New South China Mall in Dongguan, China has been 99% vacant since it was built in 2005. Is Chinese development running amok? Sarah Goodyear looks at a recent documentary that explains why the mall was built.
Apparently the story, is this: "...a local businessman who had gotten fabulously rich in the new Chinese market economy wanted to make his mark in the world by building something fantastic. No matter that the site, which was farmland, had no good access - by road or rail or any other conveyance."
Goodyear uses the New South China Mall as an example of China's penchant towards "the construction of gigantic infrastructure projects with no regard for human needs."
Read the full story: China’s ghost cities and the biggest property bubble of all time
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Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
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Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority