China looking seriously at creating artificial islands that near the scale of Manhattan as they also literally level Mountains for City Space

A new floating city designed by AT Design Office and the Chinese construction firm CCCC, is slated to begin development on a pilot scale next year.

“When the client came to us and talked about this project, I couldn’t believe it was true until I saw their technology,” says Anthony Phan, an architect at AT Design Office. CCCC, which commissioned the design, is currently building a 31-mile long bridge between Hong Kong and Macau using the same type of floating modules that will make up the new city.

Large prefab blocks join together to form the base of the 10-square kilometer island [Manhattan is 59 square kilometers], which will be filled with everything you’d expect on land. In theory, residents could spend all of their time in the new city.

“People won’t need to commute for jobs on land,” says Phan. “Work, apartments, entertainment and parks are all provided in the floating island.”

A large Chinese property investment firm is reviewing the design now and expected to begin testing some of its components in 2015.

China is among the countries which have built the most artificial land; from 1949 to 1990s, the total area of land reclamations from sea of China was about 12,000 km2 Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a landfill), is the process of creating new land from ocean, riverbeds, or lake. The land reclaimed is known as reclamation ground or land fill.

Tokyo Bay, Japan had 249 square kilometers reclaimed, including the entirety of Odaiba artificial island.

The largest artificial islands from reclaimed land.

Costs of reclaimation

Singapore grew over 820 square kilometers by 2010. For that, it needed 1.8 billion cubic meters of sand over the next eight years for reclamation works including Tuas View, Jurong Island and Changi East. The sand is first sold to international brokers, at about S$1.50 (85 US cents) per cubic meter, who then mark it up to Singapore construction firms at S$15 (US$8.50).

Land reclamation costs an estimated S$15 per square meter, though the reclaimed land is then sold at, currently, about S$850 (US$484) per square meter.

So will the new floating city technology cost less than US$10 to 20 per square meter or work near valuable city real estate where reclaimation would not work ?

Levelling Mountains

China has taken to literally moving mountains in order to create more land.

The idea is simple: Lop off the tops of the mountains and use the material to fill in the valleys below to create a flat, livable area of land.

Tens of square miles of flat land has been created in the cities of Chongqing, Shiyan, Yichang, Lanzhou and Yan’an, with the latter looking to double its current area through flattening mountains.

As well as a place for the population to spill onto, it’s expected the new land will generate billions of renminbi (local currency) through sales and leasing, while also providing more space for agriculture.

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