First Look Inside World’s First Floating City, Located In South Korea

By Mikelle Leow, 27 Apr 2022

Image via OCEANIX/BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

It won’t be land-ho, but all aboard, when the world’s first floating city takes shape in South Korea’s busy Busan.

As sea levels rise, the United Nations has been exploring the idea of building cities on water instead of on the ground. As part of one of its initiatives to cope with climate change, it green-lit plans with the city of Busan to trial a prototype of a floating settlement. Most recently, organizers shared more information about this city at a UN meeting in New York, and we now have detailed renderings of what it might look like.

Busan is South Korea’s second-largest city, with over 3.6 million people living in it. It’s also the nation’s largest seaport, making it an ideal location for this ocean settlement.

Image via OCEANIX/BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

Planned to take lodge at Busan’s North Port, the prototype city will start out with a capacity for 12,000 residents and visitors across three platforms.

Image via OCEANIX/BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

It would then organically evolve to accommodate a community of 100,000 people over a surface area of 15.5 acres.

A snapshot of the city developing in four phases. Image via OCEANIX/BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

The project was designed by architects at prolific Danish design firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and Samsung-owned Samoo Architects & Engineers, with development by floating city company Oceanix.

The settlement will be split into modular neighborhoods, each one focused on a specific purpose like living, lodging, or research—which will include coworking venues.

The ‘Living’ platform. Image via OCEANIX/BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

The ‘Lodging’ platform. Image via OCEANIX/BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

The ‘Research’ platform. Image via OCEANIX/BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

The neighborhoods—connected by bridges—will all have individual systems to treat and generate clean water, enable urban agriculture, and facilitate recycling, as well as their own greenhouses and 30,000 to 40,000 square meters (323,000 to 430,000 square feet) of mixed-use programs.

The city will be 100% self-sustainable, powered by six integrated systems comprising net-zero energy, zero-waste and circular technology, closed-loop water systems, food facilities, mobility services, and coastal habitat regeneration.

Image via OCEANIX/BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

Oceanix and BIG aren’t stopping at Busan. On the developer’s website, it’s also shared mockups of other floating cities in Africa, Northern Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.

“We believe Oceanix’s floating platforms can be developed at scale to serve as the foundations for future resilient communities in the most vulnerable coastal locations on the frontlines of climate change,” details BIG founder Bjarke Ingels.