Jules Verne
floating city
CHAPTER FIRST
I arrived in Liverpool on March 18, 1867, to secure a place on the Great Eastern, which sailed to New York a few days later. Travel around Atlantic Ocean V North America on this gigantic ship it seemed very tempting to me, which is not surprising, since the Great Eastern is a masterpiece of shipbuilding art. This is not a ship, but a whole floating city, part of a county, separated from English soil in order to sail across the ocean to land on the American mainland. I imagined in advance how this bulk would fight the waves, what resilience it would show among the elements, and how calmly it would face the storms that destroy ships like the Variora and Solferino. “Great Eastern” was interesting from the other side. Being not only a seaworthy machine, but being, as it were, a separate world, it represented a vast field of activity for an observant person who could follow here the development of various instincts and passions, the comic and tragic sides of the life of its many passengers.
From the station I went to the Adelphi Hotel, as the Great Eastern did not leave until March 20th. Interested, however, in the latest preparations on the ship, I turned to Captain Anderson with a request to allow me to immediately move there, to which he gave his full consent. The next day I walked across the drawbridges to New Prince's Quay, where the numerous ships coming from Birkenhead, which is located on the left bank of the River Mersey, are unloaded. This river, like the Thames, is short in length, but very deep, so that the largest cargo ships can enter it, such as the Great Eastern, for which the entrance is most ports around the globe is not possible. Only thanks to the depth of these rivers, two huge trading cities could be located at their mouths: London and Liverpool. At the New Prince pier there was a small steamer designed to transport passengers to the Great Eastern. I sat on the deck along with the workers and artisans who were going to the ship. At exactly seven o'clock in the morning the steamer set off at full speed up the Mersey. Before we had time to move away from the shore, I saw on the pier a tall young man whose appearance resembled an English officer. It seemed to me that this was one of my friends, the captain of the English corps in India, whom I had not seen for several years. But I, of course, was mistaken, since Captain McElveen could not leave Bombay without informing me about it. In addition, McElvin was a carefree and cheerful person; this same stranger, although he resembled him, was sad and seemed to suffer deeply. I was not able to examine it more closely, as the tender was quickly moving away, and the impression made on me by this resemblance soon faded.
The Great Eastern was anchored nearly three miles from Liverpool, upriver. It was not visible from New Prince Quay. Only when we rounded the bank at the place where the river makes a turn did he appear before us again. It seemed to be a small island, half shrouded in fog. At first we saw only the bow of the ship, but when the steamer turned, the Great Eastern appeared before us in its full size and amazed us with its enormity. Three or four “coal miners” stood near him, pouring their loads onto him. In front of the GreatEastern, these three-masted ships seemed like small barges. It was easy for the giant to take them as steam boats. The tender approached the Great Eastern and, finally, approaching the backboard, stopped near the wide staircase descending from it. The tender's deck was at the level of the Great Eastern's waterline, which rose two meters above the water due to its incomplete loading.
The workers quickly climbed the stairs, while I, like a tourist looking at the building, threw my head back and admired the huge wheels of the Great Eastern. From the side, these wheels seemed insufficiently massive, despite the fact that their spokes were four meters long, but from the front they looked like a monument. Their fittings were unusually elegant, and the design of the hubs of this main point the supports of the entire system and in general this entire complex mechanism, half hidden by huge drums, literally amazed the mind and evoked the thought of some terrible, mysterious force. With what energy these wooden blades, set in motion, must cut through the waves that are now breaking against them! What a terrible noise will be heard when the Great Eastern, at full speed, is driven by wheels fifty-three feet in diameter and one hundred and sixty feet in circumference, each weighing ninety tons and turning eleven revolutions per minute! Almost all the passengers disembarked from the tender. I, in turn, began to climb the iron stairs and in a few minutes I was on the deck of the ship.
CHAPTER TWO
Work was still in full swing on deck. It was hard to imagine what was going on on the ship, there were such a mass of people there. Workers, mechanics, officers, crew, craftsmen and outside visitors scurried back and forth, unceremoniously pushing each other. Some worked on the deck, others in the engine room, others climbed the masts; in a word, there was a turmoil that defies any description. Here movable cranes lifted cast iron masses, there, with the help of a steam gate, heavy oak boards were dragged in. A copper cylinder swayed above the engine room like a metal log. In front, yards rose creakingly along the mast masts; behind, huge scaffolding hid some unfinished building. Some carpentered, some built, some painted amid terrible noise and complete disorder. Finally my luggage arrived. I wanted to see Captain Anderson, but I was told that he was not yet on the ship. One of the sailors took care of my accommodation and ordered me to take my things to one of the lower cabins.
