Floating Development: An Alternative to Land Reclamation for Waterfront Development: A Case Study for Design and Construction of VLFS in Wellington

Abstract

In countries Japan, Netherlands, and Singapore they experience increasing land scarcity due to concentration of population or flooding issue. The growing concerns over environmental degration and political conflicts due to land reclamation means land-filled is no longer an acceptable way. Thus these countries put greater emphasis on investigating and application of other alternatives, such as floating structure, to allow for urban expansion. In particular, Very Large Floating Structure (VLFS) is becoming increasing popular and promising.

This thesis presents a range of water-based development that include urban and architectural scale, historical and recent, and focuses on analysing the urban aspects. Projects of Japan, Netherlands and Singapore are researched at lesser detail for understanding technical, economy and political considerations in a floating development. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the possibilities of having floating structure as a way to expand the city. The case study used is of VLFS on the Lambton Harbour of Wellington city, New Zealand, to demonstrate the feasibility.