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Founded in February of 2001, Ordos, whose name translates from the Mongolian into “palaces,” is an enigmatic riddle.
Filled with office towers, administrative centers, government buildings, museums, theaters, sports fields and acres of subdivisions bursting with residential space, there remains only one small problem. No one lives there! link
It was designed to be home for one million people, yet, the Kangbashi district remains nearly empty five years after construction began.
Ordos it’s richer than Beijing. In fact, with a $14,500 GDP per capita, it’s one of the richest in the whole country. With 1,548,000 inhabitants, Ordos is not exactly empty. But much of its modern architecture, sometimes awesomely futuristic, sometimes nafftastically overdeveloped and underdesigned,
remains completely empty.
Though many of the properties have been sold and a million people were projected to be living in Ordos by 2010, the city is still empty.
It took five years to build this ghost town with funds created by a $ 585 billion stimulus package meant to bolster China’s economy despite its painful recession. The Inner Mongolian city was meant to accommodate some one million residents and yet it remains empty.
The density of this city is only 17.8 people per square kilometer. By comparison, New York City has 157.91 habitants per square
These satellite images show miles upon miles of empty streets running alongside apartment blocks while the futuristic sports complexes and theatres attract precious few people through their doors
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