At Home on the Water

Boats have long been an excellent way to travel and connect distant communities, but they have become a way of life in some areas. Modern man has found that the lack of land is not always an obstacle when it comes to creating modern communities, so being at home on the water is becoming part of the normal way of life for some. It could seem like the future is about to arrive in some areas, and others have experienced and welcomed it for years.

Venice is an ancient city where life upon the water is all part of what tourists look forward to experiencing when they visit. They find the canals to be charming, and they often wonder why their own homes are different as they stroll through the plazas of the city. While it might seem like a modern miracle that an inhabited city could exist in an ocean lagoon, Venice has been thriving for centuries. It is just one form of living on the water that man has found works well.

Seattle is another place where living upon the water is a normal experience, and there are a wide variety of houseboats for those looking for a new and different lifestyle. These boats are built specifically for living quarters, but they must also have working engines. The city long ago decided the watery neighbourhoods were a good idea, but the original barges used had working engines. Keeping with that idea, the restriction still stands in case the city ever decides their more fluid neighbourhoods should be moved elsewhere.

Complete cities on the ocean have been designed, but none have yet been built. While many countries have looked into and planned future cities to be built on artificial islands, the difficulties of the natural ocean environment have so far stopped actual construction of any city floating on the ocean. The future of these designs may be decades into the future, but modern man can be very inventive when the need for housing becomes an imperative.