What’s going on with China’s ghost cities?

Posted on: 19 August, 2024

Are China’s empty cities and municipalities a rare phenomenon or a sign of things to come for urban planning in the built environment?

Ghost towns are a phenomenon that have long attracted intrigue, interest and speculation. Often associated with myths and ghost stories, legends like the Lost Colony of Roanoke have captured interest and fuelled speculation for hundreds of years.

In more recent times, examples like Pripyat, the Ukrainian city that was abandoned in the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, serve as a cautionary tale of the dangers our modern world presents.

The idea of abandoning an entire city may seem alien in the 21^st century, particularly as population growth soars and cities like Shanghai and Beijing struggle with urban sprawl, but it is in fact a very real phenomenon that happens across the world to this day.

What exactly is a ghost city?

A ghost city is a settlement that has been abandoned or is not inhabited, yet much of its infrastructure still remains. Often referred to as abandoned cities, or deserted cities, these locations vary in size, and originate from the more traditional term ‘ghost town’.

Why do people abandon cities and towns?

There are a wide range of reasons a city’s residents decide to abandon a municipality, with the circumstances shifting throughout history.

1. Depletion of natural resources

The Industrial Revolution and, with it, the surge of oil, coal and gold, dramatically increased the economic activity in cities like Liverpool and Manchester in the UK, transforming relatively small municipalities into thriving ‘boomtowns’. However, once these resources dried up, many boomtowns effectively went bust, with large swathes of the population fleeing.

An example of this is Ocean Falls in British Columbia, Canada, a town that, after the closure of its pulp mill, now houses only 100 residents.

2. Shifting economic activity

Another reason ghost towns are created is because of competition, the influence of the economy and shifting values of the resources behind their growth. The town of Bodie in California, USA is one of the most famous ghost towns, which experienced a sudden boom thanks to the discovery of gold. However, miners were lured to other towns with more modern technologies and promising growth. Midway through the 20^th century, Bodie became a ghost town as the last of its inhabitants left. Today, it has become a popular tourist destination.

On the other end of the spectrum is Burj Al Babas, a residential development in Mudurnu, Turkey. Construction began on the complex in 2014, but it was abandoned in 2019 after the company behind its development filed for bankruptcy, with debts of around $5 million after sales stalled. Today, its Disney-esque castles provide an eerie sight far removed from what its developers had in mind when the project began.

3. Natural disasters

Natural disasters have been a key catalyst for the abandonment of residences throughout history. The town of Plymouth, Montserrat, is notable for being the only capital of a modern political territory to be deemed a ghost town. Constructed in the 18^th century, Plymouth was abandoned after the Soufriere Hills volcano became active and the town was buried by a pyroclastic flow.

A more recent example of the environment forcing civilians to abandon a city is the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. Thanks to flooding, rising sea levels and land subsidence, the country have chosen to build an entirely new capital in its place, although hope remains that, through the incorporation of the sponge city model, Jakarta can be preserved.

Learn more: What on earth are sponge cities?

4. War and massacres

The village of Oradour-sur-Glane, France was occupied by the Nazis during World War II, and was the setting for a German-led massacre of 642 residents in 1944. The president of France after the water, Charles de Gaulle, chose to preserve the village as a memorial for the tragedy.

In the 1970s, the town of Varosha was a popular holiday destination on the island of Cyprus, attended by the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Brigitte Bardot. However, after the country was invaded by Turkey in 1974, it was closed to the public – something which didn’t change until 2017. Today, it’s home to around just 200 people.

5. Disease

In the early 20^th century, the Spanish flu, one of the deadliest pandemics in history, infected almost a third of the global population, and led to the deaths of between 17 and 100 million people, according to estimates. The rate at which the pandemic produced fatalities led to the displacement and dissolution of entire communities. Even for those left behind, the economic decline that resulted from the pandemic was enough to make them abandon their residences.