“Listen, my dear,” I told him, “the ship’s departure is scheduled for the twentieth of March, but it’s impossible to finish all this work in a day. When will we finally leave Liverpool?
But he left without answering my question, since he knew as much as I did. Left alone, I decided to get acquainted with this giant anthill and, like a traveler who finds himself in a strange city, I began to examine all its nooks and crannies.
There was black mud on the deck, that British mud that usually covers the streets of English cities. In places, stinking streams meandered. In short, everything was reminiscent of one of the dirtiest neighborhoods located on the outskirts of London. I walked along the deck cabins that lined the stern of the ship; between them and the grids on both sides there were two wide streets, or rather two boulevards, on which a mass of people crowded.
Today, in many countries there is a lack of territory suitable for comfortable living. To solve this problem, architects and engineers are developing the concept of floating cities. According to scientists, very soon such residential complexes on the water will welcome their first inhabitants. Moreover, due to global warming, the level of the World Ocean is constantly rising, which means that humanity has less land for habitation every year.
Entertainment center off the coast of China
Any such project must solve a number of difficult problems. Where will city residents work on the water? How to supply them with energy and dispose of household waste? How to ensure the safety of people, protecting them not only from natural disasters, but also from possible actions of criminals or terrorists? Finally, what can you come up with to reduce the cost of such housing (now one square meter of space in a floating city costs from five to six thousand dollars)?
The problem of lack of territory is especially acute in such an overpopulated country as China. It is here that one of the most ambitious projects of floating cities of the future will soon be implemented. Commissioned by the Chinese China Transport Investment Company, it was developed by the London studio AT Design Office. The city, called Eco Atlantis, will consist of large number prefabricated modules. It has a network of power plants that use solar, water and wind energy. In addition to entertainment centers and shops, Eco Atlantis will house farming and fisheries, as well as waste processing and disposal complexes.
The project envisages that the city consists of two parts - underwater and surface. Both there and there will be recreation areas and residential areas. In order to environmental safety the inhabitants will travel only by boats or electric vehicles. The city has green areas - gardens and parks.
The plan includes the construction of a bridge that will link the artificial island with Macau, Hong Kong and Zhuhai.
The main purpose of such a city is to be a major entertainment center, where numerous guests from the “mainland” arrive (farms and fisheries will help provide them with food, and local residents- work).
The city can be expanded by adding new modules to it, so that its population reaches several hundred thousand people.
More detailed information about this project has not been disclosed. It is known that the issue of financing has almost been resolved and preliminary work is about to begin.
By the way, the AT Design Office studio has already announced that if the Eco Atlantis project is successfully completed, a similar facility will be built off the coast of Lagos (Nigeria) - the most populated city Africa, which is experiencing difficulties with free territories.
"Noah's Ark" in case of global catastrophe
Among other floating city projects, one can note the innovative idea of Serbian designers Aleksandar Joksimovic and Jelena Nikolic. It was called Noah’s Ark (“Noah’s Ark”) and was presented at a competition of architectural innovations held by the American magazine eVolo (2012, honorable mention). The main idea of the project is to create a safe, autonomous world in the event of a global natural or man-made disaster. Then, according to the plan of Joksimovic and Nikolic, people could move to the ocean expanses in similar “arks”.
The floating city looks like a tower extending into the depths, which is surrounded by a series of large terraces. The upper ones, located above ocean level, are used for growing fruits and vegetables. They also have solar power generators and rainwater harvesting equipment. The lower terraces, located under water, contain living quarters.
Underwater towers simultaneously serve as ballast and give the object the necessary stability. At the same time, several cities are easily connected in unified system, so the number of inhabitants of the artificial island could be several thousand people.
Serbian designers propose to build similar floating cities in places where there is a high probability of natural or man-made disasters - to help people survive them.
"Lily flower" in the ocean
Noteworthy is the project of the Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut, created in the French studio Vincent Callebaut Architects and called Lilypad (“Lily Flower”). This city is designed for 50 thousand residents and will have zero carbon emissions into the environment. The shape of the floating object really resembles a water lily (the architect himself said that the idea of creating an artificial island was suggested to him by the shape of an Amazonian water lily). Production fresh water and the destruction of household waste will be carried out using biomass consisting of beneficial bacteria.
