Floating homes are real, but floating cities still only exist in theory.
In 2008, political theorist Patri Friedman teamed up with PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel to form the Seasteading Institute, a libertarian think tank that advocates for the construction of floating cities. The group sees floating cities as part of a utopian vision to develop societies without taxes or government regulation, but they've struggled to make the concept a reality.
Marcus said his team has connected with the Seasteading Institute a few times.
"They've come into CCA where we teach. They're familiar with our work," he said.
But the Float Lab project, he added, has little to do with creating a new form of urbanism.
"We just have very different motivations," he said. "Our project is definitely focused much more on the small scale."