"Lilypad" Cities Designed To Combat Rising Sea Levels (PHOTOS)

Scientists are preparing to deal with 'climate-change refugees' as rising sea levels threaten ever more lands. Architect Vincent Callebaut has come up with an inspired solution: "Lilypad" cities that will essentially be giant, self-sustaining ships floating across the world's seas (from Daily Mail, scroll down for photos):

The Lilypad has been designed by award-winning Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut who says the 'ecopolis' offers a long term solution to the looming problem of rising sea levels.

As land-based cities flood, the Lilypad will be able to float around the world like a giant ship.

He said: 'The design of the city is inspired by the shape of the great Amazonia Victoria Regia lilypad.

'Some countries spend billions of pounds working on making their beaches and dams bigger and stronger.

'But the Lilypad project is actually a long term solution to the problem of the water rising.

'And it has the other objective of providing housing for refugees from islands that have been submerged.'

Centred around a lake which collects and then purifies rain water, the Lilypad will drift around the world following the ocean currents and streams.

It will be accessed by three marinas and will also feature three 'mountains' to offer the inhabitants a change of scenery.

Power will be provided through a series of renewable energy sources including solar, thermal, wind energy, hydraulic and a tidal power station.

The city will actually produce much more energy than it consumes and be entirely 'zero-emission' as all the carbon-dioxide and the waste will be recycled.

Mr Callebaut added: 'It's an amphibious city without any roads or any cars.

Photos from Inhabitat.com

Comments

[richardgordon]

Wouldn't a simpler and better solution be to address the causes of Global Warming? Its not that difficult. All we have to do is take personal responsibility for our actions. Recycle. Reuse. And conserve energy.

The simple fact is that we are lazy and spoiled rotten. Why not take public transport to work? I've used it all my life. Its not an inconvenience to me. I have factored it into my daily routine. But people insist that they drive large gas guzzlers even for simple tasks like going to the store for milk. Or turning up their air-conditioners on a moderately warm day. Every other generation walked or rode a bike. They had fans. But our spoiled rotten society insists that it cannot do without these unnecessary luxuries. Even if it means destroying the planet for our children and future generations.

Well I'll tell you this is not good enough. I personally hope the price of oil goes to $300. Then people will get off their fat lazy asses and do what they should have been doing all along. Besides it will be good for them. How many fat overweight people would this benefit? If they actually walked a few steps a day.

[mamacat]

I think the only way this idea could work would be if we had unlimited and cheap resources to use. Since that is not likely to happen in either the unforeseen or the foreseeable future..............people will have to just move inland.

[paulbikes]

Sexy idea.

But Vincent Callebaut surely finds himself even sexier.

[mergina]

Dry land is not a myth!

[SolarPowerGuy]

Mr. Callebaut has obviously studied the architecture of Paolo Soleri. Get a copy of Soleri's book, "The City in the Image of Man" and you will see what I mean. It was published in the late 1960's or early 70's.

[liya]

This is great, but one small design flaw: what if you fall off?

[wolfgangmo]

Flaw? What flaw?

[Upcoming]

It is an interesting exercise in design but it doesn't address the fundamental problem. Few voices address the real problem of global warming. The elephant in the room is human overpopulation. Our population is out of balance with the rest of the ecosystem. The world population needs to shrink significantly, perhaps by 1/2 or 2/3. It doubled in the last thirty years. If humans don't control our population size and it's effects by self control, the ecosystem will do it for us, possibly wiping us off the face of the earth. Consider the prospect of weather disruptions severe enough to have only 10% of our food available for three years. Mass starvation and the collapse of society/civilization, are not out of the question, including for the first world countries. There will be no societal organization left to build the floating cities which won't be necessary by then anyway.

An aside; the argument put forth by the vegan community that we could feed more people by only eating grain and other miscellaneous vegetation we could scrounge is profoundly misguided. If we are in that position, there are way too many of us. The idea that we need to accommodate more people by stretching food resources further is precisely backwards. We need to have our population in balance with all of the ecosystem, which includes animals. That is the real solution to global warming and will be necessary to gracefully survive the coming weather changes with attendant food shortages.

[70sFez]

Upcoming,

You make some good points. Overpopulation is killing us but no one wants to talk about it. People want to turn the other check and avoid problems. "Don't bother me" they say. Complacency and ignorance. But how do we explain our worldwide condition to our children and grandchildren. They will study history and realize we had a chance to make a difference and we did nothing.

"We keep track of the humidity in the air so we won't drown when we breath."

[hippynanainblingland]

70sfez: "Don't bother me," they say. Complacency and ignorance." I think you fail to see that most women, if they had their druthers, would have only one or two kids, and some, none. But the powers that be, comprised mostly of MEN, decide that women's wombs are their property, and put all kinds of obstacles in the way of women who want to take control of their own reproductive lives, even going as far as forbidding funding for abortion and birth control, while at the same time spending oodles on Viva Viagra commercials!

While it is true that not all women are hip to the problems caused by overpopulation, and seek to over-reproduce, kindly don't blame women for the ignorance that causes such a mind-set. This problem can be laid at the feet of MEN.

[ella52]

Excellent point. Have you seen Crude Impact where they lay out the population growth of the planet since industrialization in the late 1880s? It's incredible and yet it is the giant T-Rex in the room no one wants to discuss. Makes China's one child policy seem downright forward thinking. And actually the United States is one of the few countries not growing out of control but this a planet issue and it is not too early to start talking to young people all over the world about only replacing themselves and adopting if they want larger families. Women who begin bearing children later in life and receive more education tend to have fewer children so it makes sense to support educational programs across the nation and in terms of foreign aid.
But back to the article... I am sorry but the drawings are very cool and I am assuming if you live on floating city you'll A. know how to swim. B wear a life jacket if your job is trimming bushes near the edge.

[Viper]

Another way for the rich to find a place where they dont have to pay taxes... what they ran out of tax free Islands?

Regards

[Ged2012]

Those architects must be rooting for the ice caps to melt, so that they'd earn millions or billions from their architectural designs.

[KindAndThoughtful]

Happy Fourth of July everyone! Have a safe and happy holiday!

[NeoStar9]

Very nice. Would love to live in a city like this.

[tora]

So is this like a private jet as oppose to traveling by bus? Not cohesive, esp for those in third world countries who probably couldn't afford to jump onto the lily ship and sail into the sunset....

[NL207]

Another Titanic.

And this architect, Vincent Callebaut , thinks this thing should be allowed to float freely following ocean currents? Running aground, encountering a tropical storm, participating in a tsunami, getting hit by a ship or an iceberg; these are all hazards that have been considered? How about a flock of seabirds deciding this would make a great rookery? The arrogance of man in the face of the power of nature never ceases to amaze me.

This is no doubt the product of someone's tax dollars. Only government could be this stupid.

[dfwtex]

This kind of architect doesn't care about the constraints of reality.

They just fall in love with a concept and then try to invent a problem that their concept will solve.

[wolfgangmo]

RU sure? Remember new coke? How about Vista? Have you ever been into one of those new mcMansion suburbs that are foreclosing faster than I can hit the floor with my hat. Savings and Loans. Enron. Banking crisis.

Need I go on?

Industry is this stupid and more every day. Start paying attention.

[liya]

As bad as global warming is...

I'd want one of those underwater joints. Very cool!

[kingcityguru]

I bet Al Gore is behind this scam.

In the words of George Carlin, "The World will be fine..."

[Axekick]

How absurd. Displaced island refugees are going to be able to afford a floating self-sustaining cities yet cannot afford to move inland 20 miles beacuse they will be cut off of their only food supply?
Why does this architect believe something of this magnitude would float anyway? Just another example of how the mega-wealthy believe they're invincible due to their wealth.

Give those islanders 1/10,000th of what it would cost to build that thing and the problem would resolve itself.

[hartkid]

You are an idiot, aren't you? "Why does he believe ... would float?" Are you serious? Did you have any formal education at all?

[PhilD]

Look into "buoyancy"