Ocean colonization is the theoretical practice of building structures to allow humans to live permanently in areas of Earth covered in water; whether floating on the surface of the ocean, secured to the ocean floor, or somewhere in between.

The immediate practical advantage of this idea would be to lessen the effects of overpopulation by expanding the available living space many times over, and the possibility of forming micronations. Such settlements or cities could be powered by geothermal vents, or tidal energy, nuclear plants, or deep sea oil deposits.

The main obstacle to such a plan is the enormous cost of building material and overcoming the technical problems such as high water pressure and food sources.

In practice there are in existence a few shallow water facilities that serve as novelty hotels or research stations. Also, houseboats could be considered a trivial example of such.

With the likelihood of liquid water beneath the icy surface of Europa and perhaps other outer planet moons, these habitats might be precursors for space colonies.

See also

• Seasteading
• Space colonization
• Micronation