If your country is
threatened by the water, the safest place to be is already
on top of the water. It's not a boat OR a house.
It's a hybrid. Climate chaos is happening now.
It's not happening in the future or the past --
but it's already going on. It's the future
of humanity. Sea levels will continue
to rise, but by how much? The Earth is getting hotter. The polar
ice caps are melting. In Greenland and Antarctica, the ice is receding
six times faster than expected. Sea levels around the
world are rising. GEOMAR — the Helmholtz Center for
Ocean Research — is located in Kiel, Germany. Some of the world's top
climate experts work here -- including Mojib Latif, who studies
global warming and its effects. -These enormous ice caps hold an
immense amount of water. Just imagine if they were to
melt away completely — global sea levels would
rise by about 60 meters. An increase of that magnitude would
radically alter the Earth's geography. Much of Northern Europe could be submerged,
the Netherlands would vanish under water. But even a smaller increase would have a
major impact. Major cities in coastal regions — and further
inland — would be flooded. That includes
London...Boston. Shanghai. Washington, D-C. and Mumbai. -That won't happen for decades or even
centuries. But if we don’t limit global warming, it will eventually be unstoppable.
Even if we stop emitting greenhouse gases entirely,
it will be too late. These huge sheets of ice are
dynamic systems. If they reach a tipping point, sea levels
could rise a lot, very quickly. -We know that happened at the end of
the last ice age. We don’t know if it could happen today. An
increase of one meter or even three meters is possible
by the end of the century. Sea levels are rising — and eventually,
many coastal regions might be reclaimed by the ocean. Since
the 19th century, global mean sea levels have risen
by about 20 centimeters. In the South Pacific, sea levels are
rising two- to three times faster than the global mean. The island
nation of Tuvalu might be the first to be
swallowed by the waves. Fully one-half of the Netherlands lies
just one meter above sea level. One- quarter is below sea level.
The country is protected by a system of polders, dikes, and
dams -- but for how long? The Netherlands is developing
innovative concepts to deal with the projected
rise in sea levels. Here in Amsterdam, a pilot
project has created an entire community
of floating homes. Sascha Glasl is a founding partner of the
"Space & Matter" architectural studio. He and his family now live in one of the
houseboats. A small building initiative began acquiring these sites about ten years
ago. There's room for about 30 homes. Houseboats here are nothing new,
but this project is one of a kind. -Living on the water is incredible. It's
a dream come true for me. This place feels like a vacation home.
You come back from work, and you feel relaxed --
like you're on vacation. Sascha designed the house himself.
There's plenty of living space, spread out over three levels. You won't find this
kind of comfort on a traditional houseboat. This jetty connects the floating
settlement to the mainland. -We've got connections to the power
grid, sewage and water systems, the internet, and so on. It's a 'plug and
play' concept; it's simple, and it works really well. It's like when you pull
your motor-home into a camping site: you can connect to the entire
infrastructure system. -Living on the water gives you a lot
of flexibility. You can expand the community quickly, or make it smaller.
You can re-configure it again and again. This concept has
huge potential. These floating homes generate much of
their own energy with photovoltaic solar panels. Right now, this site
is purely residential -- but Sascha believes that
this might change one day. -Our vision is not limited to houseboats.
You could also have floating schools, offices, and supermarkets -- just about
any sort of structure, actually. The Waterstudio architectural firm is
located in the town of Rijswijk. The company was founded by Koen Olthuis.
He's known around the world for developing "floating solutions" to problems
posed by climate change and urbanization. -People call me a 'water architect' -- and
for me, that means that you use water to make cities better. So worldwide we
try to take advantage of the water by building on water, by taking the
flexibility of the water -- create cities that are more efficient
and more adaptable. The Dutch have been taming
the water and fighting the rising and falling
tides for centuries. -The Netherlands is an artificial country.
We live below the sea level. And what we did, we built some dikes around it,
and we pumped water out -- so now we have a dry country. But of course, with
climate change, with more sea-level rise, we can't keep everything dry. So, we
now have to see what is the next step for this fantastic machine
we call the Netherlands. But if sea levels continue to rise, the
Netherlands will be among the first countries that will have
to deal with the impact. -Here we have to take a lot of effort to
keep everything dry. And I think what other architects and other countries can
learn from the Dutch is that you never can sit still. You have to think of next
steps in your city and in your country. And we call this 'building for change'
-- and building for change means that we have to be flexible. We have to be ready
for any change in politics, in technology, in climate, in whatever comes to us.
