China's Thames Town Stands Empty
Forget Disneyland, Shanghai - China has already built a series of themed lands, each themed after a different European community. Problem is they are terrible flops. Thames Town, strangely themed after an Austrian village, is deserted.
The Infrastructurist sums up a number of articles from Ordos, China, also known as Thames Town. Apparently a few tourists show up to shoot pictures now and then, but the town is truly a "ghost town".
Eric Jaffe is mostly interested in finding ways to see for himself the number of inhabitants, but gets tangled up in Google's satellite views:
"The problem with reporting via satellite is that you’re a stratosphere or so removed from the source. Sure Changsha looks empty, but much of that perception comes from the caption saying that this area outside Changsha is empty. If the caption described this bustling new Chinese city you might think differently."
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