
Cities from the sea: the true cost of reclaimed land - AhmadM91
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/may/02/cities-from-the-sea-the-true-cost-of-reclaimed-land-asia-malaysia-penang-dubai
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eksemplar
I find it mind boggling that we’re doing these ocean cities. In Denmark we’re
doing it as well, though mostly by using old unused habourspace and not by
reclaiming land. The result is really expensive real estate in locations that
will be hit by climate change the hardest.

We haven’t managed to do much about climate change in the past 35 years and
now we’re at a point where we need to change our society so radically in 3-5
years that it just won’t happen.

Since it won’t happen, that million dollar apartment with ocean view is sort
of a scam. Because that’s really not where you want to live in 20 years. Right
now the best place to buy property is in one of the few geographical locations
that won’t get absolutely fucked by climate change, and reclaiming the ocean
is the opposite of that.

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perilunar
Instead of reclaiming land from the sea, they could just build floating
cities. e.g. [https://www.seasteading.org](https://www.seasteading.org)

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AstralStorm
The main problem with this approach is the maintenance cost. Not that flood
prevention in a typical beachside property is a low cost.

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mc32
As mentioned din the intro, Japan (and HK) have been doing this for quite some
time and have had success with it.

Looks like the issue is the pace of the development along with marine
ecosystem disruption (they throw in a bit about fishers, but that's a
distractive side issue).

So that makes me wonder, in places where land near the sea is more or less
unimpeded by mountain, can they not just as easily, and perhaps more so, carve
wide channels and create similar land-sea living environments? Do all you
shaping and digging and then at the end, blow the dikes and let the sea rush
in and settle.

Instead of taking land to the sea, bring the sea to land.

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jpatokal
Japan is a world champion at destroying marine & terrestrial ecosystems.
Virtually all of Japan's coastline (yes, seriously) is covered in tetrapods,
_all_ of its rivers except one (1) have been dammed and largely encased in
concrete, 41% of its old-growth forests have been uprooted and replaced
largely with a monoculture of cedar [3], etc.

[1]
[https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2007/07/22/general/tetrapo...](https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2007/07/22/general/tetrapods/)

[2] [https://ejatlas.org/conflict/nagaragawa-
dam](https://ejatlas.org/conflict/nagaragawa-dam)

[3] [https://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/17/science/japan-s-cedar-
for...](https://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/17/science/japan-s-cedar-forests-are-
man-made-disaster.html)

But hey, landing at Kansai or Chubu airports (built entirely on reclaimed
land) is kinda neat...

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burlesona
Pretty interesting article. Sadly, while reading, I had a hard time not
dreaming about whether we could afford a home here in SF if they filled in,
oh, 1/4 or so of the bay with high rise housing. :(

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cafard
There's plenty of fill in San Francisco. You just might not want to be in a
building there when an earthquake hits.

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hprotagonist
Never fear, the ocean will take it all away again in 20 years.

