〜The Netherlands “Floating Future” Project〜

In the Netherlands, an international research project called “Floating Future” is currently underway. This large-scale initiative examines how floating cities and floating infrastructure can be implemented in society from multiple perspectives, including technology, institutions, the environment, and citizen participation.

The project is a large-scale research initiative spanning five years from January 2024 to December 2028. It is receiving approximately €5.3 million (about ¥800 million) in funding from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and is being advanced through the collaborative efforts of government, industry, academia, and civic organizations.

The direction “Floating Future” aims for is closely linked to our foundation's vision of “creating a marine civilization.” OCI's “Project Seatopia” proposes a model for a circular community centered around the keyword “water,” exploring the potential of multi-purpose,movable floating bases that can handle not only disaster response but also international exchange, environmental restoration, and even peacetime urban functions.

Learning about the advanced initiatives for floating cities underway in the Netherlands and studying their achievements and challenges provides valuable guidance for shaping a more concrete vision of the “ocean civilization” we envision. Therefore, we will introduce this project in five installments under the following themes.

Session 1: Project Purpose and Significance

Session 2: Scale, Duration, and Stakeholders

Session 3: Research Themes and Challenges

Session 4: Engagement with Civil Society and the Blue Revolution Foundation

Session 5: Case Studies and Future Outlook

Session 1: Purpose and Significance

Sea level rise and flood risks associated with climate change are now an unavoidable reality for coastal cities worldwide. Traditional countermeasures like “raising seawalls” or “land reclamation” have limitations and pose significant challenges in terms of sustainability and environmental impact.

Amidst this situation, the international research project “Floating Future,” launched in the Netherlands, aims to implement floating cities and floating infrastructure as a real urban strategy. This initiative, which seeks to embody the concept of living with water rather than fighting it, deeply resonates with the “multipurpose, mobile water-based hub concept”pursued by OCI.

◾️Project Overview

As mentioned earlier, “Floating Future” is a large-scale research project spanning five years from January 2024 to December 2028. It is receiving approximately €5.3 million (about ¥800 million) in funding from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and is being advanced through the collaborative efforts of government, industry, academia, and civic organizations.

At the core is the Netherlands Maritime Research Institute (MARIN), one of the world's leading maritime research institutions. Additionally, academic researchers from TU Delft, the University of Groningen, the Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research (NIOZ), and the applied research institute Deltares are involved. The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, municipalities such as the City of Amsterdam and the City of Rotterdam,as well as civic groups and businesses are also participating broadly.

In this way, the collaborative framework where researchers, policymakers, and citizens sit at the same table is a major feature of the project, representing comprehensive research that truly has “social implementation” in its sights.

◾️Project Purpose and Significance

The primary goal of “Floating Future” is to establish floating structures not merely as experimental facilities, but as scalable social infrastructure. Floating cities offer the following advantages:

• Adaptability: Can accommodate changes in water levels and ground subsidence.

• Portability: Can be relocated and reconfigured as needed.

• Modularity: Can be expanded incrementally from a small scale.

• Versatility: Applicable to residential, industrial, energy, logistics, and even recreational uses.

These features hold great potential both as emergency response hubs during disasters and as venues for urban activities in peacetime. Similarly, the “Project Seatopia” promoted by our foundation aims to create water-based hubs that balance disaster prevention with value creation in peacetime, sharing a largely overlapping direction.

◾️Research Areas and Scope

“Floating Future” goes beyond mere engineering research to comprehensively address the following four domains.

1. Governance

Research to establish the legal framework governing ownership, safety standards, building permits, and land use on water. Clarifying legal and policy aspects is essential to make floating cities a reality.

2. Technology

Verify the design, durability, mooring systems, maintenance, and lifecycle costs of floating modules. Ensuring safety under wave, tidal, and storm conditions remains a key challenge.

3. Environment

Evaluate the impact of floating structures on water quality and flow conditions, as well as their positive and negative effects on ecosystems. We explore whether activities on the water can be harmonized with the natural environment.

4. Social Acceptability

Investigate how people perceive living on water, including cultural and psychological barriers, perceptions of comfort, and cost burdens. Incorporating the public's perspective is essential.

Furthermore, this project incorporates **10 PhD research projects**, each delving deeply into their respective fields while linking theory and empirical evidence.

◾️Challenges Facing Floating Cities

Scaling up floating infrastructure presents numerous challenges.

• Technical challenges: Durability, safety under wave conditions, comfort

• Environmental challenges: Impact on water quality and biodiversity

• Institutional challenges: Unclear ownership, permitting, and safety standards

• Social challenges: Residents' psychological resistance and cost perceptions

• Economic challenges: Balancing construction/maintenance costs and benefits

In other words, floating cities will be tested not only on whether they can be built, but also on whether society will accept them and whether they can be operated sustainably.

OCI's envisioned “multi-purpose floating hub” also anticipates multifaceted functions such s disaster response, international exchange, environmental restoration, and future technology demonstration. Floating Future's “integrated research on technology × systems × society × environment” is precisely the treasure trove of insights our foundation requires.

When applying this to Japan's coastal cities, similar challenges must be overcome, including legal frameworks, social acceptance, and environmental harmony. Furthermore, the Netherlands' collaboration with civic groups and local governments strongly aligns with our foundation's approach of advancing initiatives in cooperation with civil society, government,and research institutions both within Japan and internationally.

◾️Living with Water

“Floating Future” is a groundbreaking initiative that shifts our mindset from “fighting water” to “living with water” against the backdrop of sea level rise and flood risks. Its purpose and significance are directly linked to the philosophy of “creating a marine civilization” that we are advancing. Floating cities and floating infrastructure hold immense potential not only for disaster prevention and mitigation but also as a foundation for everyday life, the economy,culture, and international exchange.

Next time, we will provide a detailed introduction to the structure and scale of the research institutions, local governments, civic groups, and other entities supporting this project.

Sources

・Floating Future official site: floating-future

・Blue Revolution: bluerevolution.org