As land disappears and seas rise, nations are climate-proofing the future— with bold, bizarre, and buoyant blueprints for survival.
My previous curation on Futuristic Cities was such a hit and I am back on Public demand with another category of futuristic cities: Floating Cities!
I am not talking about the floating market of Bangkok, the Aberdeen floating village of Hongkong, the floating villages of Cambodia, the floating homes in the UK, or the floating islands of Peru. Not even Grilstad, Tjuvholmen or Sørenga in Norway, or the Floating Office Rotterdam (FOR) in the Netherlands. Sure they make great inspiration! BUT
Think Terraforming on Earth and Seasteading! In fact, a concept called the Lilypad (a floating ecopolis for climate-change refugees) was designed by the Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut back in 2008!
Infact, I just watched the Avatar’s Fire and Ash trailer and I am telling you, these surreal-looking megastructures on water will seem like they jumped out of a sci-fi movie. But they are REAL. You will get to visit them…someday!
Some are built on oceans and some are amphibious (partially built on land extending the infra to water).
Welcome to the floating frontier:
Oceanix Busan, South Korea
A UN-backed prototype. A modular floating city.
Oceanix Busan is the world’s first government-endorsed floating metropolis, designed to house 12,000 people (with a potential to expand to 100,000 people) and adapt to sea level rise. Powered by solar grids, grown from hexagonal platforms, and engineered for climate resilience, it’s a city designed to drift without drowning.
Built like (and resembles) a brain coral — because biomimicry is survival.
The Maldives Floating City is a lagoon-based urban grid designed to house over 20,000 people without damaging marine ecosystems. It blends bio-mimetic architecture, Dutch marine engineering, and the urgent need to climate-proof a sinking island nation.
A maritime floating healthcare city shaped like a doughnut on the ocean.
Dogen City is Japan’s answer to both urban congestion and longevity innovation. With autonomous floating architecture including regenerative aquaponics, floating house with solar farms, marine (under water) edge data centres, and biotech research labs, it’s positioned as a “floating ark” for healthcare DX, wellness, biotech, and survival in a post-crisis world.
Neom’s less-hyped but more industrial cousin.
Oxagon is a floating industrial city and logistics port shaped like a polygon, blending AI, automation, and water-based infrastructure. It’s the maritime complement to The Line — designed for blue economy logistics, manufacturing, and marine mobility.
Notable but Controversial Project
4. Pangeos, the Turtle-Shaped Terayacht (Saudi Arabia)
Pangeos is a floating mega-city on water — part terayacht, part luxury island. Designed to host up to 60,000 guests, it comes with everything from hotels and malls to parks, ship docks, and even an airport.
The name? A nod to Pangea, Earth’s ancient supercontinent, this concept was envisioned by Lazzarini. As grand as it is for its vision, it is brimming with controversies and rumours that the project has been floored.
From sea-steading to disaster-proofing, these cities aren’t just architectural marvels. They’re climate responses, geopolitical pivots, and design experiments in one.
I will be discussing the concept of Sponge Cities or Space habitats soon!
Credits
This post is curated by Deepa Sai.