#ghost_town

MTB In Paris Catacombs
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drSu3kkwYUE

#Ghost_Towns | Buildings | Architectural Review

▻https://www.architectural-review.com/today/ghost-towns/8634793.article

Though criticised by many, China’s unoccupied new settlements could have a viable future

Earlier this year a historic landmark was reached, but with little fanfare. The fact that the people of China are now predominantly urban, was largely ignored by the Western media. By contrast, considerable attention focused on China’s new ‘ghost towns’ or kong cheng − cities such as Ordos in the Gobi desert and Zhengzhou New District in Henan Province which are still being built but are largely unoccupied.

https://www.architectural-review.com/pictures/2000x2000fit/3/3/2/1300332_20110603_mdnphoto_architectural_review001.jpg

By some estimates, the number of vacant homes in Chinese cities is currently around 64 million: space to accommodate, perhaps, two thirds of the current US population. However, unlike the abandoned cities of rust-belt America or the shrinking cities of Europe, China’s ghost cities seem never to have been occupied in the first place. So to what extent are these deserted places symbolic of the problems of rapid Chinese urbanisation? And what is revealed by the Western discourse about them?

https://www.architectural-review.com/Pictures/web/d/e/e/Anting-German-Town-Shangha_636.jpg

Characterised by its gargantuan central Genghis Khan Plaza and vast boulevards creating open vistas to the hills of Inner Mongolia, Ordos New Town is a modern frontier city. It is located within a mineral rich region that until recently enjoyed an estimated annual economic growth rate of 40 per cent, and boasts the second highest per-capita income in China, behind only the financial capital, Shanghai.

Having decided that the existing urban centre of 1.5 million people was too crowded, it was anticipated that the planned cultural districts and satellite developments of Ordos New Town would by now accommodate half a million people rather than the 30,000 that reputedly live there.

Reports suggest that high profile architectural interventions such as the Ai Weiwei masterplan for 100 villas by 100 architects from 27 different countries have been shelved, although a few of the commissions struggle on.

It seems that expectations of raising both the region’s profile (at least in ways intended) and the aesthetic esteem of its new residents have failed to materialise. Instead, attention is focused on the vacant buildings and empty concrete shells within a cityscape devoid of traffic and largely empty of people.

Estimates suggest there’s another dozen Chinese cities with similar ghost town annexes. In the southern city of Kunming, for example, the 40-square-mile area of Chenggong is characterised by similar deserted roads, high-rises and government offices. Even in the rapidly growing metropolitan region of Shanghai, themed model towns such as Anting German Town and Thames Town have few inhabitants. In the Pearl River Delta, the New South China Mall is the world’s largest. Twice the size of the Mall of America in Minneapolis, it is another infamous example of a gui gouwu zhongxin or ‘ghost mall’.

Located within a dynamic populated region (40 million people live within 60 miles of the new Mall), it has been used in the American documentary Utopia, Part 3 to depict a modern wasteland. With only around 10 of the 2,300 retail spaces occupied, there is an unsettling emptiness here. The sense that this is a building detached from economic and social reality is accentuated by broken display dummies, slowly gliding empty escalators, and gondolas navigating sewage-infested canals. The message is that in this ‘empty temple to consumerism’ − as described by some critics − we find an inherent truth about China’s vapid future.

Anting German Town Shanghai

The main square of Anting German Town outside Shanghai. One of the nine satellite European cities built around the city, it has failed to establish any sense of community. The Volkswagen factory is down the road

Pursued through the imagery of the ghost town, the commentary on stalled elements of Chinese modernity recalls the recent fascination with what has been termed ‘ruin porn’ − apocalyptic photographs of decayed industrial structures in cities such as Detroit, as in the collection The Ruins of Detroit by Yves Marchand and Romain Meffe. These too dramatise the urban landscapes but seldom seem interested in enquiring about the origins and processes underlying them.

In his popular work Collapse, Jared Diamond fantasised that one day in the future, tourists would stare at the ‘rusting hulks of New York’s skyscrapers’ explaining that human arrogance − overreaching ourselves − is at the root of why societies fail. In Requiem for Detroit, filmmaker Julian Temple too argues that to avoid the fate of the lost cities of the Maya, we must recognise the ‘man-made contagion’ in the ‘rusting hulks of abandoned car plants’. (It seems that even using a different metaphor is deemed to be too hubristic.)