And with that, we have to make sure that we can
create new cities. Koen Olthuis envisions what
he calls the Blue City — a floating metropolis that grows
out of an existing city. By building on the water, structures or
even districts could be relocated to respond to climate change
or new social conditions. Koen Olthuis is an optimist. He believes
that architects and urban planners will play an important role in helping
communities adapt to rising sea levels. -So, we also have to deal with nature; we
have to start living with the water. And that is the moment that this kind of
floating architecture, taking use of the water to build on top of the water, is the
best, because if your city or your country is threatened by the water, the safest
place to be is already on top of the water. Here in Amsterdam's Ijburg district,
people are already living in floating homes and apartment buildings.
It's a model housing estate that features designs by
a number of architects. The structures are
anchored to the sea floor. Instead of garages, there
are docks for boats. The neighborhood is also different in
another respect. It's connected to the mainland by a jetty. And the
houses float on the water. So how were these
structures actually built? -You make floating foundations from
concrete, or from steel, or from composites -- and with those, we can
make very large floating platforms. And on top of these platforms, we can build
almost anything -- from parks and green, to houses, to towers. And with these big
platforms, we can connect to our cities on the water, on lakes, on
rivers, on seas. And by that, we can take advantage
of that water space. The range of possibilities seems
endless: the Ocean Flower complex in the Maldive Islands, with 185 villas
and a floating golf course. The Citadel apartment complex in the
Netherlands — a design that would use the water to help cool the
buildings, consuming 25 percent less energy than
conventional structures. A plan for an entire floating city.
It features self-contained modular construction, and has lots
of recreational space. A design for a floating mosque
in the United Arab Emirates. And a 25-storey hotel tower in Dubai,
rotating on a floating foundation. But Koen Olthuis is mainly interested in
designing floating residential communities. -But only floating villas will never be
enough. If you really want to cure the problems of space, you have
to use higher density. And that means that we also have
to make floating towers. So, the next steps for floating cities
will be these floating mid-rise towers. So we're designing now a tower for
Rotterdam, a floating office tower of mid-rise, of eight stories. and we (use
sealed teak and cross-laminated timber) -- (and it stands on a big
floating foundation). You can create almost the
same density as on land. One basic idea underlies
Waterstudio’s designs — and accounts for its
international success. -People ask me, 'Do you want to live on the
water yourself?' Well, I have a family. I have three sons. And for me, I (would)
only want to live on the water if the quality of the comfort is exactly the
same as on land. But today, with all the technology we have available from the
offshore industry and from the shipping industry, we can make platforms that nobody
will even notice that you're on the water. This is the Maesland storm-surge barrier,
in the province of South Holland. -The last big flood was in 1953.
Nearly 2,000 people were killed. The government said 'This
can’t happen again. During the storm, 200 kilometers of
dikes burst -- and water levels quickly rose to three-meters. An estimated
100,000 people lost their homes. Afterward, the government ordered the
construction of a system of 15 storm- surge barriers, dams,
and other structures. -The barriers aren’t enough. They’re just
a part of the system that helps us to 'keep our feet dry.' It sounds simple,
but it's really quite complex. The country is still battling the threat
of flooding: dikes are being rebuilt and planted with vegetation; beaches are
being widened, and sand-dunes raised. Rotterdam was hit hard by the 1953 floods.
The Maesland barrier is one of the world's largest moving structures, and
now protects about one-million people. The two large floating gates
are each 240 meters long. The retaining walls are curved, to
withstand the force of the oncoming water. The barrier is closed only when
a big storm is on the way. Rotterdam is Europe's
largest seaport -- and the barrier is designed
to protect it, too. -This is the only barrier of its kind
that's run by a computer. We've worked hard to eliminate any
technical complications. It takes just two hours
to close the gates. This only happens when the water
level hits three meters. -Everyone in the Netherlands
contributes to flood protection, through the taxes they pay -- even
those who don't live near water. More than a billion euros goes into the
flood-control program every year. The government also finances efforts to
help parts of Rotterdam's city center collect and drain excess
water in an emergency. There's lots of open space
in parking garages. They're designed so that they can take
on runoff water during floods. Rotterdam is particularly vulnerable to
storm surges -- because of its coastal location, and because it sits in the delta
created by the Rhine and Meuse rivers. Here's an unusual design: floating
pavilions. They're covered with a special foil that's 100 times lighter than glass.