In the center of such a city there is a deep artificial lagoon, which is used as a fresh water reservoir and at the same time serves as a stabilizing keel for stability during a storm. Along the perimeter of the property there are bays and berths for pleasure and fishing boats. It is assumed that the main source of food for residents will be seafood. In addition, the artificial island will host numerous hanging gardens for the cultivation of useful plants.
Such ecopolises are intended to replace settlements that will disappear underwater as a result of global warming. They can be located near the coast, united in groups or drifting in the ocean. According to Vincent Callebaud, each such object is even capable of becoming a separate state (in this case, the architect refers to the precedent of the so-called Principality of Sealand, which was proclaimed in 1967 by retired British Major Paddy Roy Bates after he became the owner of an offshore platform in the North Sea 10 kilometers from the coast of Great Britain; currently this is not yet a recognized state, however, it issues its own coins and postage stamps).
Experts say that the construction of cities like Lilypad may begin in the second half of the 21st century, when the ocean begins a steady advance on land and individual islands and parts of cities may go under water.
Your own state
Perhaps the most realistic project is a project by a group of marine biologists, ecologists and engineers at The Seasteading Institute located in San Francisco. The authors have already announced that their first floating city, called Seastead (from English words: sea - “sea” and stead - “place”), will appear in 2020. It will consist of modules with an area of 50 square meters every. Parts of the city are built like a puzzle and can be easily swapped. The guaranteed service life of the modules is at least 100 years.
250-300 people will live in such a city. It provides for the construction of low (up to three floors) office buildings, hotels and shopping centers. 20% of the city is reserved for pedestrian space. In addition, research stations and marine farming can be located on artificial islands.
Like Vincent Callebaut, the authors of the project are luring future residents with the idea that their city can become autonomous political and social education, that is, a separate small state with its own economy. Such opportunities attract investors who want to regulate their taxes in the future the way they want.
At the same time, employees of The Seasteading Institute are positioning their floating cities as a place of residence for new nations that will not show aggression towards each other and can at any time unite or diverge from their own kind. According to their calculations, by 2050 many of these artificial islands, having connected, will turn into water megacities.
The cost of one floating city like Seastead is about $167 million. At first, its inhabitants will live close to land and be under the jurisdiction of an already recognized state. In particular, an agreement has already been signed with the authorities of French Polynesia (an island territory in the southern part Pacific Ocean, the largest island is Tahiti). The main points of the agreement: the project must have a positive impact on the local economy, and the floating island will not harm environment.
The builders of the future city are confident that such a facility will definitely attract a large number of tourists. Its initial location near inhabited land will contribute to good supplies and a comfortable life. And in the future, a large number of permanent residents will appear here, who will themselves determine the legal status of their settlement and choose the government that they like.
In addition to human activities, the climate of planet Earth is gradually becoming warmer and the water levels in the world's oceans are becoming higher. However, according to Archimedes’ law and contrary to preconceived theories, the melting of even a huge Arctic ice floe cannot affect the ocean, just as a melting piece of ice in a glass will not affect the water level in a glass.
An obvious threat in this sense is posed by ice reservoirs that are not in water, whose melting and transfer of accumulated volumes to the ocean will inevitably lead to its increase - the ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland, as well as continental glaciers. Another reason for rising ocean levels, unrelated to ice melting, is the expansion of water molecules under the effect of temperature.
According to the alarming forecasts of GIEC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Development), during the 21st century, ocean levels are expected to rise from 20 to 90 cm. These changes will have minor consequences for the planet as a whole, but will become significant for countries such as Vietnam, Egypt, Bangladesh, Guyana, Bahamas. Rising water levels will pose a great danger to residents of the largest coastal cities: New York, Bombay, Calcutta, Shanghai, Miami, Lagos, Abidjan, Jakarta, Hu Chi Minh City, Alexandria - at least 250 million potential climate refugees.
Looking to the future, in an attempt to find a solution to the upcoming problems, the French design and architecture studio presented the incredible and grandiose project Lilypad - a half underwater, half terrestrial, floating city for 50,000 inhabitants.
Resembling and named after the giant water lily flower of the Amazon, Lilypad appears to be a floating island with three hills rising above the surface of the water. In the center is an artificial lagoon, which acts as ballast to ensure the city's stability in the ocean.
