Dogen City: Floating sustainable urban living concept
As sea levels continue to rise, the future of urban living could mean that many of us will need to consider living offshore at some point in the next 30 years.
Japanese architectural startup N-ARK may have come up with a concept that could help.
Say hello to Dogen City, a conceptual self-sustaining city that floats on the ocean, offering a unique solution to the challenges of overcrowded cities and climate change.
The city is designed to function as a ‘smart healthcare floating city’ in peacetime, and as a stand-alone city in the event of a natural disaster.
Measuring roughly 1 mile (1.58 km) in diameter and approximately 2.5 miles (4 km) in circumference, it’s more of a small town than a metropolis, but its modular nature means that it could be expanded pretty quickly.
According to N-ARK, the peacetime focus will be on healthcare, and the ‘city’ is designed to house about 10,000 residents, while its daytime population could rise to 30,000.
Residents could “receive telemedicine on a daily basis by managing and analyzing living area data from ring devices, blood sampling, genome analysis, and city OS”.
In addition, “by combining medical data and genomic data, it is possible to more accurately evaluate the health status of individuals and receive cutting-edge medical care such as drug discovery simulations and remote robotic surgery with arithmetic processing at the underwater edge data center.”
Anyone else think this is starting to sound a bit like ‘Living+’ from Succession?
With a focus on self-sufficiency, Dogen City includes facilities for urban farming, allowing residents to grow their own food and reduce dependency on external resources.
The designs include food production facilities, schools, hospitals, R&D labs, stadiums, vertical gardens and parks.
The floating city is also designed to generate its own energy through a combination of renewable sources, including solar panels and wind turbines.
In addition, it incorporates advanced water management systems that purify and recycle wastewater, ensuring a sustainable supply.
In terms of transportation, Dogen City has a network of electric vehicles and autonomous drones, minimizing congestion and reducing carbon emissions. The city’s layout features an efficient infrastructure, including intelligent transportation systems and smart grids to optimize resource usage and enhance connectivity.
According to N-ARK, the concept aims to create a resilient and adaptable urban environment. Its modular design allows for expansion and adjustment based on evolving needs and population growth.
The city is also equipped with advanced technology for disaster prevention and mitigation, ensuring the safety and well-being of its residents, with residential dwellings situated away from the outer ring in an inner bay that is intended to protect residents from tsunamis.
While Dogen City is still in the conceptual stage, it offers a thought-provoking vision for the future of urban living.
The floating city concept presents an alternative approach to traditional land-based cities, addressing the challenges of limited space, environmental sustainability and climate change. As technology and innovation continue to evolve, projects like Dogen City push the boundaries of urban design and inspire discussions about the cities of tomorrow.
According to the N-ARK website, the company will set up a “NEW OCEAN Consortium,” a joint business of industry, academia, and government that integrates various industries, technologies, and laws and regulations toward the realization of its “NEW OCEAN” concept.
These disaster movies pretty much write themselves these days.
Roland Ellison Roland is a London-based journalist and content producer who is passionate about how technology can provide solutions to humanity’s greatest challenges. Having started his editorial career with B2B print titles in the construction and hospitality sectors, he moved into digital, social and video production roles at The Daily Mirror and BBC Global News, before heading up global creative and video teams at Storyful. With a BA in History from the University of Leeds, Roland lives with his wife and two children in South London. He is a keen cyclist, music and film fan who enjoys playing football, tennis and golf.
0