Facilitating Urban Growth: Land Reclamation and Other Alternatives

Land. Throughout all of history, land has been one of humanity’s most sought-after natural resources. We have continuously fought for larger territories and looked for methods to grow our available living spaces. Over many millennia, human society has evolved from small, subsistence-level hunter-gatherer groups to large, complex and technologically advanced populations that consume resources at a high rate. We have developed means of production and extraction, built factories, and created other strategies to utilize and exploit most types of natural resources available around the globe. In doing so, humanity has increasingly cleared, occupied and utilized the available greenspace that is, in its natural state, essential to the health of our planet. In the 21st century however, we have come to realize that the rate at which we consume land and other natural resources is not sustainable. Fossil fuel burning processes that release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which literally ‘fuel’ countries’ economies, have been the number one contributor in pushing climate change to an all-time high.¹ With climate change’s imminent threats to the human population, many countries and cities are seeking to preserve remaining natural spaces on land. For certain coastal cities that must cater to their rapidly growing resident communities, though, much of the stock of natural spaces on land have been exhausted. This means turning outwards to the oceans, not inwards to land, for expansion. Yet one may wonder, how can humans shift to living on the water? A possible answer: land reclamation.

Land Reclamation

The process of coastal land reclamation can be implemented by a variety of possible methods, but most commonly involves constructing a wall or a dike however far out into the ocean as desired that reaches down to the seabed, draining the ocean water within the created boundary, and then infilling the area to create land.² For the purpose of my paper, I am defining large scale land reclamation as the draining, infilling, and compacting of ocean areas with various types of fill in order to create land that is stable and extensive enough to support the construction of substantial residential, commercial or other developments. Creating new urban space, whether through land reclamation or otherwise, is an endeavor that ideally attempts to facilitate the growth of cities in a sustainable way. Doing this requires multidimensional consideration of “economic, social, and environmental potential”.³ There are benefits and risks associated with the process of land reclamation. Coastal land reclamation provides much needed land for city expansion purposes, allowing for housing and commercial areas, infrastructure, and other projects. With the rapid growth of the human population, cities around the globe (including coastal cities) are increasingly needing more land. With our contemporary focus on protection of inland nature areas, modern city-dwellers may not have as much freedom to continue sprawling into interior lands to meet expansion demands; instead, moving outwards and utilizing reclaimed land from the oceans could reduce the need to convert inland nature areas for human development and occupation. Land reclamation, in some situations, can restore environments and habitats, or contribute to creating new ecosystems.⁴ This process can work towards balancing animal and plant life and inter-species interactions in the environment. For example, animal species can move onto the reclaimed land areas and co-exist with humans there. Or, as humans potentially focus more of their attention on developing coastal reclaimed areas, they may reduce their use of previously developed spaces inland, enabling different organisms to utilize this space. If these reclaimed coastal areas can be used more efficiently than previously developed areas, then it might allow those previously developed areas to be abandoned and naturalized. Economically, land reclamation allows for new buildings to be constructed, acting as tourism attractions or opportunities for real estate development.⁵

On the other hand, there are important risks to consider, whether stemming from the land reclamation process itself, or from the threats of climate change. As humans infill areas during the land reclamation process, this creates a large obstruction where ocean waters formerly flowed; subsequently, coastal current patterns can be disrupted, and lead to flooding in areas nearby.⁶ As previously mentioned, walls are often built to hold the infill used during the land reclaiming process. These sea walls can redirect ocean tides toward the wall ends, contributing to flooding and increased erosion of the coastline near those areas.⁷ Flooding can damage infrastructure and overwhelm storm water systems, and cause increased erosion that actually destroys coastal land edges. Climate change also poses threats to reclaimed land expansion: according to The New York Times Magazine, scientists warn that by the year 2100, sea levels may rise by as much as six feet, and storms will hit coastlines globally.⁸ If humans reclaim too much coastal land and settle on spaces not much higher than sea level, the looming impacts of rising sea levels may literally wash over and submerge sections of land and developments that had been constructed there.

Singapore’s Experience

Multiple coastal cities worldwide are using land reclamation as a means of expanding areas for development. Singapore, a city-country in Southeast Asia with extensive shorelines, has been utilizing land reclamation for many years as a means of creating more land to accommodate its dense population. The New York Times Magazine states that since becoming an independent nation almost 60 years ago, Singapore has grown its country size by 25%.⁹ This is demonstrated in figure 1’s diagram, showing the areas and timelines of expanded sections on a map of Singapore.

In addition to allowing for more or increased residential and commercial development, the expanded land also provides opportunity for more green spaces and trees, benefitting the surrounding environment. Important landmarks in Singapore have been built on reclaimed land including the Marina Bay Sands area. Singapore’s land growth also correlates to its gross domestic product, which has increased along with it as shown in figure 2 below.

But this quick initial growth rate is unsustainable for the future: Singapore’s reliance on sand imports from nearby countries has increased to the point where shipments from nations like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Cambodia, to name a few, have been cut off entirely. Coastal geography plays an important role in determining how far out Singapore can actually reclaim land. David Tan, the assistant chief executive of the Jurong Town Corporation which built a significant island extension within the country, claimed that Singapore is “already reclaiming in water that is 20 meters deep… It’s physically difficult and economically unviable”.¹² Singapore no longer has a realistic option to continue reclaiming land deeper into the sea. The country’s actions have also negatively impacted plant and animal populations, and altered ecosystem structure: the reclamation process shifts terrain and natural patterns, and coastal forests and mangrove swamps have been largely wiped out. Infill materials that actually create the dry land have toxic chemicals that pollute Singapore’s marine environment: sediments have seeped through and contaminated waters that coral reefs and different organisms rely on for survival.¹³ Although Singapore has experienced remarkable scaling of its land mass, there are important negative environmental impacts that the country’s seemingly successful reclamation efforts have carried along.

