ABSTRACT
As the impacts of climate change on the oceans, not least sea level rise, become more prominent in the future, it is likely that whole communities will move to floating cities. These will often make use of large platforms floating on the sea surface, enabling them to rise as seas rise. Several countries are considering the development of floating cities as strategies for adapting to climate change. The legal and regulatory issues that arise from the development of floating cities are taken up in this chapter. The development of floating cities is a realistic strategy for adapting to climate change, especially its impacts upon low-lying littoral communities. The technology for floating cities will need to be worked out, as well as the legal, regulatory, and international political considerations. The chapter considers how and whether existing international law will be able to guide the governance of future floating cities. It evaluates how to classify floating cities in the context of international law and examines the consequences of those classifications, particularly in the context of UNCLOS.
