New Japanese floating city concept aims to adapt to climate change

A digital render of the N-ARK concept (Image: N-ARK)

A Japanese consortium has unveiled the concept for a floating city that adapts to climate change.

The N-ARK consortium pairs industry, academia and government and together they have developed a business plan for a maritime city called ‘Dogen City’, as part of the wider ‘New Ocean’ project.

Dogen City would be 1.58km in diameter and about 4km in circumference.

The consortium said the city would have around 10,000 inhabitants but its “liveability” would be similar to a small village.

Inhabitants would live in an inner-ring with a form in cross section similar to that of a naval ship to protect it against tsunamis and other weather events.

Meanwhile, undersea data centres, cooled by sea water, would provide services like city management, healthcare data analysis and drug discovery simulation, while reducing energy consumption.

The concept aims to make the city a source of housing, food and medicine, with the city offering “medical tourism” that combines food and seawater hot springs.

N-ARK has already started work on an offshore farm on Lake Hamana with Hamamatsu City called ‘Green Ocean’. It is building a demonstration project in preparation for the Lake Hamana Flower Expo in March 2024.

A digital render of an undersea data centre (Image: N-ARK)