Dubai’s Experience

In the minds of many, Dubai’s natural beauty in the United Arab Emirates comes from rolling sand dunes and mountain ranges. The city is also a hub for futuristic structures and buildings. In fact, one of Dubai’s most world-renowned construction projects is the Palm Islands – formulated through land reclamation. There is a stark contrast though between the motivation for land reclamation in Singapore and Dubai: while Singapore’s projects were driven by necessity to keep up with one of the most densely-populated and still-growing cities in the world, Dubai’s Palm Islands were created as a globally-recognized structure for the wealthy. The government in Dubai was well aware that its oil reserves are limited, and so created the Palm Islands to increase tourism as a new source of revenue for the country. Originally, Dubai had only 70 kilometers of coastline; their efforts in creating the islands took around 110 million m3 of dredged sand, and expanded the coastline to an astonishing 1000 kilometers today – about fourteen times the original distance.¹⁴ The reclaimed land of the Palm Islands provides area for luxury hotels, homes, and other buildings, all contributing to Dubai’s economy, as shown in figure 3.

However, the benefits the human-made islands provide for wealthier individuals – not shared equally among the greater population of Dubai – must be accepted along with the extensive negative issues society must deal with, brought on through the reclamation process. Researchers have found that the ocean temperatures near the Palm Islands have increased by 7.5%.¹⁶ Marine temperature increases can have detrimental impacts on the surrounding environment and the organisms that live in it. Many coral reefs cannot tolerate the warmer waters, and expel living algae from their tissues through the process of coral bleaching. In worse situations, entire reef communities and oyster beds are smothered with sediment, buried during the reclamation process.¹⁷ The protection that these coral reef structures provided, acting as a natural breakwater barrier, has been lost in some areas – coastal erosion is now a more serious threat from oncoming wave action. Many marine species flee the area, which has led to economic problems as commercial fishing decreases. Rising sea levels are accelerated due to the water temperature increase, which, ironically, will likely flood the Palm Islands within the next 100 years.¹⁸ Despite the fact that the Palm Islands serve as an iconic addition to Dubai, their construction has had harmful consequences on the surrounding ecosystems.

Land Reclamation – Advantages and Disadvantages

Do the benefits of land reclamation outweigh the harms brought on by the process? The driving reason for land reclamation, wherever the process occurs around the world, is to create more area for human expansion. As global populations rapidly increase, our need for land for production, residences, and other developments, soars. Land reclamation is a way for us to expand outwards and develop new areas from the oceans, without encroaching further inwards and taking over more dry land. Considering the case studies from Singapore and Dubai, there have been notable benefits provided from reclaimed land. Resort areas and marinas have aided Singapore in becoming more recognized on a global scale, and reclaimed land put towards green space reserves have improved surrounding environments in moving towards a sustainable future. Dubai’s Palm Islands have acted as a symbol for the city, creating living spaces for the rich, and also serving as a means of increasing tourism. Unfortunately, these advantages do not come without problems and limits. In the case of Singapore, the country has experienced so much rapid growth in just over half a century, that the geography of its coastal areas restrict them from continuing at the same pace – at a certain point expanding out into the sea, drop-offs on the ocean floor become too deep to feasibly convert into solid, reclaimed land. There are environmental aspects at play as well: reclamation efforts have altered the natural landscape, decreasing previously occurring coastal forest and mangrove cover, as well as polluting the oceans from sediment material. Dubai has faced aquatic domino effects: ocean temperature increases from human-induced reclamation action has contributed to reducing coral reefs, which, in turn, provide less cover against wave action, leading to increased coastal erosion – which actually works against the purpose of land reclamation, because erosion breaks apart land area rather than creating it. Greater global effects from human activity, such as fossil fuel burning, has contributed to global warming – this leads to rising sea levels worldwide. Since land reclamation essentially drains sections of coastal water to create land from the ocean, the resulting ground is not much higher than sea level. Thus, reclaimed land will be susceptible to rising sea level flooding in the very near future. It is important to consider that the impact of these environmental stressors can magnify over time, especially in the face of climate change and vulnerable ecosystems, and be felt all around the world. The negatives brought on from the reclamation process are therefore more significant to examine than the smaller-scale boosts provided to specific cities from land expansion. Although the land reclamation process has potential to generate important land extensions to coastal cities, the benefits enjoyed by these cities are potentially outweighed by the greater environmental and societal harms caused through reclamation. Land reclamation may not be a viable nor sustainable option for human expansion in the face of our rapidly shifting world. This may lead some to wonder: what are the ways that coastal cities can accommodate the continuous growth of populations? Rather than aiming to create extended ground from the oceans through land reclamation, humans might more feasibly try to use already-available land more efficiently through alternate methods.

Vertical Urbanization

One such method could be vertical urbanization. Vertical urbanization provides options for more people to live within a set land area by building upwards and conserving space. To illustrate: instead of having an entire house constructed for one family on a plot of land, a pre-existing building that takes up a slightly larger sized area can be built upon and extended upwards, creating a home for this family above ground and saving space below. The area used by the building remains the same, yet a new living space is produced. In this way, vertical urbanization reduces the amount of ground cover used, keeping area available for other sustainable developments, or environmental spaces. Figure 4 below shows realistic measurements of vertical expansion for residential towers. The red square showing a 25m height increase allows for multiple stories to be constructed, along with many new housing spaces, without impacting the previous amount of area used down below on the ground.

