Exploring the possibilities of a Floating Future: ‘Enabling climate adaptive innovations’

Water may offer an opportunity for creating safe space through the use of large-scale floating developments. Initiated by MARIN and Blue Revolution Foundation, the ‘Floating Future’ project integrates governance, technology and ecology to investigate how we can achieve floating developments as a climate adaptive and responsible alternative.

The Netherlands is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, and there is an increasing demand for space for living, industry, the energy transition and food production. Today, approximately 60% of the country is already prone to flooding, and due to climate change this threat is only increasing. Olaf Waals, Head of Offshore at MARIN, explains: “The Floating Future is initiated together with Rutger de Graaf as an interactive research project, involving companies, research institutes and governmental organisations, and it aims to understand how the upscaling of floating structures could offer a climate-proof solution for space limitations in the Dutch Delta.”