Incrementalism as sliding off the land progressively

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We already know that early seasteads will be highly dependent on land-based services and goods until they can outgrow this dependance to some extent, and that the major part of the higher cost of this dependance is due to transportation – a problem that plagues existing islands’ economies. We also know that seasteads will fly a convenience flag until some critical size, if it is ever reached (or if formal independance becomes needed anytime – let’s be honest: autonomy is not the same as independance, and does not have to be formalized to be practiced)

I’m proposing to map the structure of seasteads relative to land onto their dependance on land infrastructure. That’s fancy talking for:
- first build an extension into the sea,
- make it grow further away from the coast by adding floating structures, while still retaining low cost of transportation for “imports”
- progressively detach the structure from land as it grows independant of the land infrastructure

Or it could be used as an “incubator” of sorts for compacts of seasteads, that would detach and take to the high sea when they are “mature”. You may also think of it as a marina of sorts, adapted for the specific needs of seasteads and not that of leisure boats.

Obvious issues: it would have to be built in territorial waters, and would be subjected to lots of annoying building regulations that might prove to be show-stoppers, so a careful choice of location would be necessary (assuming a suitable place exists at all).

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