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“Enough empty floor space to cover Madrid”: so why are China’s ghost cities still unoccupied? | CityMetric

This is my latest article in CityMetric, the urbanism blog of the New Statesman. It’s about the reasons why many of China’s new cities appear so empty for so long.

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This is my latest article in CityMetric, the urbanism blog of the New Statesman. It’s about the reasons why many of China’s new cities appear so empty for so long.

Over the past 15 years China has built hundreds of new cities, expanded thousands of urban areas, wiped over a million villages off the map, and urbanised hundreds of millions of people. It’s a development boom that’s incomparable to anything that any other country has ever attempted.

Read more: “Enough empty floor space to cover Madrid”: so why are China’s ghost cities still unoccupied? | CityMetric

Filed under: China, China’s Ghost Cities, New Cities

About the Author:

I am the founder and editor of Vagabond Journey. I’ve been traveling the world since 1999, through 91 countries. I am the author of the book, Ghost Cities of China and have written for The Guardian, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Diplomat, the South China Morning Post, and other publications. has written 3706 posts on Vagabond Journey. Contact the author.

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VBJ is currently in: New York City