Tech

Floating cities could be a reality by 2020

Danielle Muoio

2016-03-29T19:55:44Z

Floating cities could be the future of living.

The Seasteading Institute made waves in 2008 (sorry, not sorry) when notable VC Peter Thiel decided to co-found the project. The floating cities are meant to serve as politically autonomous experiments with their own economies.

The project still seems far from completion, but the Seasteading Institute remains committed to its 2020 goal of bringing the futuristic cities to life. Here's a closer look at their plan.

The Seasteading Institute was founded in 2008, but it wasn't until 2012 that the company decided to pursue the floating city concept rather than just champion it.

Their goal is to create the first ever floating city by 2020.

"We thought that was a reasonable goal for us when we launched our project [in 2012]," Randolph Hencken, executive director of the institute, told Tech Insider. "It’s still audacious. I walk a line between optimistic and skeptical."

But Hencken remains hopeful, noting that if the institute can get one floating city done by 2020, it could have a "snowball effect" in generating interest.

At first the Seasteading Institute was looking to set the cities up in international waters, but now it's considering putting these cities near a coast.

Currently, the Seasteading Institute is talking to three coastal nations about setting up the cities off their shorelines.

"We hope one of these few nations we are talking to will see the value of what we’re offering and invite us in sooner or later," Hencken said.

Hencken declined to give the name of the nations the Institute is in discussions with.

The idea is a host nation could use the floating city to host political experiments and try different laws or political structures while benefiting from a separate economy.

"We can look to which nations are most prosperous and most free and have the best forms of democracy, and then employ the best laws for those nations and then experiment with something new," Hencken said.

Hencken said the floating city's economy could be supported by tourism and sustainable fishing, among other things.

Each floating city would be made up of 10 to 15 platforms that can house 20 people each, allowing for a total of 200 to 300 people.

"In the big picture view, we’d love to see 1,000-person floating cities each with their own government employing certain government services that meet the needs of their residents," Hencken said.

Hencken estimates each platform would cost around $15 million, meaning one floating city could cost between $150 to $165 million, depending on how big the platforms are.

The first floating city would be privately funded, and Hencken claims there are "lots of people who are interested in this project — the rolodex is not small."

In 2013, the campaign exceeded its $20,000 goal, raising $27,082 in tax deductible funds from 291 donors, which was matched dollar-for-dollar by the Thiel Foundation, Valleywag reported.

It may be some time until we see a floating city in reality, but Hencken is not alone in thinking it's the move for the future.

Several architects have proposed different, sustainable floating city concepts. Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut designed a floating aquatic home concept made of algae and garbage, and French architect Jacques Rougerie designed a 3,000-foot-long, manta-ray-shaped vessel capable of hosting 7,000 people.

Cities