Researchers laid out ten research questions to evaluate large-scale floating structures across coastal, inland, and offshore waters in a peer-reviewed paper published Sept. 3, 2026, in Nature Communications. The authors examined how floating developments could provide climate-adaptive solutions to space scarcity and water management issues.
The study focused on identifying conditions required to make floating expansions safe, inclusive, sustainable, and economically viable. Discussions across the Floating Future project consortium helped formulate the questions presented in the publication.
Multiple Dutch research institutions collaborated on the analysis. Elizabeth A. MacAfee and Margo A. van den Brink from the University of Groningen's Department of Spatial Planning and Environment co-authored the paper with Tjeerd J. Bouma of Utrecht University's Department of Physical Geography and the NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research.
Maritime specialists joined the initiative from both research and foundation settings. Joep van der Zanden, Floor Spaargaren, and Olaf Waals contributed from the Offshore Department at MARIN in Wageningen, while Christiaan Weiler and Rutger de Graaf-van Dinther participated from the Blue Revolution Foundation in Delft.
The Dutch Research Council (NWO) funded the initiative under project number 16953 through the NWA research programme 'Research along Routes by Consortia'. Maria Giovanno Pansini, Sonja Rombach, and Niels Grootjans provided additional assistance in the development of the paper's second figure.
The journal received the manuscript on March 16, 2026, and approved it on August 18, 2026. The authors published the findings under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, declaring no competing interests.
