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The world's first man-made island appears in French Polynesia

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The Government of French Polynesia has signed a memorandum of intent with the non-profit organization The Seasteading Institute, under which the parties agreed to jointly develop a legal framework for the floating island project.

According to the terms of the memorandum The Seasteading Institute must demonstrate the economic benefits of the project for Polynesia and carry out environmental impact assessment of the project, proving that it will not have a detrimental effect on the sea and the seabed. These studies will be carried out with money from The Seasteading Institute's investors. They will also sponsor the construction of the island, which will cost from $10 to $50 million. The institute founded the company Blue Frontiers to build the island.

The Seasteading Institute, which is developing the floating island project, was founded in 2008 by Patri Friedman. Its biggest investor is PayPal founder Peter Thiel.

According to the institute, people will be able to settle on an artificial island in the ocean in 2020.

Structurally, such an island will consist of stable modular platforms in the form of squares or pentagons with sides of 50 meters, which can be connected in different branching structures. The platforms will be made of reinforced concrete that was chosen for its durability and relatively low cost, and will be able to support buildings not higher than three floors. The concrete structure will be molded into strong hollow boxes, the so-called «caissons».

The cost per square foot of housing in a floating eco-village will be about $500 - comparable to the cost of real estate in London or New York.

The platforms were designed by the Dutch company Blue21, which also designed the famous Floating Pavilion in Rotterdam. The design of the first floating island of 11 platforms was developed by DeltaSync studio.

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