6. Human intervention

Another reason cities are abandoned or uninhabited is human intervention, which has become a more common cause for this phenomenon in recent years. Urban planning, particularly city and transport planning, has a significant influence on the people’s lives, from the urban locations they habit or commute to, to the journeys they make every day. If a change is made to transportation routes, or urban planners fail to account for the shifting priorities of communities, cities can be thrown into economic strife and potentially become abandoned.

Ghost towns today – what’s happening in China?

The above examples bring us up to the present day, where it’s not just towns that are being abandoned – it’s entire cities.

Over the last ten years, haunting pictures of Chinese cities like Dantu, Pudong and Xiognan, supposedly empty, have circulated international news. Empty streets, entirely devoid of cars and people, stretch as far as the eye can see. Entire tower blocks of apartments remain uninhabited. In some cases, mounds of dirt and rubble, along with machinery, line the streets.

Unlike many of the historical examples cited above, these cities are newly built and ready to be lived in. However, they’ve failed to attract inhabitants and, for the most part, appear to be empty.

Why does China have so many ghost cities?

Several potential causes of China’s ghost cities have been identified. One major contributor is simply the rate at which the country has developed. China used more concrete between 2011 and 2013 than the United States did throughout the entire 20^th century, and its percentage of urbanised areas increased fivefold between 1984 and 2010. Even with the growth of its population, at some point development was bound to overtake demand, which it eventually did. This resulted in falling prices and low sales.

Learn more: 12 sustainable alternatives to traditional concrete

Another reason why these cities remained uninhabited is the state of China’s economy, which has undergone significant fluctuation since the turn of the century. The rate at which technology has developed in the country has led to job losses in traditional sectors around manufacturing and production – sectors that make up the backbone of its economy.

While these ghost cities are most often linked with China, it’s also happening in other areas. In Malaysia, the Forest City development, itself built by Chinese property investors, was envisaged as a sustainable metropolis, but today it’s almost totally abandoned.

The causes of this provide further reasons for why we’re seeing more and more ghost cities. Forest City’s prices, which were ‘out of reach for most ordinary Malaysians’, meant it was positioned at the Chinese second home market. However, pushback from the Malaysian government, the dismal state of the Chinese property market and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic meant it has failed to meet expectations.

The reality of the ghost city – a question of timing

What goes underreported in the media is the fact that many of the supposed ghost cities singled out by critics have gradually begun to welcome residents and establish their own economies in recent years.

The city of Dantu, a district of the Zhenjiang, Jiangsu province, started steadily welcoming residents in 2013 after struggling with underoccupation from 2005 onwards. While its population, currently around 286,000, is far below the initial goal of 1 million, it certainly doesn’t qualify as abandoned. Similarly, Pudong is now a prominent financial district of Shanghai, and home to over 5.6 million people.

Xiognan is the latest new city to earn the ‘ghost city’ label, but part of the reason for this is that it isn’t even finished yet. The city, a personal initiative of Chairman and President Xi Jinping, is envisaged as a ‘smart city’ that ‘encourages equality and sustainability’. Despite being unfinished (and only planned to be complete by 2050), it still has a population of over 1 million.

Learn more: What are smart cities (and are they the future of the built environment)?

Another way to look at modern ‘ghost’ cities like Xiognan is as a testament to the country’s incredible ability to build modern cities practically from thin air. These municipalities required the same 10-15 year time span as any other new city to welcome residents and develop an economy, and will no doubt help the country address urban sprawl as their urbanised population numbers continue to grow.

The ghost city, then, is an interesting phenomenon in city planning – not quite a myth, but a natural symptom of both our modern, urbanised world and growing population. Our incredible ability to manufacture infrastructure outpaces demand, and, often, economic growth – something which should perhaps be looked at in a different light when, across the world, a housing crisis looms.

Urban planning is an exciting field that has a pivotal role in the design and function of our cities and communities. If you want to have a part in helping the built environment realise a sustainable future, UCEM’s MSc Urban Planning will give you the knowledge, skills and technical understanding you need.

Find out more: MSc Urban Planning – University College of Estate Management