Previous centers such as shopping malls, offices, and grocery stores can be incorporated into these buildings along with apartments, through mixed-use developments. Vertical mixed-use developments provide economic, social and personal benefits. The integrated components of living and commercial spaces add more liveliness to the area, encouraging walkability, and creating a town-style feeling that promotes business investment.²⁰ In terms of housing, it is cheaper to add onto a previously standing building with a foundation, than to urbanize a new area and build a completely new structure for a home itself.

These new hubs also provide plenty of social interaction, which can benefit civilians’ mental health, foster a stronger sense of community and cohesion among them, and keep a pedestrian-friendly setting for an active lifestyle.²¹ Some of the most important benefits that come from vertical urbanization are environmentally related. First, vertical urbanization limits the damage brought to environments from development growth – expanding vertically reduces the amount of land area needed for people, unlike urban sprawl, which directly decreases ground cover. If traditional ways of horizontal development continue, forests and habitat space for wildlife and plant species will be lost, along with valuable natural resources, and necessary ecosystems.²² The growing population of humans continuously requires living spaces, but it is vital to preserve environmental spaces in the face of climate change. Second, vertical mixed-use developments, as previously mentioned, are buildings with components of both residential and commercial spaces. By situating commercial spaces throughout buildings, as an alternative to dedicating individual plots of land to them, the area is used more efficiently, leaving more ground cover available for environmental reserves.

Third, because these vertical development buildings provide multi-purpose services within the same area, the districts encourage citizens to walk, cycle, and use public transportation.²³ Rather than using personal vehicles, which add greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere, to reach more distant destinations, civilians can take advantage of the mixed-use developments in which a variety of amenities are all located within a proximate area. This way, greenhouse gas emissions are lowered, since people only need to walk, cycle, or use public transportation for short distances to get where they need to be.

Figure 5 below shows one of Vancouver’s most prominent projects on the West Coast of Canada: a previous mall turning into one of the largest mixed-use development centers in the area.

Oakridge Center will create more than 2,500 homes, libraries, a nine-acre park, offices, and rental space.²⁴ Rather than just being a mall consisting of a few floors, Oakridge Center has been completely transformed, almost into a mini-city itself.

All these advantages, though, will bring significant shifts to the way our society functions. There are cons to vertical urbanization as well. The elevation of the buildings brings issues with utilities, and the process of supplying them to high floors. All floors must have access to electricity and water, whether residential or commercial, and water must be supplied through pipes. Power is needed to pump the water to each building level, and our reliance on energy must increase if we shift to this method of living in high-rises.²⁶ Socially, the more people living and working in a building, the more the risk of hygiene issues. This is a problem that will naturally be faced, since person-to-person interaction will inevitably and regularly occur in connection with the vertical style of living.

It is not feasible for high-rises to continually be expanded vertically to accommodate greater numbers of people living in them; in other words, there are physical limits to how high we can build. At a certain height, structures may become unstable and dangerous for the high density populations living in them. There are risks brought on from the Earth, such as earthquakes causing the land to shake. This could easily cause disastrous consequences with the potential for toppling buildings.

And the risks do not stop with the physical aspects. According to Duncan Bowie, an urban policy academic at the University of Westminster and adviser to former London mayor Ken Livingstone, there are matters with the price of housing: “Bluntly, when you get to very high densities, … you generally do not get affordable housing. … there are quite negative consequences of pushing hyperdensity to the extent we are”.²⁷

This includes the issue of environmental and social justice. In many cities in the United States today, the majority of wealthy communities with White people are where improved infrastructure is being invested in, and where environmental laws are more likely to be stringently applied. Most marginalized, low-income communities, which house mostly Black, Latines, Asian Americans, and Indigenous Peoples, are treated worse: they can tend to be concentrated next to highways, waste storage facilities, and industrial sites.28 These injustices stem from past racial prejudices which are still reflected in society today. If cities choose to shift ways of living to vertical urbanization, certain groups of people and families, mostly from people of color, will face problems with affordable housing, and may be forced to continue living in unsuitable conditions.

Though vertical urbanization creates many problems, it may very well be the next step for coastal cities that may not have other options with regards to land availability, to turn towards in order to manage growing populations. The sustainable benefits provided, along with the possibilities for an environmentally conscious future, may prove to be more consistently attainable for coastal cities.

The original process of land reclamation sought to drain ocean water, and uncover the submerged land beneath for development purposes. As previously discussed, however, the process has significant drawbacks, particularly on the environment, and must go through many steps to reach the final result of humans living on extended land. But what if we could save all the effort of draining and dredging the area – and the downsides of inflicting damage to surrounding ecosystems – and figure out a method of surviving directly on the oceans? Floating infrastructure may be another approach for coastal city expansion.

Floating Infrastructure

Floating infrastructure has notable potential for sustainable human expansion in the face of climate change. Around the world, rising sea levels are an imminent threat, and many coastal cities with low land near sea level risk being flooded over in the near future. Figure 6 graphically shows how global sea levels have risen drastically over the past 3 decades or so, with an average of 3.5mm each year.

The Maldives, an independent island country in the Indian Ocean, are on the verge of dangerous flooding. Some 80% of their land cover is less than 1 meter above sea level, and the country does not have much time before they are inevitably flooded.³⁰ The Maldives, however, are a globally recognized tourist destination: they boast beautiful expansions of coral reefs and delicate marine environments. They are unable to expand their land through methods such as reclamation, which would destroy the highly valued ecosystems. So, they have been utilizing floating structures as a way to safely retain the environment, and expand land cover to continue tourism. Although the Maldives represent a much smaller example, bigger coastal cities may have to adopt the same strategies used to combat rising sea levels with floating structures.