Marinas and underwater garages for submarines. Apartments, offices, shops and entertainment. Autonomous renewable energy sources: sun, thermal and photovoltaic energy, wind, tidal energy, osmotic energy, biomass processing. A variety of its own flora and fauna, fishing and farming, a system for collecting and purifying rainwater.
A fully self-sufficient city, Lilypad addresses the four main challenges identified by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2008: climate, biodiversity, water and health. However, the main problem in the implementation of the project, as designers Vincent Callebaut Architectures believe, lies not even in the obvious high cost, but not in the desire of governments to look into such a distant future and recognize the seriousness of the impending threat.
Technologies
Not far from the shores of the island of Tahiti in the Pacific Ocean they are planning to build the world's first floating city.
The government of French Polynesia has signed an agreement with the Seasteading Institute in California, which provides for the start of construction of the city within the next two years.
The plan may seem quite ambitious, but its developers believe that partially independent cities could be an ideal place for new types of management and agricultural practices.
Over the past 5 years, experts from the Seasteading Institute, together with Paypal founder Peter Thiel, have been developing the design of permanent, innovative floating communities.
New city (photo)
Such a project, according to the developers, will be the beginning of the fulfillment of the “eight moral duties”: enrich the poor, cure the sick, feed the hungry, cleanse the atmosphere, live in harmony with nature, stop fighting, supply the whole world with energy and build floating settlements.
French Polynesia includes 118 islands in the South Pacific Ocean. The government of this community became interested in this project, since rising water levels threaten the disappearance of the islands.
The contract specifies two main points that the organizers must fulfill in order to be allowed to build: 1) the project must have a positive impact on the local economy, 2) the floating city must not harm the environment.
In addition, the project must be approved by France, which owns the territory of French Polynesia.
City on the water
The institute's executive director, Randolph Hencken, said that shallow water was sought for the construction of a floating city, since it requires much less resources and is easier to do from a technological point of view. In addition, the organizers chose French Polynesia, since the local government is interested in the project and agrees to cooperate.
The floating city will be equipped with farms, medical centers and research laboratories, as well as power plants that will produce energy in an environmentally friendly manner.
floating city
The entire city will be a network of 11 rectangular and 5 and five-sided platforms. This design will allow parts of the city to be rearranged according to the requirements of residents. Each platform will be 50 meters long, and all buildings and residents will be protected by 50 meter sidewalls.
All platforms will be made of reinforced cement, capable of supporting 3-storey buildings with apartments, terraces, offices and hotels for at least 100 years.
It is envisaged that between 250 and 300 people will live in the new floating city. The floating city will be inhabited mainly by marine biologists, marine engineers, aquaculture specialists (raising important plants and animals in special reservoirs), maritime lawyers, medical researchers, security services, investors, environmental specialists, and artists with all over the world.
Initially, they wanted to locate the city in international waters, thereby creating a new state, but it will be much easier for future residents if the city is located near the shores of another country, since they will be able, if necessary, to visit the land and buy the necessary products.
In addition, during storms, people will be more protected on the ground, and they will also have legal protection in the nearest country.
Floating city project
According to the institute, residents of the floating city will be able to choose the government that suits them best, instead of remaining under the influence of an unwanted government.
For example, if there are several floating cities, each with its own government, people will be able to move their platforms to the city they like best. This means that the governments of all cities will try to do as much as possible to attract more residents.
Construction of each platform is estimated at $15 million, and the cost of the entire city is $167 million.
By 2050, the institute plans to have several dozen platforms around the world, and later several hundred interconnected platforms, capable of accommodating tens of millions of people living in idyllic megacities.
Some day global warming will cause the glaciers to melt, and all the land will go under water. It would seem that humanity is doomed to extinction (at least until it grows gills), but Vincent Callebaut, who designed giant island ships on which people can survive, did not agree with this.
Its islands look like water lilies, and are called accordingly - Lilypad. In fact, these are entire floating cities designed for 50 thousand people. Such cities will float freely on the ocean and not be afraid of warm and cold currents.
Vincent Callebot did not forget about the environmental component - solar energy, wind, tidal energy, biomass - in general, the city will not be left without energy in any case. And in addition, the special titanium “skin” of the island will be able to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into its titanium dioxide “skin”.
Island cities consist of three “petals” and a lagoon, which have everything you need for a full life. According to Vincent's idea, Lilypad can be either moored to land or float freely in open ocean. Of course, the creation of such cities is still very, very far away, but it seems to me that in the event of an environmental disaster, Vincent Callebot's floating cities would be very useful. Moreover, they look fantastic.