Floating Futures
Alessandro Gandolfi
Imagine a city where suburbs float on water. Floating homes already exist in coastal communities in places like the Philippines and Vietnam. Now, high-income nations facing dangerous sea-level rise are looking to those examples.
Among them is the Netherlands, where over a quarter of the land is below sea level and around two-thirds of it is at risk of flooding.
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This photograph shows floating houses in the IJburg district at the edge of Amsterdam, the largest Dutch city. The image comes from , a new series by photojournalist Alessandro Gandolfi.
The affluent, relatively high-density IJburg community comprises 158 waterside homes, 55 of which are floating. Residents are connected by bridges and roads, and most houses have a boat outside instead of a car.
Simply raising the dykes is no longer enough against the rising waters, Gandolfi writes in his photo essay. “Experts warn that mastering water’s whims is an illusion. The answer, they say, lies in a shift of mindset – the philosophy of meebewegen: not fighting against water, but learning to live with it.”
The homes at IJburg aren’t houseboats or retrofitted vessels like the ones lining Amsterdam’s canals, but architect-designed homes intended to encourage community living. They are built to be sustainable, with rooftop solar panels and careful management of sewage and other waste.
But their biggest difference from other houses will always lie below, in their watery foundations.