An ongoing problem is that many coastal cities may not have the available area to move inland, away from the water’s edge, because then their populations would further encroach on valuable environmental zones that are meant to be preserved. On the other hand, utilizing a previously viewed impractical area, that being ocean surface, could provide the necessary space for expansion, and be more sustainable.

There are many benefits brought from floating infrastructure. First of all, making use of the ocean surface as ‘land’ and having the option to move certain infrastructure there can free up previously used, valuable ground cover. Certain aspects of buildings, residences, and energy production methods could be moved to floating structures, as shown in figure 7’s concept image.

Today, certain coastal locations are even experimenting with buoyant agriculture. According to Vicky Lin, an urban floating project coordinator of the Blue21 Project, “[i]f we continue to harvest and produce food the way we do, by 2050 we will have a shortage of land the size of North America”.32 Floating agricultural developments could be taken advantage of along vast coastlines around the world. If plants and other crops could be grown as productively in floating greenhouses as they would on solid ground, enormous distances of coastline could be dedicated toward farming. Figure 8 provides a design concept of how these floating greenhouses could be constructed on the ocean surface.

This would immensely reduce the amount of ground cover that agriculture occupies inland, freeing space that could go towards protected nature reserves, or more sustainable developments that may not yet have the technology or applicability to expand to the oceanside. In fact, there is even the possibility of moving livestock farms to floating developments. In the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, a three-story farm keeps 40 free ranging cows that produce organic fertilizer and cheese.³⁴ Cattle farming and crop growth takes up a massive amount of Earth’s land cover. According to the European Feed Manufacturers’ Federation, or the FEFAC, about 20% of the total land on Earth is dedicated to agricultural land, consisting of about 2.5 billion hectares.³⁵

Floating structures may offer a means of augmenting existing agricultural land reserves, or possibly even replacing some of the world’s existing agricultural cover, in turn allowing for the possibility of returning some previously cultivated areas to natural spaces or otherwise using them to sustainably benefit our world.

Our society is continuously trying to find more sustainable energy production options. Switching from traditional fossil-fuel burning processes to renewable methods, such as wind, hydro, or solar energy, is an important step in the fight against climate change; nonetheless, the physical ground cover these sustainable methods require takes up significant area that otherwise could be dedicated towards environmental reserves. Changing from nonrenewables to green energy is one part of the equation – the other is constructing these energy production sites more efficiently, and strategically positioning them to save as much land as possible. Floating infrastructure may provide options for sustainable energy production methods to be constructed on.

Wind energy, which is one of the most ‘green’ energy systems today, is often built on large, open stretches of land. The turbines themselves are huge and loud. Many people dislike the noise and obstruction wind turbines bring, and so they are constructed in the open countryside. Being in open countryside without tree cover increases the wind flow, helping the turbines spin and create electricity. However, they can deter and even kill certain aerial animals, decreasing the biodiversity in the area they are constructed in, and at the same time, take up valuable land cover. If wind turbines were to be built on floating structures further out into the ocean on the coastline, they would be a good distance from residences in cities for the impact of noise pollution to be lessened. The large countryside land areas that they were previously installed on could be utilized for other uses, and turbines would still be able to maximize electricity generation through turbine spinning, as ocean breezes are quite strong to provide constant wind flow. Figure 9 shows different floating wind turbine concepts below.

Floating wind turbines on the ocean surface may also have the potential to be constructed slightly taller and with a wider diameter than their onshore counterparts. This means that the power generated from the floating turbines would be greater, and be able to be distributed to more people or be put towards more uses, as shown in figure 10 below.

Solar energy, another sustainable method of energy production, is quite similar to that of wind energy. Large collections of photovoltaic cells generate electricity in quite remote and open places with direct sunlight. The problem is, like wind energy, these solar panels cover massive open areas, and could be much more efficient with available space if constructed elsewhere. If solar panels were moved to floating structures, they could make use of the open air and continue gathering sunlight, and free up previous solid ground for other uses. This concept is demonstrated through figure 11, showing a group of solar panels constructed on a body of water, generating energy.

The panels themselves can be storm-safe, and even submerged and protected during stormy ocean weather.³⁹ Floating infrastructure can provide the necessary area for sustainable energy production in the future, take advantage of our oceans as primary locations, and free new areas inland for developments.

As always, each option brings with it potential setbacks as well. While floating infrastructure has strong potential for certain aspects of our society to be constructed on it, it may not yet be feasible for structures to be built successfully, the way they are constructed on solid land.

A physical challenge to construction of buildings on floating platforms is the ocean surface. The continuous motion from ocean waves can pose a challenge for floating construction methods: the way buildings are made must be shifted in order to prevent them from toppling due to the uneven ocean surface the floating platforms sit atop of. Shifting agriculture to floating structures would free up vast expanses of land, and take advantage of previously, largely, unused coastline areas. But, taking into consideration the impacts farms face on land with surface erosion, and eutrophication from excessive nutrient runoff, these impacts won’t exactly be ceased by switching the location of agricultural operations. Large-scale crop farming in floating greenhouses needs the same requirements as traditional farming on land. In order to grow productively, crops need access to sunlight – meaning greenhouses would need to be built a certain way to allow for this – and certain nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. Much of the environmental issues faced from farming methods on land stem from agricultural nutrient runoff. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, or the EPA, the “National Water Quality Assessment shows that agricultural runoff is the leading cause of water quality impacts to rivers and streams… [a]bout a half million tons of pesticides, 12 millions tons of nitrogen, and 4 million tons of phosphorus fertilizer are applied annually to crops in the continental United States”.40 In traditional farming, these fertilizers run off the land surface when rained on or watered, and leach into waterways such as rivers and streams, as quoted above. Although at a lesser scale, floating crops would require the same nutrients, and when these crops are watered, nutrients could runoff into coastal oceans if the leachate water is not carefully collected. Furthermore, the direct access loose leachate has to contaminate ocean waters from floating greenhouses, compared to the process of surface runoff on land, is much worse. After percolating through crops, the nutrient rich leachate water can flow into ocean waters. Similarly to the way the process works in land waterways, algal blooms are stimulated, leading to hypoxic or low-oxygen conditions in coastal areas that kill or force marine organisms out of the area, as shown in figure 12.