And they're environmentally-friendly: cooled by surface water, and
heated with solar energy. The pavilions are now home
to a floating cinema. Nearby, a floating park: hexagonal islands
made of recycled plastic. They've been planted with vegetation, and
already seem to be drawing a crowd. For a unique city-getaway, you can rent a
small houseboat, called a "Wikkelboat." It's wrapped in 24 layers
of corrugated cardboard, which makes it light and
just about sound-proof. The interior features a kitchen,
bathroom, living room, and terrace. This "Wikkelboat" is located near
the Rotterdam city center, with easy access to
sightseeing and restaurants. Despite all the comfort, there are constant
reminders that you're living on the water. We now return to Amsterdam, and the Ijburg
district - with its 75-unit housing estate. -It's not a boat or a house; it's a hybrid.
We had the units built at a shipyard on the Ijsselmeer, a big lake east of
Amsterdam. That way, construction work wouldn't be interrupted by
bad weather, even in winter. -That summer, when the
units were finished, they were shipped through
the locks to us here. They're anchored to steel poles that
were driven 16 meters into the lake- bed. We designed the connections so that
they could bridge the difference in height. -That difference is caused by the tides --
but it's not very big, like 60 centimeters. And the units can move. That includes the
jetties, which cover the utility lines for gas, water, heating, and so on. We
put the lines in flexible tubes, which are connected to the units -- and they can
handle the rise and fall of the tides. -The different levels were also
designed to adapt to the tides. The units actually sit
on a floating foundation that's composed of
air-tight concrete tubs. -We chose concrete because it's
heavy and displaces water, based on Archimedes' principle.
Depending on its weight, concrete can displace many
cubic meters of water. We made concrete tubs in different
sizes, to balance the weight. For example, a bathroom is heavy -- so we
made the concrete basin thicker on the opposite side to offset
the increased weight. We explain all this to the residents.
So if someone has a heavy sofa and a piano on one side of the unit,
they can alter the balance by installing air-filled tanks
underneath the structure. What else can the
Netherlands teach us about finding new ways to build
on and with water? -You have to have the courage to
try something new. People in other countries could use our
projects as an example. You also have to be
willing to experiment. The Netherlands also drew on an
example — the famous houseboat community in the city of Sausalito,
California, which dates back to the 1950s. Like many communities built on water
its legal status remained vague for years. -We also had difficulties getting a
mortgage. The banks couldn't decide whether they were dealing
with a boat or a house -- so we had to come
up with new solutions. In July 2019, Paris recorded an all-time
high temperature -- 42 degrees Celsius. City residents are learning to
live with climate extremes -- from high heat to heavy
rain and flooding. Paris hosted the U-N climate change
conference in 2015, where delegates set a goal to limit the global
temperature increase to well below two degrees
Celsius in this century. Renowned architect and oceanographer
Jacques Rougerie has lived on this houseboat in the heart of Paris for more
than four decades. It's located near the Place de la Concorde, and also
includes his design studio. -The two great adventures of
mankind are space and the sea. This is the future
of humanity. Rougerie has been working on this
futuristic project for decades: an ocean- based research vessel called the
SeaOrbiter. It's shaped like a sea-horse. The project still only exists as a model --
but its plans call for a total height of 58 meters, with 31 meters below the water’s
surface. Up to 22 scientists could work in the vessel. Rougerie says that we know
less about the sea than we do about space. -There are millions of creatures to study.
For example, the diversity of zooplankton is immeasurable.
