IT looks like something straight out of science fiction.
A home for 150,000 people when much of the Island and Hampshire coast is flooded under rising tides.
This vision of a massive floating island off the Isle of Wight has come from the minds of mechanical engineers at the University of Portsmouth.
Prof Carl Ross and his student Ricardo Javier Rodriguez-McCullough, 20, see it as one solution to house and feed a burgeoning world population, worsened by the loss of dry land through climate change.
"It must be remembered water covers 71 per cent of the Earth’s surface, so it is common sense to colonise the oceans," said Prof Ross, in his paper.
Housed on five circular pads, the semi-circular design would include services such as schools and a university, police station, fire station and an airport.
Powered by wave energy and other non-fossil fuels, the island would rest on five concrete pillars, which would be three quarters of a mile apart and about 1,640ft in diameter (500 metres).
The pillars would be similar to many gas and oil rigs and would rest securely on the sea floor.
But air could be pumped into the bottom of the pillars to make the city buoyant and allow it to be moved with the help of tug boats.
In this artist’s impression, Prof Ross places the floating city in The Solent to demonstrate it could be placed in a busy shipping lane.
"The reasoning is the clear spaces between the large pillars are about 1.2km between adjacent legs and as the platform is 50m above sea level, it is possible for large ships to safely navigate the waters," he said,
There are no plans or funding to build the city, estimated to cost £25bn, and some doubt whether sea levels would rise enough to warrant one so big.
Reporter: martinn@iwcpmail.co.uk