Technology

Floating city

The longterm goal of Seasteading is to build free, independent cities at sea. Arkpad is now preparing to make this leap.

The long-term goal

Path towards independence

Satellite map of the western Pacific showing the Philippines with Manila, Cebu, Davao and Mindanao at the upper left, Indonesia and West Papua along the bottom, Palau in the centre and Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands to the upper right, with the deep ocean between them

Where

ArkPad has long-term goals of building a floating city south of the Philippines, near the Equator.

Four national flags on a white background: Panama and the Philippines above, Mongolia and the Netherlands below

Jurisdictional Arbitrage

This city will use flags from different countries to practise 'jurisdictional arbitrage', an idea which allows every part of the village or city to pick its own laws based on the flagging country.

Render of a floating city: three districts of white low-rise blocks with planted courtyards and solar roofs, moored inside a large circular breakwater on deep blue water, with hexagonal fish pens ringing the outside

What it is for

This city will serve as the 'seed' for all future floating cities, and will allow people from all over the world to travel, live, and do business there.

What it might look like

A concept animation

The same structural system as the operating Reef Resort, drawn at settlement scale — platforms, breakwaters and aquaculture together.

Concept animation. It illustrates the idea; it is not a site plan for the city described above, and no location has been surveyed.

Where we are

A goal we are working towards

We have one floating development operating today: the Reef Resort off Samal Island, open since September 2025 and hosting guests. It is documented, photographed and independently reported, and it is the best place to start if you want to see what we actually build.

The Floating City Project, is a larger undertaking, and is the ultimate goal of seasteading. This city will serve as the gateway to maximizing the autonomy of independent societies. It will start as a collection of at least 3 Arkpad-D units, some of which are already built, and will have additional housing, either the same units or similar seastead designs (but at a lower price) added later on. We have already been approved for a Panamanian Flag, and can also add a Philippines flag to the list after launch, allowing for Jurisdictional arbitrage by Day 1.

This Floating City will eventually aim to operate with a degree of autonomy, equal to or greater than Prospera, even allowing us to pick and choose, not just regulatory, but even criminal law.

See the operating project See the evidence

Talk to us

Partner on the floating city

ArkPad is currently looking for partners to help fund this floating city. Please contact us below if you are interested in supporting or investing in this project. You can also email sales@arkpad.co directly.