Rising with the waves

More than a billion people live in countries with insufficient infrastructure to withstand sea levesl in 2050, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace. Floating cities are a possible way forward. Global mean sea level is rising at 3.4mm a year, reveals a 30-year Nasa satellite record, and this is accelerating. And the world’s first floating neighbourhood is being built in the Maldives. Phase one comprises 13,000 housing units over 17 neighbourhoods - a mix of family houses, apartments and studios situated in a lagoon, protected from the waves by a raised barrier of coral sand.