Once billed as China's answer to Disneyland, the now-rusting ruins of Wonderland attest to the unsustainability of China's development industry.
Photographer David Gray documents the deserted hulk of "Wonderland", abandoned by its developer years ago. Farmers who had been evicted from the land are now returning to farm in its shadow.
"Situated on an area of around 100 acres, and 45 minutes drive from the center of Beijing, are the ruins of ‘Wonderland'. Construction stopped more than a decade ago, with developers promoting it as ‘the largest amusement park in Asia'. Funds were withdrawn due to disagreements over property prices with the local government and farmers. So what is left are the skeletal remains of a palace, a castle, and the steel beams of what could have been an indoor playground in the middle of a corn field.
All these structures of rusting steel and decaying cement, are another sad example of property development in China involving wasted money, wasted resources and the uprooting of farmers and their families."
FULL STORY: China’s Deserted Fake Disneyland
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
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New York City School Construction Authority
Village of Glen Ellyn
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
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