Dubai Reefs bills itself as the world’s largest ocean restoration project; if built it would consist of 77 square miles of artificial reef that will create a home for more than one billion corals and 100 million mangrove trees. Plans for the project were announced this week by URB, a Dubai-based developer of sustainable cities, whose previous designs include an indoor cycling super highway in Dubai and sustainable cities in Egypt and South Africa. URBAlongside the artificial reefs, URB has designed floating residential, hospitality, retail facilities and various eco-lodges, which it says would make the site a tourism destination. At the center the project would be a marine institute, dedicated to ocean research and protecting Dubai’s coastal environment. “Dubai Reefs aims to become a blueprint for marine conservation, ecotourism and ocean living,” said Bagherian.

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