In terms of the discussion about Chinese ghost cities, many impugn these places as a commentary on the folly of China’s development and its speed of modernisation. Take the Guardian’s former Asia correspondent, Jonathan Watts, who has argued that individuals and civilisations bring about their own annihilation by ‘losing touch with their roots or over-consuming’. Initial signs of success often prove to be the origin of later failures, he argues. In his view, strength is nothing more than potential weakness, and the moral of the tale is that by hitting a tipping point, civilisations will fall much more quickly than they rise.

In fact, China’s headlong rush to development means that its cities embody many extremes. For example, the city of Changsha in Hunan Province recently announced that in the space of just seven months it would build an 838 metre skyscraper creating the world’s tallest tower. Understandably, doubts exist over whether this can be achieved − the current tallest, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, took six years to build. Yet such is the outlook of a country with so much dynamic ambition, that even the seemingly impossible is not to be considered off-limits. At the other end of the scale, it was recently revealed that 30 million Chinese continue to live in caves − a reflection of under-development (not an energy efficient lifestyle choice).

In the West, a risk averse outlook means that caution is the watchword. Not only is the idea of building new cities a distant memory, but data from the US and UK betrays that geographical mobility is reducing as people elect to stay in declining towns rather than seek new opportunities elsewhere. By contrast, China is a country on the move − quite literally. In fact the landmark 50 per cent urbanisation rate was achieved some years ago, driven by a ‘floating population’ of perhaps 200 million people, whose legal status as villagers disguises the fact they have already moved to live and work in cities.

If cramming five to a room in the existing Anting town means easy access to jobs then why move to Anting German Town, accessible via only a single road, and surrounded by industrial districts and wasteland? But it is also clear that China is building for expansion. The notion of ‘predict and provide’ is so alien to Western planners these days, that they are appalled when particular Chinese authorities announce that they will build a new town with three-lane highways before people move there. How absurd, we say. Look, the roads are empty and unused. But in this debate, it is we who have lost our sense of the audacious.

When assessing the ghost cities phenomenon, it seems likely that in a country growing at the breakneck speed of China, some mistakes will be made. When bureaucratic targets and technical plans inscribed in protocols and legislation are to the fore, then not all outcomes of investment programmes such as a recent $200 billion infrastructure project will work out. And yes, ghost cities do reflect some worrying economic trends, with rising house prices and the speculative stockpiling of units so that many apartments are owned but not occupied.

But these problems need to be kept firmly in perspective. The reality is that meaningful development requires risk-taking. The ghost cities today may well prove to be viable in the longer term, as ongoing urbanisation leads to better integration with existing regions, and because by the very virtue of their creation, such areas create new opportunities that alter the existing dynamics.

#chine #urban_matter #villes_fantômes #architecture

Someone Built A $200 Million Village Of Disney-Like Castles, Realizes His Mistake When It’s Too Late | Bored Panda
▻https://www.boredpanda.com/turkey-abandoned-villas-disney-castles

https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/3-2-5c401e501cc82__700.jpg https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/6-5c401e564ce66__700.jpg

The Sarot Group was recently slapped with a court-ordered bankruptcy ruling over the Burj Al Babas’ $27 million debt. The project was designed to include 732 chateau-style villas, swimming pools, Turkish baths, health and beauty centers, a shopping center and a mosque, according to its website. And even though customers from Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia have bought around 350 of the 587 villas built, it’s not enough.

#ghost_town

Drone footage reveals hundreds of abandoned Turkish chateaux at Burj Al Babas
▻https://www.dezeen.com/2019/01/18/drone-abandoned-turkish-chateau-burj-al-babas

Approximately halfway between Turkey’s largest city Istanbul and its capital Ankara, the Burj Al Babas development will contain 732 identical mini chateaux when, or if, it completes.

https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2019/01/turkish-chateau-burj-al-babas-turkey_dezeen_1704_col_1-1233x723.jpg

Au premier regard j’ai cru à des maquettes, mais non !

#architecture #lotissement

Houtouwan - The Lost Village
▻https://vimeo.com/218583202

#ghost_town

The ’Retail Apocalypse’ Has a Silver Lining - CityLab

▻https://www.citylab.com/design/2017/12/the-great-retail-retrofit/548753

▻https://cdn.citylab.com/media/img/citylab/2017/12/AP_080501043469/facebook.jpg?1513701359

In late October of this year, the office-sharing startup WeWork announced that it was buying Lord & Taylor’s flagship store in New York City. Coming as this did in the wake of the bankruptcies of such long-established retailers as The Limited and Toys “R” Us, it was widely viewed as the latest harbinger of the “retail apocalypse.”