Livestock operations in floating structures may have runoff impacts as well. Cattle farming can compact soil, making the surface smoother and reducing water infiltration ability into the ground.⁴² If this were to happen in floating cattle farms, water that cattle require may run off into the ocean, carrying with it excessive sediments and nutrients that can contaminate, overwhelm, and degrade coastal ecosystems. This sedimentation effect from floating livestock farming, coupled with eutrophication from floating crop growth, may have increased significance in terms of their negative impact on coastal environments, due to the fact that they would literally be situated directly on top of ocean waters. If floating agriculture is the option that farming practices move towards in the future, runoff pollution and eutrophication prevention is necessary to protect our coastlines.

There are several negatives from moving wind turbine farms from open areas inland to floating platforms. Wind turbines can be optimally situated a far distance out from the shoreline to take advantage of less obstructed ocean breezes, but may still be within view from the beach and contribute to an unappealing landscape that citizens dislike. The cost of installing cables underwater to transport the generated electricity back to coastal cities may be quite high, depending on how far out the turbines are constructed. Although the sound from operating turbines may not travel all the way to the shoreline and impact people, the noise can travel underwater and disrupt marine organisms. Noise pollution can scare away fish and other animals from the area, and cause a loss of biodiversity. Intense wave action can cause the floating turbines to be unstable, and very strong waves may even damage or tip the turbines over, hurting the surrounding ecosystem and being very expensive to fix. Solar panels face similar drawbacks, in that they too could be damaged from strong wave action, and are quite expensive as well. In order to generate power, the photovoltaic cells require access to direct sunlight. They may not be able to consistently generate electricity, however, because ocean surface water evaporates, condensates, and contributes to cloud formation. These coastal clouds can obstruct incoming sun rays and prevent the solar panels from constantly generating energy that coastal cities require.

With our growing populations today, we have sought to expand land areas and figure out ways for ourselves to create more space. In some senses, we’ve pushed our limits with methods of development, trying to move toward more sustainable, environmentally friendly options for growth. Yet, what if the most sustainable way for the future would be to NOT physically expand outward? Rather, we could focus our attention more on the immediate areas around us in coastal cities, and redevelop them for more efficient usage. This is the concept of urban renewal.

Urban Renewal

There is great potential for urban renewal in most coastal cities around the world – there is almost always room for development and improvement with regards to economical, societal, and environmental aspects. For the purpose of my paper, I am defining the term urban renewal as the general redevelopment of certain areas in coastal cities with the goal of improving environmental, social, and economic conditions. A significant urban renewal project example is the Barangaroo Project in Sydney, Australia. At the turn of the 21st century, Barangaroo was a disused container terminal, and acted as a physical barrier to one of Sydney harbour’s openings.⁴³ The issue was that this container terminal was located on a valuable land area on the waterfront, but was largely inaccessible for the public. Essentially, the plot of land was being wasted, and the city of Sydney realized its great potential to be transformed into important urban space. So, the city decided to redevelop the area, and turned it into an active residential, commercial, and cultural hub. After being completed, the Barangaroo Precinct supports more than 20,000 jobs, provides homes for around 3,500 people, and contributes $2 billion to the New South Wales economy, annually.44 By engaging in urban redevelopment, Sydney has been able to revitalize the Barangaroo area, as shown in figure 13 below.

The process of urban renewal can bring many benefits to coastal cities that utilize it. The vast majority of coastal cities have underused and underdeveloped areas that, if transformed to become more efficiently used, could become significant sustainable spaces for a better future. By improving pre-existing, underused areas, and changing them by constructing residential buildings, mixed-use developments, or other sustainable-purposed structures there, the need for more land expansion-wise could be lessened significantly, and the amount of additional ground cover gained could be reduced. As shown through the Barangaroo Project, the economic potential for growth from urban redevelopment is quite strong as well. This action of redeveloping areas to be more efficient saves space for other objectives, such as protecting environmental reserves. More ground cover can be saved inland, protecting natural land areas and the animal and plant species that reside there, as the need for expansion may be lessened. Or, the redeveloped areas can be dedicated towards creating environmental reserves themselves. Ensuring that green areas are preserved helps combat the effects of climate change, and contributes to an improved society as a whole.

Another benefit is that by redeveloping underused areas, where some marginalized and less-fortunate communities may live, these groups of people will experience improved inclusion and living conditions.⁴⁶ These minority groups will be able to enjoy the renewed spaces, and the enhanced social networks brought from living on a more equal-scale. Urban renewal provides economic, social, and environmental benefits that coastal cities worldwide can take advantage of.

