We are not talking about Kevin Costner’s “WaterWorld” (or as I like to think of it: Fishtar) here.
French Polynesia has signed paperwork with California based nonprofit Seasteading Institute to hopefully begin construction of a floating city off the coast of Tahiti within 2 years. Technically, the paperwork is a Memorandum Of Understanding.
The new endeavour, which will be called Blue Frontiers, is based on their belief that floating, independent cities will be the future. This initial floating complex will be used to test new forms of government, agriculture, healthcare and more. The Seasteading Institute, founded by PayPal’s Peter Thiel, has been researching this idea for the past half decade. The design will consist of multiple interlocking floating platforms that can be moved around to create different cityscapes. (I can’t wait for the Lego Architecture series of this!)
Tahiti is the perfect environment to test this new concept because it offers a steady, secure local government and a barrier reef which creates stable waters. French Polynesia is a collection of 118 islands and most will be at great risk in the near future from rising ocean levels.
According to ABC, before the final go ahead will be granted, the initiative must first show that it will be environmentally friendly and what the impact to the local economy will be. Once these 2 points are shown, the local government (and possibly France which still holds the territory) can give the green light.
Here is a cool video of the concept:
Geeky Daddy 