China is experiencing the most massive urbanization in the history of the world, what, with a projected railroad spanning the entire country, 20 new cities in as many years, a new skyscraper every five days for the next three years, 64 million homes built annually, the world’s largest radio signal collector—just to list a few statistics. The more China builds, the higher its GDP. And continue building it will.
Clearly, overbuilding is not high on China’s alert radar. “China consumes more steel, iron ore and cement per capita than any industrial nation in history. It’s all going to railways that will never make money, roads that no one drives on and cities that no one lives in,” analyst Gillem Tulloch tells Business Insider. The new properties, most of which are high-rise residential blocks with luxury apartments or single-family homes, are too expensive for most, and so they remain empty until prices drop, which is likely to happen given the current economic climate.
China’s ghost cities have rapidly gained a reputation, mostly prompted by the Western press as a sure sign of Chinese economic slow-down. Most famous of all was Ordos, a new city meant for 1-million residents with a score of cultural works by ambitious architects, including Ai Weiwei, who developed a master plan for 100 villas designed by 100 architects from 27 different countries (the project came to a hault last year). Since then, the number of ghost cities continues to climb. China is unworried, though, as it is concerned with expanding its middle class, meaning that sooner or later, these cities will be filled. Needless to say, not everyone is so optimistic.
These new satellite images illustrate China’s indeterminate planning strategies. Developments of all different planimetric natures are being built, from Beaux-arts garden cities to Beautiful Cities to Radiant Cities, all stranded in uncertain landscapes. Despite these conspicuous excesses and irregularities, China’s building boom has brought infrastructure that has begun to connect all corners of the country, providing millions with opportunities than ever before.