We only know a fraction of it. The scientists — Rougerie calls them
aquanauts — would live in pressurized chambers, so that they could take part
in diving expeditions at any time. -I've lived underwater. I've been
involved in a dozen projects in this habitat. I've set world records for living
underwater. It's been extraordinary. Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard was
an early supporter of the project. -Piccard worked in the deepest parts of
the oceans, at 11,000 meters. Piccard always encouraged me in my research
on underwater settlements. And so he and I decided to develop a research lab
that would be like the International Space Station. It could drift with the
ocean currents, and provide a base for scientists -- like a beehive. The 'worker
bees' would fly out, and collect scientific data on the
marine environment. Rougerie says he was inspired by
the work of two of his countrymen: Jules Verne and
Jacques-Yves Cousteau. In 1962, Cousteau spent a week in his
underwater research facility, "Conshelf." He hoped it would be the dawn of a new
age of marine exploration. In the 1970s, Rougerie began to imagine this future — of
laboratories and entire villages on the ocean floor. If climate change
continues to progress, the idea of underwater settlements
could become popular again. Rougerie designed this huge floating
research center, shaped like a manta ray. It would be 900 meters
long and 500 meters wide, and could accommodate
up to 7,000 people. His Tetiaroa design imagines underwater
rooms, designed for holiday-makers. -One day, we'll have space tourism
-- and also underwater tourism, with facilities like hotels, and
research centers. A new reality is taking shape,
because it has to. Other architects are getting on board.
The U-S firm Solus 4 came up with this idea for a marine research station
to be based off the coast of Bali. Italian architect Gianluca Santosuosso
developed this concept for a modular floating structure, called HyperCay. The
individual units resemble vertebrae in the human spine. It's like a cross
between a cruise-ship and a hotel. The German architecture firm Gewers
Pudewill has designed a hotel that's to be built off the Chinese island of Hainan.
The individual suites would lie below the
surface of the sea. Margot Krasojević came up
with plans for a lighthouse hotel that harnesses wave
energy to generate electricity. Some designs have actually been built.
The Jules Undersea Lodge in Florida, which opened in 1986, bills itself as
the world’s first underwater hotel. This is the Atlantis luxury hotel resort,
located on the coast of Dubai. It has more than 1,500 rooms, spread out over
23 floors -- and an aquarium that contains more than 65,000
marine animals. The Ithaa undersea restaurant in the Maldive Islands
is located five meters below sea level. Europe now has its first fully-submerged
restaurant. It's called the "Under," located on the southern
coast of Norway. It was designed by the Oslo-based
architecture firm Snøhetta. The same firm also developed the concept
for this 100-room hotel that lies at the foot of a glacier in the
Norwegian Arctic. The hotel will run mostly on energy
generated by solar panels. Most of the plans are still
dreams for the future — designed by visionaries
like Jacques Rougerie. -I am a dreamer, but I'm also extremely
pragmatic. I make my dreams reality. I build my dreams -- and to do that, you
have to be able to think clearly. -Our society has caused a
lot of destruction over the last 100 years, and
we continue to destroy. But we can't let these
catastrophes continue. We have to find solutions, and
implement them step-by-step. Another vision for living in a marine
environment: the Ocean Spiral. It has two main elements: a sphere-and-tower
structure that would provide living- and workspace for up to 5,000 people;
and a spiral structure that connects the sphere to a
base-station on the ocean floor. Russian architect Alexander Remizov has
designed a modern-day Noah's Ark that could accommodate up
to 10,000 people. This waterscraper concept comes from
Malaysia. A floating building that would generate its own food and
electricity, and house thousands. But are ideas like
this truly a utopia? -These would be stop-gap measures.
I don't think people want to live underwater. Humans are used to living
on land. Of course, it's technically possible to live underwater -- but I think
our quality of life would really suffer. The world's less affluent regions will be
hit hard by the effects of climate change. -Asia is going to (be impacted) a lot. So
if I say Mumbai is one of them, Jakarta is one of them; Osaka, Japan, is going to
have a flood. So, as for the United Nations, it's on high, high alert actually.
The whole of Asia is (facing) a big threat
(of rising sea-levels.) Coastal areas in Asia are already taking
steps to deal with rising sea levels. -Jakarta has to move its center --
Indonesia, you know... They have to move the whole city center to
somewhere else, 40 km away. (They're already working on that). By 2040 or
something like that, they have to move their city to some other place. They
already have a plan, which are ongoing. I think it could be (a) similar
situation for Mumbai also. Some 28 million people live in the
Mumbai metropolitan region. The core of the city is built on several
islands that lie in the Arabian Sea. This is a low-lying area, and rising
sea levels pose a very real threat. Austrian architect Rames Najjar says
that coastal cities like Mumbai must adapt to these conditions -- and that could
include building floating communities. -I'm convinced that entire cities will one
day be built on water. You can't rely on putting up barriers made of sand or
other materials. Cities will have to be built on floating surfaces. This new
development would offer a number of advantages -- particularly the
construction of infrastructure near the city center, and projects
that generate energy. Rames Najjar proposes the use of
floating turbines that generate electricity by taking in water.
