Schiphol Airport (Netherlands) at sea is slowly but surely coming into the picture again as a future perspective for aviation. The public debate about the future of Schiphol has completely erupted again. Local residents’ associations and D66 (political party) suggest that Schiphol at sea is a solution for stranded Schiphol.
Schiphol Airport Cutting Edge
As a vital hub in international aviation, Schiphol Airport has offered excellent accessibility to business people and tourists over the years, steadily benefiting the employment and economic growth of the Netherlands. However, it is predicted that the number of air travellers will continue to grow in the near future. In order to maintain Schiphol’s current ‘hub position’, the airport will have to increase its capacity to cater for the needs of travellers. In addition to improving service systems inside the airport, infrastructure surrounding the airport such as stations, parking spaces and roads must also be enlarged. For this to happen, space is needed, but where to find the space? How about space on water?
What does Schiphol mean?
There are several legends about the name 'Schiphol'
Consequently, this place became known as: 'Schip Holl' or 'Scheepshol'. 'Schip' and 'Scheep' meaning 'ship', and 'hol' meaning 'grave' in this context. Another explanation is that the name comes from the word 'scheepshaal'.
Schiphol's name is derived from a former fortification named Fort Schiphol, which was part of theStelling van Amsterdam defence works. Before 1852, theHaarlemmermeer polder in which the airport lies was a large lake with some shallow areas. There are multiple stories of how the place got its name.
A Floating Airport: Radical Solutions
Technically, socially and legally, it is possible. The integral social cost-benefit analysis will be beneficial.
Is Schiphol airport below sea level?
-3 m
World's First Floating City Documentary
A Floating Airport Cutting Edge Madness Or Visionary?
On May 25, 1961, John F. Kennedy gave his famous Moon Shot Speech: "First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth." The rest is history and the U.S.A. is still revelling in its accomplishment.
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Google successfully uses the moon-shot strategy. The core of this strategy and its operations is simple: think of a major problem in the medium-long term, think of radical solutions and use ground-breaking knowledge. Reasoned attempts is about trial and error. We do not solve new problems with conventional solutions.
Based on a growth strategy, maintaining Schiphol Airport in the Haarlemmermeer (municipality in the south of the Dutch province of Noord-Holland) is not an option in the longer term. Noise pollution, fuel tanks, congestion and so on lead to public uproar and riots. ‘It is the economy, stupid’ will not always apply. Slowing down is an expensive economic and political cost.
The growth of the national aviation sector is only possible if a radically innovative solution is chosen. Aviation must be CO2 neutral and not cause any inconvenience. The water offers unprecedented opportunities for this.
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By placing an airport at sea, the flight paths can also largely take place over the sea and do not cause any inconvenience. Around the floating airport, enough biofuels can be produced by means of floating algae and seaweed plantations to fuel the Schiphol fleet.
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Why float and not land reclamation? Research with underwater drones shows that ecology remains under floating platforms and sometimes even strengthened. In the case of land reclamation, the aquatic ecology disappears. With a floating airport you also retain the flexibility to move further in the future. After all, Schiphol Airport was once also a sea, so who knows what needs will exist in future? Finally, a floating airport adapts to rising sea levels and is therefore a climate-adaptive solution.
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Floating Schiphol can be connected to Amsterdam and Rotterdam with lightning fast connections with a travel time of less than 20 minutes. An example of such a connection based on vacuum tubes is the Hyperloop system. This is an initiative of Tesla boss Elon Musk, where TU Delft is working on.
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Around Schiphol, other functions can be added such as artificial reefs, energy storage and logistics. This creates an iconic project in which the Netherlands can put itself on the map internationally as a water and innovation country.
The Netherlands: Testbed For Floating Developments
In the Netherlands we realized already floating projects, the most iconic example is the floating pavilion in Rotterdam. The floating pavilion is a pilot for building on water as a first step towards floating urbanization.
What are dikes and polders?
A polder (Dutch pronunciation: (ˈpɔldər) is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as dikes. Flood plains separated from the sea or river by a dike.
The urban development in unprotected areas outside the dikes is of major importance to cities like Rotterdam (largest harbour in Europe). With this project the municipality of Rotterdam took a pioneering role in climate adaption and delta technology. The floating pavilion demonstrates how cities can pro-actively adapt to the effects of climate change.
In cooperation with InHolland University of Applied Sciences, Blue21 (global leading expert in floating architecture and urban development) developed a masterplan for redevelopment of the Rijnhaven harbor. It combines many floating building blocks that already exist. Like floating houses, floating wetlands, breakwaters and roads. The Rijnhaven is an ideal playground for floating.
Floating trees Rijnhaven Harbour Rotterdam, Netherlands
At the moment the redevelopment of the Rijnhaven is just a plan. But if we take climate change serious and care about the wellbeing of people and our planet, then we need to take action now. Plans like these are a stepping stone for floating urbanization and sustainable projects to save our oceans, the planet and the lives of people. New developments and initiatives that improve the quality of life can be commercially attractive at the same time!
Floating Cutting Edge Madness Or Visionary Urbanization 2030 - 2050
What does it mean to be a visionary?
A visionary is someone with a strong vision of the future. Since such visions aren't always accurate, a visionary's ideas may either work brilliantly or fail miserably. The word is also an adjective; thus, for example, we may speak of a visionary project, a visionary leader, a visionary painter, or a visionary company.
Development of floating neighbourhoods and floating cities are a unique opportunity for the Netherlands to become a world leader in floating developments. As an early adapter we can create a competitive advantage over other countries and companies in the world. Dutch floating developments can become an export product by which we are going to write history and save people, our oceans and our planet at the same time.
Although it is technically feasible to build large floating structures on the sea, it is commercially more attractive to expand the land to floating islands in densely populated areas.
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A Floating Airport Cutting Edge Madness Or Visionary?
Once we have realized floating neighbourhoods in sheltered areas and near high value locations like large cities, it is our ambition to build the first environmentally friendly floating city on the sea. In 2050 the world will look completely different than today. By then, the first floating city in the ocean may have been built and could look like this:
We can save our oceans, we can save our planet and we can improve our quality of live, all at the same time. These floating developments are not science fiction, it is technically feasible and it is already happening. However, to meet the global challenges we are currently facing we don’t have a lot of time… 2050 is closer than we think.
Floating city: Plan for 40,000 people to live on the high seas. A Florida-based firm wants to create a 'community on the sea' which would circle the globe every two years
Floating developments could save the lives of people in low lying areas like coastal cities and island communities. It provides space for the growing world population. And at the same time, it can produce food and energy in a renewable and sustainable way.
References:
Jan van Kessel, Barbara, Vicky, David, Harriet, Bart, Karina and Rutger at Blue21
Richard Gray, How can we manage Earth’s land? BBC, 29 June 2017
Joe McCarthy, The Planet Will Face Major Water Shortages by 2050, UN Chief Warns. Global Citizen, 8 June 2017
NU / AT5, Nog ruim 42.000 woningen tekort in regio Amsterdam. 11 February 2019
Joe Quirk, The future of floating cities. World’s Fair Nano Future Festival, 29 March 2018
Before you go!
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