2021, the city of Busan, South Korea accepted a plan to build a floating community for 10,000-12,000 people. The first prototype structure has an area of 0.063 square kilometers, and at least 20 more units will be connected to it over time.
