Maldives Floating City: A Sustainable Future
The Maldives has long been the picture-perfect paradise getaway, and even more so during the pandemic. Last year saw tourism return to almost pre-pandemic levels with the arrival of 1.3 million travellers, compared to 1.7 million visitors in 2019. Now, the world’s lowest-lying nation might have a stable solution to the stark reality of rising sea levels. The Maldives Floating City has just been green-lit for construction: 5,000 housing units that are linked together and tethered to the floor of a 500-acre lagoon, designed to preserve and enhance its natural and cultural ecosystem.
Everything You Need to Know About Maldives Floating City
Located a 15-minute boat ride from Malé and the international airport, the project is based on an integrated tourism model and will include hotels, houses, shops, and restaurants. It will operate as a car-free zone, navigated via canals and natural white-sand roads on foot or with bicycles and electric, noise-free buggies and scooters.
International visitors have the option of obtaining a residence permit through the purchase of a house. The first floating housing block, currently under construction by Bison, will be transported to the lagoon and opened for public viewing in August, allowing people to gauge the look and feel of the homes. The modular city construction is slated for January 2023 and is expected to take about five years to complete.
Architecture and Sustainability
The Maldives Floating City represents a private-public partnership between Dutch Docklands and the island government. The founders of Dutch Docklands, architect Koen Olthuis and developer Paul van de Camp, have leveraged floating technology from the Netherlands—a country well-versed in designing architecture to withstand floods.
Are Floating Cities Climate-Proof?
The design by the architectural firm Waterstudio was a finalist for the Best Futura Project at the 2022 MIPIM Awards, often referred to as the Asian Oscars for global development. Many factors shaped the design and urban planning, including projections of sea-rise levels over a 100-year period, supply and waste management, surplus energy in the smart grid, and the impact of shadows from large structures on marine life. The city’s grid, described as “a nature-based structure of roads and water canals resembling the beautiful and efficient organization of real brain coral,” is intended to stimulate coral growth with artificial coral banks attached to its underside, serving as natural wave-reduction breakers.
Given the looming threat of climate change, floating architecture is gaining traction as a sustainable alternative. Traditional examples include the indigenously created reed islands on Lake Titicaca and manmade aquaculture ponds in Manipur shaped from floating vegetation. Recent innovations include Amsterdam’s floating neighborhood of Waterbuurt and various floating hotels, like Copenhagen’s Hotel CPH Living and France’s Off Paris Seine. If all goes to plan, the world could see its first floating city in 2027.
For details and updates on Maldives Floating City, see here.