It isn’t just chain stores in economically distressed suburbs that are going belly up, but high-end luxury goods purveyors along the retail corridors of America’s leading cities, such as New York’s Madison Avenue, Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, and Chicago’s Miracle Mile. All told, roughly 100,000 retail jobs were lost between October 2016 and April 2017. In the next five years, one out of every four malls is projected to close, according to an analysis by Credit Suisse. The square footage of America’s already dead malls covers more land than the city of Boston.

#it_has_begun #shrinking_cities #ghost_town #centres_commerciaux #décadence #états_unis

Aéroports, usines, palais, sites olympiques : la friche en géographie et en photographies — Géoconfluences

▻http://geoconfluences.ens-lyon.fr/actualites/veille/lieux-abandonnes

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/10/14/1444834797431/73f2f5ee-6314-4086-8a84-ea9fffe84a30-2060x1236.jpeg?w=1010&q=55&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&s=7e864f107a15b56568694985aa292fb6

Les friches, qui inspirent autant les photographes et les plasticiens que les chercheurs en sciences sociales, sont des lieux idéaux pour croiser géographie et arts plastiques. La presse d’actualité se fait l’écho d’un engouement pour les friches qui sont, depuis longtemps déjà, un objet d’étude intéressant la recherche.

#friches #dfs #ghost_towns

The Chilling Ruins of Hovrinskaya Hospital, Moscow

http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Hovrinskaya-Hospital-1.jpg

Construction of Moscow’s Hovrinskaya Hospital began in 1980 and halted five years later, leaving behind an unsettling, brutalist shell of what would have been a 1,300-bed hospital. At a glance, it’s easy to imagine how a plethora of creepy tales and urban legends might have emerged from the ruins of the abandoned, unfinished hospital. And indeed they have. But not all of these stories are the stuff of folklore.

http://readrussia.com/media/article/teaser_small/2015-08-20_17-33-16__65648774-4748-11e5-99b6-448a5b8480a3.jpg

Chinese-built Angolan city feels like a #ghost_town

Chinese companies have built cities out of the bush in Angola, but they have few residents. CNN’s David McKenzie reports.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ce/Kilamba_Kiaxi_-_May_2011_%283%29.jpg/1920px-Kilamba_Kiaxi_-_May_2011_%283%29.jpg

#Angola #Chinafrique #villes #urban_matter #ville-fantôme

#Kilamba
▻https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilamba_(Angola)

Take a look around China’s loneliest subway station: Shanghaiist

▻http://shanghaiist.com/2017/05/09/chinas-loneliest-subway-station.php

Ça faisait longtemps #ghost_town #villes_fantômes

http://shanghaiist.com/assets_c/2017/05/chongqing_metro_station_desertedfront-thumb-640xauto-996645.jpg

Take a look around China’s loneliest subway station

Dead Mall: A mall with a high vacancy rate, low consumer traffic level, or is dated or deteriorating in some manner. For purposes of inclusion on this site, Deadmalls.com defines a dead mall as one having a occupancy rate in slow or steady decline of 70% or less.
▻http://deadmalls.com/index.html
Mais qu’est-ce qu’on va faire des centres commerciaux ??
par Sébastien Navarro dans @cqfd n°152
#récession #fièvre_acheteuse #centres_commerciaux #enseignes #friches_urbaines #consumérisme #cauchemar_climatisé
Que notre règne arrive

https://images.noosfere.org/couv/d/denoel25892-2007.jpg

#procrastination : Presidio Modelo (Cuba)
▻https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidio_Modelo

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/66/Presidio_Modelo.JPG/1024px-Presidio_Modelo.JPG https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ac/Presidio-modelo2.JPG/1024px-Presidio-modelo2.JPG

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Nxug7OtsFdc/UwtyPwUJCDI/AAAAAAAAFc4/VEP-pTpOHTg/s1600/24.jpg

What I Have Learned From Photographing 400 Towns in Iowa
▻https://thearcmag.com/what-i-have-learned-from-photographing-400-and-counting-iowan-towns-f399f

https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*tAap-juimTi1T2dJQ6TZnw.jpeg

I grew up in the small bluff town of Keokuk, Iowa (pictured above) and I saw the shift happen for myself and in my own family. My experience is not unique, but it is certainly paramount. What was at one time an honest and accessible career possibility for those without a college education seemed to shift dramatically, all at once, and with little explanation or forewarning. This would set the stage to the political and socioeconomic civil war that we seem to be constantly waging today.

