漂浮城市或成人类未来栖息地

This is a glimpse of what may be the future of urban living. It's called Noah, a fully sustainable floating habitat designing to support thousands of people. The idea comes from Architect Kevin Schafer. He says he was inspired by the destruction of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He says Noah is an example of our ecology, a design incorporating the principles of architectural with ecology.

--I begun thinking serious about the notion of how do you combine ecology, the technologies of floating cities, what should they be, and what would they need?

Noah will set down a barge on the river. It will be built from sustainable and recycle material and fitted with thousands of solar panels and wind turbines to generate its own energy.

--You are as driven to sustainable perfection as you can be, and you try every move to make sure that what materials you use, how use them, are reacting in the right way with the environment.

Schafer is employing the same design principles in another disaster-inspired projects, a conceptual habitat he calls "Harvard City". In January, 2010, a massive earthquake leveled Port-au-Prince, the Capital of Haiti, leaving more than 300,000 dead and millions homeless. And Schafer says Harvard City with float in the bay of Port-au-Prince as a temporary home for the displaced and a center for comers.

--In the situation of Haiti, it allows Haiti to breathe a little and give people a place to go while they're regrowing things on land. It creates a whole new industry which it would, an ongoing industry. And it creates a very safe heaven if you will for schools and et cetera.

Harvard City will be three kilometers wide and comprise farm land, residential areas and markets, all connected by canals. Like Noah, Harvard City will be based around sustainability. The design calls for clean energy generation; rain water collections depots and desalination plants to make water fit for farming and human consumption.

Schafer's idea has received mixed views. Many applauded the designs on paper, but some critics say they belong in the realm of science fiction. As for Schafer, he believes the kind of the sustaining future described by his designs will arrive sooner than the critics realize.

Ben Gruber, Reuters.