‘Dubai Reefs’ Floating Community To Be World’s Largest Ocean Eco-Project

Previously, sustainable architecture firm URB unveiled ‘The Loop’—a proposed smart, climate-controlled highway stretching 57 miles that welcomes only runners and cyclists. The route, which is awaiting approval from the authorities, is part of Dubai’s ambition to become a 20-minute city.

Now, the eco-friendly developer has come up with plans on an even larger scale in the form of Dubai Reefs, a floating living lab that it claims will become “the world’s largest ocean restoration project.”

The sustainable floating community will primarily be used for marine research, regeneration, and eco-tourism, though it will comprise residential homes, retail stores, educational facilities, and research laboratories all in one place.

According to URB, the site will accelerate the conservation capacity of the city by building the world’s most diverse artificial reef, which will span an astonishing 200 square kilometers (77.4 square miles). This will be home to over one billion corals and 100 million mangrove trees.

Visitors to the floating platform can choose to live in eco-lodges, all of which will be powered by renewable energy with solar panels and hydropower. Wave farms will be built on the site to provide additional clean energy for the main city’s population.

“The health of our cities is intrinsically tied to the health of our oceans. The ocean is the source of life controlling everything. Given that everything on our planet is connected, a healthy ocean is a healthy city,” remarked CEO of URB, Baharash Bagherian.

“As an innovative coastal city, Dubai is best positioned to lead such a transformation. Beyond creating a unique resilient destination for eco-tourism and marine research, Dubai Reefs aims to become a blueprint for ocean living, whilst mitigating the impacts of climate change,” he added.

Dubai Reefs isn’t the only floating community in the making. Similar projects include a 1,800-foot turtle “terayacht” and a Land on Water concept that situates modular homes in lagoons and oceans to create water-based settlements.

[via New Atlas and Mechanical, Electrical & Plumbing, images via URB]