Despite the notable improvements coastal cities gain from urban renewal, there are issues with aspects of the process. There are many coastal cities in different parts of the world that have historic buildings, or structures of significance, standing in areas that could be better utilized after redevelopment. This causes a problem, because these historic structures may act as a symbol of importance for certain groups of people, or contribute to cultural aspects. Some buildings represent a valuable heritage that must be preserved through any improvement work. Along with the deterioration of old, historic buildings, the acceleration of urban update works in recent years in cities has caused serious damage to these historical sites – many of which are fragile and vulnerable, and beyond the point of fixing or reworking.⁴⁷ The urban renewal process is not so straightforward as to simply knock down or change every building on the desired plot of land – there are concerns among the citizen body as well as to how the redevelopment should go ahead. Although a complicated process, cultural and historical values must be preserved in order to achieve sustainable urban renewal.

Urban renewal areas also involve various planning issues among different stakeholders.⁴⁸ This is an intricate aspect that is almost certain to come up through the redevelopment process. With the focus on redeveloping land, disputes and disagreements may happen over land claims, and conflicting views will occur over what new purpose the areas may be used for. In spite of the fact that sustainable urban renewal seeks to consider each of economic, social, and environmental aspects, in some instances, these components are not investigated equally. Many urban renewal policies have tended to focus more on economic regeneration, rather than on social or environmental regeneration: in Jordan, a military site examination revealed that even though the development had been promoted as sustainable urban renewal, the site’s construction was more profit-driven rather than meaning to solve community and environmental concerns.49 Also, as certain areas in coastal cities are renewed, especially those that previously were underdeveloped, housing less privileged communities, wealthier individuals may actually move into these spaces seeking to take advantage of the freshly urbanized aspects. This leads to gentrification. Gentrification can cause the displacement of local, less privileged communities, and contribute to the loss of affordable housing. Even though urban renewal brings significant benefits to coastal cities that go about the process, all of these issues are significant points that must be considered alongside it.

Evaluating Options

In this section, I compare the different methods of coastal-city development researched in my paper above, taking into consideration the benefits and drawbacks of each, to ultimately decide which in my view is the best sustainable option for accommodating future growth. In order to provide more specific reasoning of areas the different methods of development may be used for, my recommendations are centered around Singapore. This coastal city has conducted, and probably exhausted its opportunities for, large-scale land reclamation efforts – a method of expansion that, as previously discussed in my paper, has reached a bottleneck. Singapore therefore has great potential to utilize one, or a combination, of vertical urbanization, floating infrastructure, or urban renewal methods discussed that are more sustainable for the future.

Vertical urbanization has great potential to be one of Singapore’s main methods of expansion for the future. This efficient process of constructing upwards as opposed to outwards saves valuable land area for other uses. The city of Singapore is one of the densest in the world, and is already taking advantage of constructing taller buildings. There are areas in the city that could, if needed, be converted into space for more high-rise structures. Figure 14 below shows Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands, with a large open landscape currently dedicated towards green areas and tourist destinations.

The Marina Bay Sands area was actually constructed on reclaimed land. This ground has provided important space for green areas and landmarks. However, as previously discussed in my paper, Singapore can no longer feasibly reclaim land for expansion due to multiple factors. While it is beneficial for Singapore to be using this land space for tourism sites and green reserves, the future may require sections of land to be converted into high-rise buildings in the overall interest of the increasing population. Vertical urbanization provides a strong alternative to land reclamation that Singapore can rely on. The benefits of this process, as discussed earlier in the vertical urbanization section of my paper, include more efficiently housing larger numbers of citizens in mixed-use development structures. This means that more land can be saved or dedicated toward other sustainable uses, due to previous developments now being located within these mixed-use structures. With the growing population likely to continue, and land becoming increasingly valuable, vertical urbanization brings an efficient, sustainable, and attainable way of living for the future. Fortunately, Singapore has the option to utilize current open areas through vertical urbanization so that it can continue growing.

I recommend floating infrastructure to be implemented alongside vertical urbanization as another sustainable method for expansion. Singapore has vast coastlines that could be utilized through floating infrastructure, thus saving more space on land for other uses. Figure 15 shows the potential for coastline and waterway expansion.

The country may be able to develop living spaces on floating structures in the future, or use floating platforms for renewable energy production systems. Perhaps the most predominant issue that floating infrastructure will address is the agricultural situation in Singapore. According to the International Trade Administration, Singapore has little local agricultural production and is almost entirely dependent on imports for food.⁵² If Singapore were to somehow start fully sustaining itself on crop and livestock production on land, these methods of farming would take up massive areas of ground on the already tiny country Singapore is. Singapore is in no shape to do this currently, as they require the remaining land to prepare for the future with their growing population. Being highly dependent on food imports from other nations is risky, though; if conflicts were to arise in neighbouring countries, Singapore could lose its connections and face serious threats of famine. Also, with fast-growing populations worldwide and the increased need for food security, the countries Singapore relies on for imports may require all the food they can produce to support their own nations, thereby cutting off access to these goods completely. However, the solution may be found in floating agriculture. By utilizing floating structures through the agricultural methods discussed previously, Singapore would be able to partially, if not fully, sustain itself with food production. The country would be able to reduce imports and save money this way. Floating agriculture avoids the issue of taking up valuable land cover in Singapore, while still accomplishing the goal of producing food locally for the population. Rising sea levels do pose a risk to coastal cities like Singapore around the world: around 30% of Singapore’s land cover is less than 5 meters above sea level.⁵³ The benefit of floating infrastructure and agriculture is that these floating structures are able to rise with the ocean surface, and so are prevented from being flooded. Floating agriculture is the future for consistent, safe, and reliable farming techniques that I recommend Singapore definitely take advantage of.

Singapore became an independent state almost 60 years ago. Though a relatively new and young country, Singapore has grown its country size by 25%, as mentioned earlier in my paper.⁵⁴ This extremely fast modernization has meant that there are not as many sections in the city that are deteriorating and in immediate need for redevelopment and renewal, as there are in other older coastal cities worldwide. Singapore’s modernity is reflected in figure 16 below.

