Habitats for freedom.

• Author: Tuccille, J.D.
• Position: Seastead engineerings - Communities at sea - Brief article

AIMING TO develop habitations at sea that are safe and practical while enabling "experimentation with alternative social systems," the Seasteading Institute has hired the Dutch engineering firm DeltaSync. When the company delivered initial designs and specifications in December 2013, the dream of floating political experiments moved closer to reality.

DeltaSync's Seasteading Implementation Plan assumes that early efforts will be anchored in sheltered harbors--specifically, the Gulf of Fonseca, bordering El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The modular design is intended to be mobile, however, and potentially suitable for deep-sea location if surrounded by a breakwater.

The first-draft design uses concrete modules, 50 meters by 50 meters, each with a population of 225 people. The...