Monday, June 1, 2009

IS THIS THE WAY TO SOLVE OVERPOPULATION? - Drift around the world on a high-tech lily-pad city


IT COULD be the solution to rising sea levels - a floating city for 50,000 people in the shape of a lily pad. "Lilypad" is the brainchild of Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut.

"Lilypad is what a completely self-sufficient floating city for 50,000 people could look like," he said. "The design of the city is inspired by the shape of the great Amazonia Victoria Regia lily pad.

"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.

Mr Callebaut's computer-generated design is of an amphibious city without any roads or any cars. "The whole city is covered by plants housed in suspended gardens," he said. "The goal is to create a harmonious co-existence of humans and nature."

Sea levels are predicted to rise by about 50centimetres by 2100, leaving low-lying Pacific islands such as Tuvalu and Kiribati largely submerged and their populations homeless. In Australia, councils along the NSW coast are already dealing with dramatic coastal erosion.

ARTICLE CONTINUES AT THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

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