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The Netherlands has joined the chat Seriously, though, a lot of big cities are or were ports, have centres near the coast, and are constrained from growing fur

by twic 3y ago

The Netherlands has joined the chat Seriously, though, a lot of big cities are or were ports, have centres near the coast, and are constrained from growing further inland by geological features or transport time. Extending those cities out to sea, by reclamation or on floats, is at least superficially appealing.

bdamm 3y ago
Reclamation is a non-starter if sea-level rise is the concern. Basically we're talking about making boat cities. To me this seems nuts since there's nothing stable about it. The largest passenger boats we have today are cruise liners, and they have relatively brief lifespans, very expensive upkeep, and suffer catastrophes on a regular basis. Thinking that the future for human development is living on boats seems desperate.
s1artibartfast 3y ago
reclamation is very different than floats. I'm not sure what you mean by superficially appealing, or probably more critically, to whom you think it appealing. Most people with any familiarity with engineering or marine environments would find the concept of floating cities as a terribly impractical idea, at first look, do the cost and complexity. It would make far more sense to build a city in a desert and build a megaproject to bring it water from the ocean. I would agree floating cities has some sci-fi fantasy appeal. cool setting for a book or cartoon, where one could ignore the real implications. Not unlike space stations or moon bases in that respect.
yurishimo 3y ago
The Netherlands does not have that many houseboats. Amsterdam is famous for them sure, but the city is not handing out any more permits and afaik has no plans to. Reclamation could be interesting in a limited number of circumstances but realistically we would be better served by improving transit inland. Even in Europe, there is a ton of room for improvement to connect rural areas to cities which would alleviate much of the burden that people feel to live closer to work and commerce.

by twic 3y ago

bdamm 3y ago

Reclamation is a non-starter if sea-level rise is the concern. Basically we're talking about making boat cities. To me this seems nuts since there's nothing stable about it. The largest passenger boats we have today are cruise liners, and they have relatively brief lifespans, very expensive upkeep, and suffer catastrophes on a regular basis. Thinking that the future for human development is living on boats seems desperate.

s1artibartfast 3y ago

reclamation is very different than floats. I'm not sure what you mean by superficially appealing, or probably more critically, to whom you think it appealing. Most people with any familiarity with engineering or marine environments would find the concept of floating cities as a terribly impractical idea, at first look, do the cost and complexity. It would make far more sense to build a city in a desert and build a megaproject to bring it water from the ocean. I would agree floating cities has some sci-fi fantasy appeal. cool setting for a book or cartoon, where one could ignore the real implications. Not unlike space stations or moon bases in that respect.

yurishimo 3y ago

The Netherlands does not have that many houseboats. Amsterdam is famous for them sure, but the city is not handing out any more permits and afaik has no plans to. Reclamation could be interesting in a limited number of circumstances but realistically we would be better served by improving transit inland. Even in Europe, there is a ton of room for improvement to connect rural areas to cities which would alleviate much of the burden that people feel to live closer to work and commerce.