Author(s)

H. Stopp & P. Strangfeld

Abstract

Climate change is underway and the rising of oceans and frequency of destroying floods have gone on already in a considerable way. The level and the waves of the oceans threaten the coastlines. Especially in river districts of many countries we have to note the worst cases of floods. On the other hand, mankind is growing more and more and the right of adequate housing and sufficient space too. In this situation floating houses and floating settlements in coastal regions and flood plains could be the basis for a sustainable city in the future worldwide. Let us look for a local climate adaption. In this context, a lot of topics must be researched: environmental problems, energy supply, disposal, measurements of boundary conditions (climate and water quality), damage to floating homes, development of new materials, the use of pontoon’s volume as a housing or technique room and for storage of energy, goods and materials. Besides climate change, other global changes, such as the migration of people, animals and plants or the influences of industrial and financial activities should be considered too. Keywords: climate change, floods, urban strategies, floating house. 1 Introduction Climate change is causing a global sea-level rise – that is a fact. Nowadays these are only some centimeters per year, but in the next decades it will be much more, fig.1. The effects of future sea-level rise on coastal zones are one of the problems, which must be tackled in the near future. For example, some coastal areas of the North Sea in Germany or in Southeast Asia in the future lie below sea level. In a magazine article [1] the economic real estate risk is assessed for www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

Keywords

climate change, floods, urban strategies, floating house.