Kangbashi...a metropolis waiting for citizens

[formulanone]

Thought some of you would be interested in this.

Kangbashi is the very definition of master-planned. Ordos, a district of Inner Mongolia, China, wanted to create a town due to coal mining growth in the area that could house one million inhabitants. The project began in 2003, although it's nowhere near capacity; the population's about 30,000 right now. Still, the sights of an "instant city" are nothing short of amazing to me...it looks like a giant theme park.







But zooming in and out of Google Maps just blew me away!



http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=39.6046301&lon=109.7806692&z=15&l=0&m=h

...those roads!

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1975397,00.html
http://www.bored-todeath.com/amazing/modern-ghost-town/
http://www.photographyserved.com/gallery/Kangbashi/1128337

[SteveG1988]

Looks like someone forgot to zone properly in sim city. Too few jobs, too many houses.


Had to make that joke, as that is how 95% of my sim city 4 towns failed when i first started, or i just decided to experiment with freeways and toll bridges.

[Zmapper]

I looked it up on Google Earth. Very interesting, though not surprising considering it is China. One thing I did notice was the lack of a rail transit connection to the other main cities a few miles to the north. With plans for 1 million people, how exactly do they propose getting them around quickly?

Though, I suppose with 30,000 people the traffic won't be that bad. 

[Stephane Dumas]

I spotted some videos about these Chinese "ghost towns".

[Chris]

Ordos is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Inner Mongolia is rich in natural resources and has one of the highest GDP/capita values, but it is also quite remote in a harsh environment.

You can develop large suburbs yes, maybe a new edge city (like Irvine, CA) but a whole new metropolis? It appears to me the location has been randomly chosen in the Gobi Desert. There is no river, no lake, no pre-existing infrastructure, just nothing.