The concept is similar to that used with hydroelectric
dams in the Austrian Alps. -The technology comes from Austria.
We have a lot of experience with hydroelectric plants. And
the other element is the creative side, where
architects can play a role. Rames and his brother, who's also an
architect, have been designing water- based communities for
years -- and they are convinced that these projects
will become reality. -It's realistic because it’s going to be a
step-by-step process. I don’t think we’ll be seeing mega-projects
in coastal cities. The projects will grow
slowly and gradually. With sea levels rising ever more
quickly, solutions are urgently needed. Millions could be displaced
by climate change. -Do you know how many climate
refugees there will be? More than 200 million. 200- to 300
million climate refugees. -Where will they go? These refugees will
come from developing countries, not wealthy countries. 300 million
people -- where will they live? Will Bangladesh or India take them in?
Absolutely not. -In low-lying coastal countries like
Bangladesh, they can't do much to stop the rising water. They can't build dikes
or other flood-protection structures, like we have in Germany and the
Netherlands. For one thing, they don't have the money. And it's simply not
realistic to build dikes along the entire coast. So even if the sea
level rose by just 50 centimeters, millions of
people would be affected. -Nine of the world's ten largest cities are
expected to be threatened by rising sea levels by 2050. They
will have to develop a long-term plan for adapting
to their new reality. -You have to set a reasonable time frame.
It could be 100 years -- but what is a hundred years in the grand
scheme of things? You have to have imagination -- like our ancestors who
built cathedrals. The sons of those architects and stonemasons never saw
the completed project that their fathers had begun. The grandchildren
didn't, either. But they had a vision for the future. You have to have that vision.
The 'future' is just a brief period of time in the course of human evolution.
A hundred or even 500 years means nothing. Centuries ago, people
used to take a long-term view. One of these long term projects
is Jacques Rougerie’s design for a floating city off the
Pacific island of Tahiti. The US-based Seasteading Institute has
developed a concept for a "Floating City Project", led by political theorist Patri
Friedman. The cofounder of PayPal is also on board. The idea has a political
dimension — the sovereign ocean colonies would be free
from state control. But floating communities must be
available to everyone, not just the wealthy. The Oceanix project is being
developed in coordination with the United Nations. The goal is to make
floating cities available to the many coastal regions that are under threat.
Those solutions are urgently needed — nearly half of the world’s population lives
within 100 kilometers of a coastline. Oceanix cities could grow and adapt,
housing anywhere from 300 to 10,000 people. The threat of rising sea levels
might be right around the corner. Hamburg, in northern Germany,
could also be at risk. -It's a real danger. Hamburg is located
just 100 kilometers from the coast. And research indicates that if the
sea level continues to rise, the risk of storm surges would
increase significantly. Newsreels recall the flood of 1962 —
when a storm surge washed over the dikes, and flooded the North Sea coast.
About 100,000 people lost their homes and hundreds
of people were killed. The storm destroyed dikes along several
hundred kilometers of coastline. Hamburg was cut off for days. Local
residents were scarcely able to cope. And the situation today may be even
more dangerous, because since 1962, the sea level here has
risen by 20 centimeters. This is the port of Hamburg. More than
350,000 people who live in this part of the city are still threatened
by storm surges. A lot of new projects are
underway to protect them. This new promenade along the Elbe
River also serves as a flood-control structure. It was designed by
Zaha Hadid Architects. The promenade rises nearly nine
meters above the river. -Hamburg is building a lot of new dikes.
The authorities are doing what they can, but I'm not sure whether we can
really protect ourselves against major storm surges. For example, the
HafenCity district, which was built on the site of the old port, is especially
vulnerable. If sea levels were to rise by several meters, I doubt we
could prevent flooding there. If water levels in the North Sea continue
to rise, London may also be affected. -Many large cities are at risk, and that
includes London. If sea levels rise by two meters, I would assume that many parts
of London would face serious problems. About nine million people live in London,
which is located on the River Thames. About one-third of those residents live in the
city's central districts, along the river. The Thames flows into the
North Sea -- but rising and falling tides still affect
river water levels in London. One-sixth of the city lies in an area
that's threatened by flooding. Rising sea levels would put more than a million
people and 500,000 buildings here at risk. Storm surges and floods have
become more common in Britain. In late 2013 and early 2014, southern
England was hit by a series of severe storms. Heavy rainfall
caused widespread flooding and power cuts, and disrupted
transport systems. In London, the Thames burst its banks, and many
people were forced to leave their homes. The "Thames Barrier" is designed to
protect the flood plain that includes most of Greater London from tides and
storm surges that move in from the North Sea. It's one of the world's largest
movable flood-protection structures. The barrier consists of ten huge steel
gates that are usually submerged -- but can be raised into position
in case of emergency. -In my opinion, the Thames barrier design,
in future, is one of the best examples of adaptation nowadays. It's reaching the end
of its lifetime -- and there have been extensive studies to extend the usability
of the Thames barrier. There have been studies that have looked
at a very wide range of scenarios up to, for example,
rises of four meters. But some studies predict an increase of
five meters by 2100. The barrier was completed in the early 1980s — when
scientists were predicting a much smaller rise in sea levels. But now reality
is outstripping those projections. -I think London can be protected. There's
lots of investment. London is a big international hub, so it will be protected.
No matter how well we protect a place like that -- a mega city or a coastal
mega city -- there is always some risk remaining in case of failure or defense
failure. And this is something that is considered in the design -- and
we should be prepared for it. The barrier will need to be updated. Sea
levels are rising faster than anticipated, and London is at the forefront of
planning for an uncertain future. -Definitely, London is setting the example
for coastal mega cities. It's not exactly coastal -- but for cities that can be
affected by coastal flooding... But there are other examples worldwide -- for
example, the 'MOSE' barrier in Venice, in Venice Lagoon. And of course, different
solutions will fit in different places. But few coastal regions have a huge
barrier like this to protect them from storm surges. If sea
levels keep rising, many communities could be left to
make difficult decisions. Some areas may simply have to be abandoned.
In parts of Wales, for example, communities are realizing they
are living on borrowed time. Local governments don't have the money to pay
for flood protection. So people will have to start thinking about where they're
going to live 30, 40, or 50 years from now. Floating homes, like these in Amsterdam,
could offer refuge in a crisis. -In the event of an emergency, for
example, you could move houseboats to hard-hit areas fairly quickly, to provide
people with temporary accommodations. For now, most people here who live on
the water do so because they want to. -You're so close to the water that you
can actually go swimming or kayaking anytime you want. A floating home is
like an expansion of the city. Cities keep getting more densely populated, and
buildings keep getting taller. But as a living space, water is
still largely untapped. In affluent communities, floating homes are
a lifestyle, a way to bring nature into the city. But they also offer new
ideas for adapting to climate change. -You can either work against the water
-- by building bigger barriers, and so forth. Or you can work with
the water, and embrace it. And that's what we're trying
to do with this project. -The sea is coming toward us, and we
have no-one to blame but ourselves. If we hadn't pumped so many greenhouse
gases and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, we wouldn’t have
this global warming and rising sea levels. So this really is a problem
that we ourselves have created.
Plastic beach
I feel like all of these ideas fall apart in storms.
Ever seen waterworld? I have 100 times. Im ready.
what if a hurricane comes down?
Building a 300:1 scale plastic and glass toilet on the ocean will not do anything for climate stability.
Look, we can't all be Bond villains!
Great, Kevin Costner did it first. AGAIN. Nobody tell him until we have to.
So they gave up on stopping climate change apparently. People would rather continue burning fossil fuels and live on the water instead of switching to renewables. Most people won't be able to afford living in these floating mega structures and houseboats. Maybe more cities would look like Venice, with normal buildings, but boats and waterways instead of cars and roads.
Plenty of people have already pointed out the issues these communities would face from storms, but there are plenty more issues with building an isolated floating city.