• WCFS’20 Rotterdam International Confab Report
• WCFS’19 Singapore International Confab Report
• Participation at Oslo, Norway's “Future City Expo ’18” Exhibition
• TV documentary series show our Sustainable Water City in New York
• A new concept for the safety of low-lying land areas from natural disasters - “Change the World, One Article at a Time”

From October 6 to 8, 2020 Blue21 and Waterstudio hosted in Rotterdam, the Netherlands the international symposium “Paving The Waves” focusing on floating structures, in conjunction with Society of Floating Solutions, Singapore (SFSS). Initially it was to be held in the Dutch port city as a hybrid event, but with the COVID-19 pandemic on the spread, it was switched into an all-online confab, with a total of ５３ presentations being made remotely.

As the highlight of said symposium, the largest-class Dutch experimental basin now in operation at the research institute MARIN was utilized to test out the artificial floating platform / urban foundation for a seaborne city. The features of the tested floating structure was that segmentation of the ordinarily huge "box" sections according to floating parts then using "hinge" mechanisms to link the contiguous parts in order to enable the entire "unit" to move flexibly in response to the power exerted upon said structure by the waves.

Fig.1 Model of floating base at the MARIN’s wave tank

As to an example of the presentations made during the event, there was ”A study on Stability of Floating Architecture and its Design Methodology” by Toshio Nakajima, Yuka Saito and Motohiko Umeyama, among other outstanding contributions.

Fig.2 Two models for the design methodology for obtaining the sizes of the length
and the draft of the floaters

Society of Floating Solutions, Singapore (SFSS) from April 22 to 23, 2019 hosted an international symposium focused on floating structures, inviting experts in this field globally. 27 presentation papers were announced at the venue, National University of Singapore (NUS), with some 100 to 150 people in attendance to discuss hot topics. For site tours, participants visited a test plant on a lake, thought to be of a size leading the world, of a floating solar [photovoltaic energy] power generation facility, in addition to the experimental deep-sea waterbasin located at the university

Fig.1 The ceremony for the Gold Sponsors of Conference

As regards an example of the presentations made during the event, there was ”An integrated floating community based upon a hybrid water system: toward a super-sustainable water city (by Toshio Nakajima and Motohiko Umeyama).”

Fig.2　Conference room for the presentation of paper at WCFS’19

December 5 and 6, 2018 saw our movement's members in an Oslo suburb at the Norwegian "Evolve Arena" facility where "Future City Expo 2018" was held. At this venue we set up a booth to introduce the concept of the Waterborne City to the many attendees who wished to find out more.

Fig.1 ”Future City Expo’18” at the EVOLVE ARENA, Oslo, Norway

Expo visitors comprised businesses and entrepreneurs, public servants and experts, educators and students, laypersons and others. One event of interest was the newly-renamed Norwegian oil development corporation Equinor making presentations and pushed such efforts related to their "Floating City" idea.

Fig.2 Visitor at the site of the "Sustainable Water City"

We contributed to the U.S. TV documentary series “Sinking Cities” in 2018. WNET, a New York PBS station, had asked us to introduce our “Sustainable Water City” in the TV program show “Peril and Promise” which it produced.

The Tokyo episode of this documentary series was broadcast on November 7th in 2018 over the PBS network; the series comprised four documentary segments covering New York, Tokyo, London and Miami, respectively. Additionally, a movie clip of the show was introduced at the venue of the Floating Cities event in December 2018 at Oslo, Norway.

About The Program
A new four-part TV documentary series explores how coastal cities and their inhabitants are preparing for a future with rising sea levels and changing weather. Set to air in Spring 2018, each hour-long episode will focus on a different city around the world: Tokyo, New York, Miami, and London. Through interviews with city officials, scientists and citizens, the audiene will gain insight into how cities are adapting for the future. The documentary will shed light on the innovative solutions being implemented to protect citizens against flooding and natural disasters.

It was announced in 2016 that our paper in Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy (JOEME) entitled “A new concept for the safety of low-lying land areas from natural disasters” was selected as one of the 100 top papers among all papers published by Springer in 2015, as a ground-breaking paper that could help humanity as well as protect and preserve our planet. The content of this paper “proposes the establishment of bases using floating structures to safeguard from natural disasters, especially from flooding caused by heavy rain and storm surges caused by typhoons, tsunamis and/or earthquakes, in order to create an urban community base in man-made inlets and basins -- an idea that enables the attainment of a prosperous urban and rural environment which is sustainable in the long term.”

Fig.1 “Change the World, One Article at a Time”