Starchitect Fantasies Come True In Astana, Kazakhstan

In Astana, "the chief architect is really the president himself. Every project, every building is approved by him." according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Yerzhan N. Ashykbayev. The new city is perpetually under construction on the Central Asian steppe."

"Already more than $7 billion has been invested, with untold billions more planned. Under a new plan, the city is projected to grow significantly by 2030 to a million inhabitants - compared with almost 600,000 now, already double what it was a decade ago - and spread over tens of thousands of acres. The central axis will eventually link the remains of a medieval settlement, Bozok, to a new university." The planned centerpiece of the city is a bullet-shaped tower of blue glass suggesting the pointed hats of Kazakh national dress. Also planend is Khan's Pavilion which will 'contain stores and theaters, a water park and seven acres of terraced gardens modeled on nothing less than the Hanging Gardens of Babylon'. "