Floating Cities.

This would appear to be a new concept?

 Currently this is being developed in the Netherlands to relieve the use and price of land. But there are already many waterborne city dwellings found in China and Hong Kong and many other places around the globe.

Many people have chosen to live on boats in Marinas, harbours and on canals, but this new idea plans to commit to floating houses and apartments. With land running out for some countries around the world, this might be a good idea.

Would you want to live on a barge?

Canal Barges. Part-Two.

Shipping and Networks.

Canals came before the railways and remain one of the most effective ways to move goods across land locked countries as in Russia, China, central Europe and the U.S. Deep rivers can be connected on the network of ship canals. 

In Europe you can get from the Netherlands to the German Rhine river and then by Canal to the Danube, eventually arriving in the Black sea. Both in Russia and China vast distances can be traversed. The ships that ply these routes fifty years ago would have been called 'Coasters or 'Puffers.'

The future for these networks are very much in demand and as long as they are maintained they will remain viable for developing economies.