Inside The World’s First Floating City In The Maldives 

Maldives has it all – idyllic location, tropical sunshine, pristine waters and breathtaking natural beauty. It is a paradise destination, but the beautiful Maldives archipelago is also one of the most vulnerable to climate change. The rising sea levels threaten to engulf its tropical islands, which are the lowest lying on Earth. Offering a solution to the rising sea levels is the Maldives Floating City (MFC).

This concept is a world first and will be the benchmark for future developments around the globe. Maldives Floating City is located just a 15-minute boat ride from mainland Malé, it will be home to shops, restaurants, hotels and more than 5,000 homes that will be connected together and tethered to the floor of a 500-acre lagoon. This world’s first floating city has been designed to conserve and improve its natural ecosystem.

Low-rise, sea facing houses will be built along palm lined streets, where a network of bridges, canals, and docks are expected to bring the community together and make all services and amenities accessible.

Maldives Floating City will be a car free zone to ensure minimal noise pollution. The city will be characterised as a boating community, using the canals as main infrastructure for logistics and gateways, and by doing so reducing land-based movements to walking and biking on natural white sand roads. Only bicycles and electric noise-free buggies/scooters will be permitted.

There is scope for international tourists to obtain residence permit with the purchase of a house, inviting the international community to live here (semi) permanently and enjoy the Maldivian lifestyle, mixing green values with a sense of place based on centuries of experience with living with the sea. And then the perfect weather and tropical surroundings.

Being built as a private-public partnership between Netherlands based Dutch Docklands and the Maldivian government, the construction of the Maldives Floating City is slated for January 2023 and will take about five years to complete.

Developer Dutch Docklands and the architects of Waterstudio have conceptualized a next-generation sea-level rise-proof urban development, bringing safety and development space to the Maldives with a mix of green technology, safety, commercial viability and a healthy new lifestyle, which will be the backbone of future floating cities.

It will be a unique city, both above and underneath the water surface, creating blue habitats projecting and stimulating coral growth. Artificial coral banks will be attached to the underside of the city, which will stimulate coral to grow naturally. The submerged and protected coral reefs of the lagoon will provide a natural wave (reduction) breaker that, in combination with the interrelated grid of floating structures, provides comfort and safety for the residents.