#ghost_town

Critique de Homo Sapiens de Nikolaus Geyrhalter : : Homo Sapiens : : FilmDeCulte
▻http://www.filmdeculte.com/cinema/film/Homo-Sapiens-6096.html

Après « Notre Pain Quotidien » qui était déjà d’une grande beauté esthétique, sur l’industrialisation alimentaire, voici que ce réalisateur fait un film autour des lieux abandonnés. Ça semble tout aussi magnifique.

▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oOjYjNUrms

Il y a dix ans, l’Autrichien Nikolaus Geyrhalter (lire notre entretien) traitait déjà de déshumanisation en marche avec Notre pain quotidien, documentaire cauchemardesque sur l’industrie alimentaire. Dans l’ironiquement nommé Homo Sapiens, il est littéralement question de déshumanisation : le film consiste en une succession de plan d’endroits abandonnés par l’homme. Ce ne sont pas seulement des lieux « vides », comme une forêt sans âme qui vive. Ce sont des endroits où demeurent des traces de l’humanité, de la civilisation, mais qui ont semble t-il été oubliés par le monde entier. De Fukushima à Nagasaki, de l’ex-Union Soviétique aux bois jolis d’Autriche, Geyrhalter a posé sa caméra dans des lieux qui hier encore vivaient, et qui aujourd’hui ne semblent à première vue qu’accueillir quelques piafs et crapauds.

#ghost_town #Nikolaus_Geyrhalter

#Documentaire. “#Homo_sapiens” : filmer ce que l’homme a abandonné

Le réalisateur autrichien #Nikolaus_Geyrhalter a posé sa caméra dans des lieux désertés par l’humanité. Son documentaire, proche d’une installation artistique, sort dans les salles françaises ce 19 octobre.

http://www.courrierinternational.com/sites/ci_master/files/styles/image_original_1280/public/assets/images/homosapiens.jpg?itok=DGiwmhSs

Abandoned Town of Cairo, Illinois – Cairo, Illinois | Atlas Obscura
▻http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cairo-illinois

http://assets.atlasobscura.com/media/W1siZiIsInVwbG9hZHMvcGxhY2VfaW1hZ2VzL2xkZDZma28zeTRsNzI4MWMzMTI1YTFhZmFkNWJhX0NhaXJvSUwuanBnIl0sWyJwIiwiY29udmVydCIsIi1xdWFsaXR5IDkxIC1hdXRvLW9yaWVudCJdLFsicCIsInRodW1iIiwiNjAweFx1MDAzZSJdXQ/CairoIL.jpg

Situated at the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Ohio River, at the southernmost point in Illinois, the port town of Cairo (pronounced CARE-o) boomed along with the steamboat industry. When railroads crisscrossed the United States some of the steamboat traffic was subtracted, but Cai

#ghost_towns #villes_fantômes (ça faisait longtemps) !

What abandoned Olympic venues from around the world look like today

Most cities simply do not have the infrastructure required to withstand the two-week influx of athletes, coaches, fans, and media members. The money required to build state-of-the-art athletic facilities is skyrocketing, and academic research suggests spending billions on a two-week event is not a wise investment.

http://static4.uk.businessinsider.com/image/55db9311dd089598438b4669-480/abandoned-olympic-venues-33.jpg

▻http://uk.businessinsider.com/abandoned-olympic-venues-around-the-world-photos-2015-8?r=US&IR=
#JO #jeux-olympiques #ghost-town #abandon #ghost_town
via @isskein

Ancien #aéroport international d’#Athènes à l’abandon.Transformé en camp de #réfugiés. Un dessin de #Elisa_Perriguer

Ancien aéroport international d’Athènes, Grèce. Sous une chaleur écrasante, des tentes bordent les bâtiments, le linge sèche vite. Des migrants, essentiellement Afghans, s’abritent dans les locaux de l’ancienne infrastructure, sous les panneaux d’affichage noir, les Escalators à l’arrêt, les comptoirs vides... L’aéroport a été laissé à l’abandon en 2004, après les #JO.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ClVkfYKWkAAClSV.jpg

