The World's First 'City on the Sea' in Busan... Busan City Signs MOU to Build a Pilot Model of a Maritime City

Busan City Hall.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Trainee Reporter Hwang Du-yeol] Busan City is promoting a global project for a ‘marine city’ to protect the marine environment.

On the 18th, Busan City, UN-Habitat, and Oceanix signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to promote the world’s first ‘sustainable marine city’ by constructing a ‘marine city pilot model.’

At the signing ceremony, Busan Mayor Park Hyung-jun, UN-Habitat Executive Director Maimunah Mohd Sharif, and Oceanix CEO Mark Collins Chen attended via video conference from their respective countries and signed the MOU.

The ‘sustainable marine city’ is a project jointly initiated for the first time in the world by UN-Habitat, the highest authority overseeing global urban policies, and Oceanix, a marine city development company.

The marine city does not destroy the marine ecosystem, meets humanity’s needs for refuge, energy, and food, and regenerates coastal ecosystems through the use of biorock.

According to the 6th report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 30% (2.4 billion people) of coastal residents are affected by coastal erosion and flooding due to sea level rise caused by climate change. This impact results in the destruction of housing and infrastructure and creates millions of climate refugees.

Marine cities are emerging as an innovative solution to sea level rise and climate change adaptation.

The MOU outlines the mutual roles for constructing the pilot model to promote the marine city.

Busan City, UN-Habitat, and Oceanix will respectively serve as ▲administrative supporters for project promotion ▲supporters of the pilot model project utilizing the role of the international organization ▲project implementers responsible for feasibility studies, site analysis, and project promotion.

In July, UN-Habitat requested Busan’s participation as a partner city for the construction of the marine city pilot model, to which Busan City responded positively.

The city judged that the world’s first marine city construction would have positive effects such as creating high-quality jobs and revitalizing the local economy.

With the signing of this MOU, Oceanix, as the project implementer, plans to conduct feasibility studies including site analysis and various impact assessments, keeping in mind the synergy effect of hosting the 2030 Busan World Expo. Based on this, a consultative body of domestic and international experts will be formed to continue discussions on constructing the marine city pilot model.

Busan Mayor Park Hyung-jun said, “As a global ‘FIRST MOVER,’ the construction of the marine city pilot model will play a pivotal role in strengthening Busan’s status.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.