The impact of rapid urbanization and economic growth of cities of Africa is now a common knowledge,however, it cannot be overstated. At the same time, the impact of climate change is today an ever-increasing reality. This is most particular on coastal African cities experiencing significant rise in sea level, rain, floods and more lack of housing. The city of LAGOS, a significant example.
Brief Description Of Lagos
Lagos is one of the most important cities in the world and the most populous city in Africa, ahead of Cairo. The city of Lagos, in the state of Lagos, is the largest city and the economic capital of Nigeria, located in southwestern Nigeria along the Atlantic Ocean. Lagos is the seventh fastest growing city in the world, with a population of 21 million. Lagos is a MEGACITY, with a population of more than double the 10 million inhabitants needed! Lagos is one of the most important cities in Nigeria and even in Africa, both economically and culturally.
Its geographical location (see map) is very important, since it is located on the Atlantic coast of Nigeria allowing excellent trade routes.
Housing Deficit in Lagos
According to the Federal Housing Office (FHA), the housing deficit in Nigeria hovered around 12 million households in 2007. If we take the current population of 155 million Nigerians and assume 30% of the population as active adults we have 46.5 million estimated adult workers; assuming only 30% o 14 million adult workers are eligible for mortgage loans, and given the current average final sale price of the house of about 6 million Naira (US $ 38,000.00) for a 2 bedroom apartment in the possible size of the mortgage market is close to 84 trillion naira ($ 540 billion). In poor communities (slums) houses cost less 300,000 naira (2,000 US dollars). And in many cases, almost nothing, built mainly from recycled materials and municipal works.
Therefore:
RAPID URBANISATION OF COASTAL CITIES + CLIMATE CHANGE =
NEED FOR DEVELOPMENT & ADAPTATION
OF COASTAL CITIES TO FLOODING
Proposal
These buildings work on the Archimedes Principle: the amount of water you push away underneath determines the weight you can place on top. Just like a ship.
Taking the Netherlands as a case study
In the Netherlands, many believe that the solution is not in the earth but in the water.
Cruise one of the Dutch capital's canals and watch people drink cappuccinos on their floating terraces. Amsterdam, like many Dutch cities, is crossed by an impressive network of canals.
About a third of the Netherlands is below sea level. The Dutch have spent decades developing ways to incorporate this excess water into their way of life. It started with the simple barge and has since evolved into entire floating communities.
Ijburg is located 8 km (five miles) east of Amsterdam city center. Like much of the Netherlands, Ijburg is a polder, the name of a land that has been "reclaimed" from the sea.
There are roads, playgrounds, offices and shopping malls. For the inexperienced eye, it is difficult to tell the difference between this artificially created island and the land that naturally exists above sea level.
Amsterdam, probably one of the greatest planned cities in the world, began as a village on the River Amstel, inhabited by a tiny community of herring fishermen
The Archimedes Principle
Balancing a body floating in calm waters
Archimedes' Principle establishes that a body immersed in a liquid suffers a thrust equal to the weight of the displaced liquid, which is fundamental for the balance of a body that floats in calm waters.
A body floating freely in calm water experiences a downward force acting on it due to gravity. If the body has mass m, this force will be mg and is known as weight. Since the body is in equilibrium, there must be a force of the same magnitude and in the same line of action as the weight but in opposition. Otherwise, the body would move. This opposing force is generated by the hydro static pressures acting on the body, figure 3.1. These normally act on the surface of the body and can be broken down into vertical and horizontal components. The sum of the vertical components must equal the weight. The horizontal components must cancel each other out or the body will move sideways. The gravitational force mg can be thought of as concentrated at a point G which is the center of mass, commonly known as the center of gravity. Likewise, it can be imagined that the opposing force is concentrated at a point B.
Buoyancy
Archimedes' Principle states: An object immersed in a fluid experiences a buoyancy force equal in magnitude to the force of gravity on the displaced fluid. Thus, the objective of underwater vehicle flotation systems is to counteract the negative buoyancy effect of materials heavier than water on the submersible (chassis, pressurized boxes, etc.) with materials lighter than water. Water; The goal is a nearly neutral buoyancy state. The buoyancy foam must maintain its shape and resistance to water pressure at the intended depth of operation. The most common underwater vehicle flotation materials fall into two broad categories: rigid polyurethane foam and syntactic foam.
The term "rigid polyurethane foam" includes two types of polymers: polyisocyanurate formulations and polyurethane formulations. There are clear differences between the two, both in the way they are produced and in their final performance.
Polyisocyanurate foams (or "trimer foams") are generally low density insulation grade foams, typically manufactured in large blocks by a continuous extrusion process. These blocks are then put through cutting machines to make sheets and other shapes. ROV manufacturers typically cut, shape, and sand these inexpensive foams, then coat them with a fiberglass coating or a thick coat of paint to help with abrasion resistance and abrasion resistance. These elastic foam blocks have been tested at depths of 1000 ft of seawater (fsw) (305 m) and have been shown to be an economical and effective flotation system for shallow water applications.
Concept
Key Benefit of Design
- Increases the urban housing stock through affordable and flexible housing prototypes
- Addresses challenges of climate change: mitigates urban flood risks and disasters
- Addresses challenges of rapid urbanisation: densification of inner city core
- Requires less start up infrastructure
- Cost efficient
- Provides responsible alternative to land reclamation
- Development of renewable and low energy consumption
- Ecologically friendly and responsible
- Poverty alleviation strategy: through integrated social development and job creation
- Creation of opportunities for knowledge exchange and professional practice
- Furthers the development of water settlements as a new form of contemporary living
- Maximum urbanization with minimum means
Conceptual designs by NLÉ, led by a Nigerian Kunlé Adeyemi, an architect,
designer and urban researcher with a track record of conceiving and completing high profile, high quality projects internationally.
See NLÉ website www.nleworks.com for more information, full profile and portfolio.
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That's a very insightful publication. I appreciate your efforts towards justifying the subject. Indeed such floating houses can be a solution.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend:)
Thanks dear.
Thanks man...
Would really love to visit the Netherlands some day...