Urban renewal may not be utilized as best as it can be as an expansion technique if considered as Singapore’s first choice for expansion before vertical urbanization and floating infrastructure. Changes and redevelopment of city areas are constantly happening, whether on a large or small scale, to improve conditions as much as possible. Singapore does have the ability to renew certain spaces within the city to become more sustainable if required. Urban renewal may be better used acting as a back-up option: Singapore has ground cover that can be converted to be put towards vertically urbanized high-rise buildings, along with coastlines taken advantage of by floating structures – both of which have greater significance over urban renewal in terms of the overall impact they make in creating more efficient and sustainable developments to manage the growth of the population. However, redevelopment may be a more substantial priority in the distant future when developable land is likely even more scarce, and areas must be remodeled to be increasingly efficient. Urban renewal is not entirely necessary presently as the next-up method Singapore uses for expansion, but is something the country can keep in reserve for when the circumstance is more fitting. Considering Singapore’s situation being a relatively new and largely modernized city, and its greater potential for gains from vertical urbanization and floating infrastructure, I recommend Singapore to prioritize these two expansion options over urban renewal for the time being.

Conclusion

The global population will likely continue to grow for at least several more decades. The United Nations projects that the percentage of the world population living in cities will increase from 55% today, to 68% in the next 25 years.⁵⁶ The need for additional developable lands to accommodate that growth will, accordingly, also continue for the foreseeable future. While growing coastal cities share many common attributes, each of them has its own unique characteristics, including in relation to geography, topography, natural resources, financial and technical resources, culture, or ways of living. Each of the alternatives to land reclamation considered in this paper, whether vertical urbanization, floating infrastructure or urban renewal, has its own advantages and disadvantages. These expansion methods do not need to be considered as mutually-exclusive options. They might potentially be utilized in combination, depending on local factors and circumstances, to optimize the creation of developable space. Managing human growth and development requires imagination and ingenuity – we should seek to be creative in finding living-space solutions that will promote a sustainable future.

