South Korea Has Plans For The First-Ever Sustainable Floating City To Combat Rising Sea Levels

With rising sea levels around the globe that are threatening to destroy coastal cities entirely within the next few decades, South Korea has unveiled the first prototype for a floating city within the port town of Busan.

The prototype, which is a joint development by The United Nations “Un-Habitat," Busan, and “Oceanix,” was first conceptualized in 2021 as part of an attempt to create a solution for the rising sea levels, which are threatening to overtake several coastal cities and areas around the world within the next few decades.

The Busan floating city will be made up of interconnected platforms and have about 15 acres of total space. It is expected to hold 12,000 people. The platforms will hold eco-lodging, harbor view guest rooms, organic dining, communal terraces, eco-retail/dining options and sky-lit greenhouse amenities, according to the prototype.

Only sustainable energy with solar panels will be used in the floating city, and all water will be treated and recycled.

The rising sea levels have been a part of concerns related to climate change, and serve particularly as a threat to some small islands and low-lying coasts, a United Nations International Panel on Climate Change report from February revealed. This came after earlier warnings that cities like Busan could be completely underwater by 2030.

“If this flooding becomes more frequent, the nation’s infrastructure will stop functioning, costing Korea a huge amount of money in repairs,” Justin Jeong, a campaigner for Greenpeace, told The Korea Times in 2020. “This is why we need to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.”