Abandoned Airliners at Benin City Airport, Nigeria - Urban Ghosts
▻http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/2016/03/abandoned-airliners-benin-city-airport-nigeria

We’ve touched on the rusting carcasses of abandoned airliners littering Nigeria’s commercial airports before. In 2013 it was reported that the country had been told to clean up its aircraft boneyards - like this one, at Benin City Airport. The post A Graveyard of Abandoned Airliners at Benin City A

#ghost_town

10 Haunting Abandoned Power Stations of the World

http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/home/twamoran/urbanghostsmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/abandoned-power-station.jpg http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/home/twamoran/urbanghostsmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/abandoned-athlone-power-station-south-africa-2.jpg http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/home/twamoran/urbanghostsmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/abandoned-satsop-nuclear-power-station-4.jpg http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/home/twamoran/urbanghostsmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/abandoned-athlone-power-station-south-africa-7.jpg http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/home/twamoran/urbanghostsmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/abandoned-battersea-power-station-london.jpg

Urban GhostsAbandoned Stella Artois Brewery in Leuven, Belgium - Urban Ghosts
▻http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/2015/09/abandoned-stella-artois-brewery-leuven-belgium

Today, it seems as though you can pick up a bottle or pint of Stella Artois in almost any pub. But its easy to forget the brand’s centuries-old history, or the abandoned Stella Artois brewery that, until recently, haunted the Belgian city of Leuven. The post Inside the Abandoned Stella Artois Brewe

#ghost_town #bière

China’s deserted amusement parks – in pictures

#Stefano_Cerio has shot eerie abandoned cruise ships and empty ski resorts at night. Now, the Italian photographer has travelled all over China – from Happy Valley to Amazing World and Treasure Island Pirate Kingdom – to catch pleasure playgrounds in the off season

http://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/8/13/1439465989767/fb4a5cb0-f871-4466-b55e-75e0c33a879b-1020x805.jpeg?w=610&q=85&auto=format&sharp=10&s=b069e3c3d4de036a38e712b20157c699 http://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/8/13/1439465972282/cadce402-f223-4e2e-9664-aa1a0c8eee40-1020x805.jpeg?w=610&q=85&auto=format&sharp=10&s=285d35fbe2cc9799f57a3f8dc37f214d http://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/8/13/1439465943970/89b67e4e-058b-4127-9a04-987f18a5be62-1020x805.jpeg?w=610&q=85&auto=format&sharp=10&s=ae83fdbf9deaee3bcbe4e4ee6539e6ab http://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/8/13/1439466765113/2e0d5c4c-d09f-47b3-9f46-bde739e2f76b-1020x805.jpeg?w=610&q=85&auto=format&sharp=10&s=3c320ddbba966605e768e62b8def93f5

Urban GhostsExploring a Vast, Abandoned Soviet Tank Graveyard at Kharkov, Ukraine - Urban Ghosts
▻http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/2015/07/abandoned-soviet-tank-graveyard-kharkov-ukraine

http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/home/twamoran/urbanghostsmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/soviet-tank-graveyard-kharkov-ukraine-4.jpg

Forlorn and seemingly forgotten, rotting away amid a massive tank graveyard outside the city of Kharkov, these abandoned fighting vehicles are the relics of Ukraine’s time as a member of the Soviet Union. The post Exploring a Vast, Abandoned Soviet Tank Graveyard at Kharkov, Ukraine appeared first

#ghost_town

Un village chinois est englouti par la #nature

Près de l’embouchure du fameux fleuve Yangtze, près de 400 îles forment le très large #archipel_de_Zhoushan, en Chine. Au cœur d’une de ces îles, un petit village abandonné est avalé petit à petit par la nature sauvage. D’ici peu, il n’en restera rien… Découverte atypique.

https://mrmondialisation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/abandoned-village-zhoushan-china-103.jpg https://mrmondialisation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/abandoned-village-zhoushan-china-105.jpg https://mrmondialisation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/abandoned-village-zhoushan-china-104.jpg https://mrmondialisation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/abandoned-village-zhoushan-china-100.jpg

#Detroit, catastrophe du rêve
▻http://www.herodote.org/IMG/pdf/Herodote_132_Popelard.pdf
#USA #Etats-Unis #ghost-town #ghost_town #ghost_city #ghost-city
signalé par @ville_en (twitter)