Footnotes

1. N.A. (2019, March 28). Causes of climate change. Canada.ca. https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/climate-change/causes.html
2. Subramanian, S. (2017, April 20). How Singapore is creating more land for itself. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/20/magazine/how-singapore-is-creating-more-land-for-itself.html
3. Liu, S., Zhang, P., Wang, Z., Liu, W., & Tan, J. (2016). Measuring the sustainable urbanization potential of cities in Northeast China. Science Press. 553.
4. N.A. (2024, June 24). Comprehensive guide to land reclamation. G3SoilWorks. https://g3soilworks.com/2024/06/24/the-comprehensive-guide-to-land-reclamation-expanding-horizons-responsibly/
5. Ibid.
6. Allen, M. (2023, April 24). Cities are rapidly reclaiming land at risk of extreme sea level rise. Hakai Magazine. https://hakaimagazine.com/news/cities-are-rapidly-reclaiming-land-at-risk-of-extreme-sea-level-rise
7. Ibid.
8. Subramanian, S. (2017, April 20). How Singapore is creating more land for itself. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/20/magazine/how-singapore-is-creating-more-land-for-itself.html
9. Ibid.
10. N.A. (n.d.). Beneath the Sands. Reclamation: A flawed solution. https://www.beneaththesands.earth/reclamation
11. Ibid.
12. Subramanian, S. (2017, April 20). How Singapore is creating more land for itself. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/20/magazine/how-singapore-is-creating-more-land-for-itself.html
13. Fryer, J. (2021, April 26). Environmental impacts of land reclamation in Singapore. ArcGIS StoryMaps. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories
14. N.A. (n.d.). Coastal Land Reclamation in the United Arab Emirates. Royal Geographical Society. https://tamug-ir.tdl.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/23754cab-6bcc-4da7-b172-15da085b4c31/content
15. Lewis, R. (2024, July 9). Palm Jumeirah. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Palm-Jumeirah
16. Young, S. (2022, December 13). Land reclamation: A little-known environmental catastrophe. Extinction Rebellion. https://rebellion.global/blog/2022/12/13/land-reclamation-environmental-catastrophe
17. N.A. (n.d.). Coastal Land Reclamation in the United Arab Emirates. Royal Geographical Society. https://tamug-ir.tdl.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/23754cab-6bcc-4da7-b172-15da085b4c31/content
18. Young, S. (2022, December 13). Land reclamation: A little-known environmental catastrophe. Extinction Rebellion. https://rebellion.global/blog/2022/12/13/land-reclamation-environmental-catastrophe
19. N.A. (n.d.). Barangaroo Realising The Vision | Infrastructure NSW. https://www.infrastructure.nsw.gov.au/media/3bmp2ewe/barangaroo-realising-the-vision
20. N.A. (2024, March 20). Exploring the benefits of mixed-use developments in Canada. Residential Real Estate Services, & Urban Team – Residential Real Estate Services. Urban Team. https://urbanteamhomes.com/mixed-use-developments/
21. N.A. (n.d.). What is vertical urbanisation, and what does it mean for our cities?. Boon Edam – Entrance Solutions from Your Entry Experts. https://www.boonedam.com/blog/vertical-urbanisation
22. Smith, S. (n.d.). Vertical City Concept: how to Live a Sustainable Life. Smart Cities Dive. https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/sustainablecitiescollective/vertical-city-concept-how-live-sustainable-life
23. N.A. (n.d.). Supporting Active Living Through Mixed-Use Developments. American Planning Association. https://planning.org/blog/9227408/supporting-active-living-through-mixed-use-developments
24. O’Brien, F. (2020, March 3). Mixed use becoming crucial for big retail builds. Business in Vancouver. https://www.biv.com/news/real-estate/mixed-use-becoming-crucial-big-retail-builds
25. N.A. (2023, December 8). Oakridge Centre Redevelopment. Adamson and AAI. https://www.adamson-associates.com/project/oakridge-centre-redevelopment/
26. N.A. (n.d.). What is vertical urbanisation, and what does it mean for our cities?. Boon Edam – Entrance Solutions from Your Entry Experts. https://www.boonedam.com/blog/vertical-urbanisation
27. Gardiner, J. (2017, July). Rapid urbanisation and vertical sprawl: How can we live like this?. The Possible. https://www.the-possible.com/living-hyperdensity-solution-growing-population/
28. Miller, V., & Skelton, R. (2023, August 22). The Environmental Justice Movement. Be a Force for the Future. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/environmental-justice-movement
29. Fleck, A. (2022, June 7). Sea Levels Continue to Rise. Statista Daily Data. https://www.statista.com/chart/27581/rate-of-rising-sea-levels/
30. Aksnes, V. (2023, February 10). What are floating cities and do we need them?. #SINTEFblog. https://blog.sintef.com/sintefocean/what-are-floating-cities-and-do-we-need-them/
31. N.A. (2022, May 13). World’s First Climate Resilient Floating City to be Set Up in Busan: OCEANIX Busan. www.surfacesreporter.com. https://surfacesreporter.com/articlesworlds-first-climate-resilient-floating-city-set-up
32. Musmanni, G. D. (2022, October 17). 5 reasons why floating development is set to take the world by storm. Global Center on Adaptation. https://gca.org/5-reasons-why-floating-development-is-set-to-take-the-world-by-storm
33. 33 N.A. (2021, December 6). Floating Farm Green Ocean by N-ARK. aasarchitecture. https://aasarchitecture.com/2021/12/floating-farm-green-ocean-by-n-ark/
34. 34 Musmanni, G. D. (2022, October 17). 5 reasons why floating development is set to take the world by storm. Global Center on Adaptation. https://gca.org/5-reasons-why-floating-development-is-set-to-take-the-world-by-storm
35. N.A. (n.d.). A Few Facts About Livestock and Land Use. FEFAC. https://fefac.eu/newsroom/news/a-few-facts-about-livestock-and-land-use
36. Hockenos, P. (2020, May 26). Will floating turbines usher in a new wave of offshore wind?. Yale E360. https://e360.yale.edu/features/will-floating-turbines-usher-in-a-new-wave-of-offshore-wind
37. N.A. (2021, April 15). Wind power experts expect wind energy costs to decline up to 35% by 2035. Renewable Energy World. https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/wind-power/wind-power-experts-expect-wind-energy-costs
38. Musmanni, G. D. (2022, October 17). 5 reasons why floating development is set to take the world by storm. Global Center on Adaptation. https://gca.org/5-reasons-why-floating-development-is-set-to-take-the-world-by-storm
39. Ibid.
40. N.A. (n.d.). Nonpoint Source: Agriculture. EPA. https://www.epa.gov/nps/nonpoint-source-agriculture
41. Pohjola, P. (n.d.). Eutrophication is the Baltic Sea’s biggest problem. Eutrophication is a threat to the Baltic Sea. https://www.marinefinland.fi/en-US/Nature_and_how_it_changes/State_of_the_Baltic_Sea/Eutrophication/
42. N.A. (2008, April). Livestock Access to Watercourses. ontario.ca. https://www.ontario.ca/page/livestock-access-watercourses#
43. N.A. (n.d.). Past, Present & Future. Barangaroo. https://www.barangaroo.com/past-present-future
44. N.A. (n.d.). Barangaroo Realising The Vision | Infrastructure NSW. https://www.infrastructure.nsw.gov.au/media/3bmp2ewe/barangaroo-realising-the-vision
45. Ibid.
46. Zheng, H. W., & Wang, H. (2014). Urban renewal. Urban Renewal – an overview | ScienceDirect Topics. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/urban-renewal
47. Huang, Y., Wei, W., Ferreira, F. (2023). How to make urban renewal sustainable? Pathway analysis based on fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. Vilnius Tech. 149.
48. Zheng, H., Shen, G., Wang, H. (2013). A review of recent studies on sustainable urban renewal. Elsevier Ltd. 277.
49. Ibid., 273.
50. N.A. (2021, November). The best of Singapore on a budget: Top things to do. Jetstar. https://www.jetstar.com/nz/en/inspiration/articles/the-best-of-singapore-on-a-budget-top-5-things-to-do
51. Edwards, E. (2023, March 1). Contesting against sea level rise in Singapore. PreventionWeb. https://www.preventionweb.net/news/contesting-against-sea-level-rise-singapore
52. N.A. (2024, January 5). Singapore – Agriculture. International Trade Administration | Trade.gov. https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/singapore-agriculture
53. Edwards, E. (2023, March 1). Contesting against sea level rise in Singapore. PreventionWeb. https://www.preventionweb.net/news/contesting-against-sea-level-rise-singapore
54. Subramanian, S. (2017, April 20). How Singapore is creating more land for itself. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/20/magazine/how-singapore-is-creating-more-land-for-itself.html
55. Hinson, T. (2023, April 26). Singapore travel guide: Everything you need to know before you go. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/asia/singapore/singapore-guide-best-things-to-do-eat-stay
56. N.A. (n.d.). 68% of the world population projected to live in urban areas by 2050, says UN. United Nations. https://www.un.org/uk/desa/68-world-population-projected-live-urban-areas-2050-says-un

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