00:00You walk along a vast artery in the heart of a tentacular megalopolis,
00:06seized by the strange impression of having been projected into a science fiction setting.
00:11Around you, a heavy silence reigns.
00:14The skyscrapers, brand new, seem deserted.
00:17No vehicles, no living souls.
00:20Could the apocalypse have swept away all human presence?
00:23These could be your thoughts if you had wandered, a few years ago,
00:27the streets of Ordos Khangbashi, a new city built in Inner Mongolia.
00:32It emerged in a record time, less than a decade.
00:35In the middle of the desert, it offers an ambitious architecture,
00:39a profusion of public space and freshly built residences.
00:43However, it is not for these qualities that it became known.
00:47What struck the minds, it is rather its lack of population.
00:51Soon, the media made fun of the nickname of ghost town,
00:55claiming that it was deserted and lifeless.
00:58Faced with such an observation, a question arises,
01:01why no one wanted to establish it?
01:03This is where history takes a unique turn.
01:06As early as 2009, the first articles relating the supposed failure of Ordos Khangbashi emerged.
01:12Journalists went there and found that the city had few inhabitants.
01:16In their eyes, it evoked a metropolis ravaged by a catastrophe.
01:21However, these reporters did not bother to question the local authorities
01:25about the reasons for this apparent desertion.
01:27They also omitted an essential element.
01:30In 2009, the city was still in its sixth year of construction.
01:34It was not even finished.
01:36Of course, the population was still enlightened when they called it a ghost town.
01:41But by ignorance or sensationalism, they amplified the situation,
01:46thus distorting reality in the eyes of the public.
01:49Do you want to know the real story?
01:51Ordos has never been built to remain empty.
01:54It is an urban project still in gestation.
01:56Its initial plan was to welcome a million inhabitants by 2023.
02:00However, a series of upheavals on the coal market,
02:04the main economic resource of the region,
02:06has come to compromise its ambitions.
02:08The city has therefore reviewed its objectives
02:11and is now based on a population of about 3,000 inhabitants.
02:14During its first five years,
02:16Kangbashi has a real city center including offices,
02:19a world-class museum and an opera house.
02:22It even had a modern library,
02:25whose structure evoked books aligned on a shelf.
02:28However, the city remained a construction site in full evolution.
02:31Rather than a ghost town, it was actually a vast construction site.
02:36At first, no one lived there permanently,
02:39due to essential infrastructures such as schools, hospitals and shops.
02:44Workers went there on a daily basis
02:46before regaining their homes at nightfall.
02:49It took several additional years to equip the city with the necessary equipment,
02:53thus explaining its low population density.
02:57Today, Ordos could not be qualified as a ghost town,
03:01just like our next destination.
03:03Heading for Africa, towards a large residential project,
03:06Nova Cidade de Quilamba.
03:08Located about 30 km from Luanda, the Angolan capital,
03:12this city houses 750 residential buildings,
03:15more than a dozen school establishments and more than 100 shopping malls.
03:19The cost of the project is 3.5 billion dollars, a colossal sum.
03:24It was initially planned to accommodate up to 5,000 inhabitants.
03:28Quilamba was highlighted in careful promotional videos,
03:31in which families were seen getting away from the overcrowded districts of Luanda.
03:36But the reality was quite different.
03:38These people were not real residents, but mere extras.
03:42Indeed, almost a year after the first apartments were put on the market,
03:47only 220 had found a home.
03:50If you had known Quilamba in its early years,
03:53you would have been struck by an almost unreal atmosphere.
03:56The long rows of buildings with colored facades remained unoccupied,
04:01their closets and balconies deserted.
04:03The streets were almost empty, with few vehicles and even fewer passers-by.
04:08Most shops remained closed, except for a supermarket at the entrance of the city.
04:13If a few inhabitants had chosen to settle there,
04:16the absence of nearby shops made it difficult to access the first-need products.
04:21Mystery point here.
04:22Quilamba's apartments were offered at fluctuating rates between 2,000 and 200,000 dollars,
04:28a rewarding sum for the majority of Angolans,
04:31of which two-thirds subsisted with less than 2 dollars per day.
04:34In addition, the obtaining of a bank loan was part of the fighter's journey.
04:38Even with the adoption of new laws aimed at facilitating access to real estate loans,
04:42many Angolans, including the weakest, struggled to raise the necessary funds.
04:47Fortunately, the rates of the smallest apartments were seen to decline,
04:52going from 5,000 to 7,000 dollars.
04:55This decrease led to a significant increase in the population,
04:59which reached 8,000 residents in July 2015.
05:03Four years later, Quilamba already had a population of 19,000.
05:07In 2024, the city became a destination for the middle-class Angolans.
05:13We continue our exploration of the megalopolises in a post-apocalyptic style.
05:18Imagine wandering on paved streets,
05:20bordered by charming old-fashioned houses.
05:23You pass in front of Edwardian-style houses,
05:26and rows of Victorian terraces.
05:28There, a Fish and Chips and, right next to it,
05:32the emblematic red telephone booths,
05:34the whole seems to come straight out of an English postcard.
05:38But here is the loophole.
05:39You are only 40 minutes from the city center of Shanghai.
05:43Shanghai sought to offer its inhabitants a glimpse of the world by launching,
05:47as early as 2001, an ambitious project called
05:50One City, Nine Towns.
05:53The goal was to decongest an overcrowded metropolis
05:56by building nine residential areas on the outskirts,
05:59each of which reproduced the architecture and atmosphere of a Western country.
06:03Among these thematic enclaves,
06:05Thames Town, a small part of England.
06:08The creation of this miniature England required an investment of more than 330 million dollars.
06:14Some elements were directly imported from overseas,
06:17such as authentic reverberators,
06:19and a Gothic church in Bristol was faithfully reproduced.
06:22But the initiative did not limit itself to England.
06:25Other neighborhoods were inspired by Germany, Spain,
06:28the Netherlands and even Canada.
06:30So what happened?
06:32Thames Town's homes sold out at lightning speed,
06:36but they remained out of reach for most of the middle class they were destined for.
06:41In their place, wealthy buyers rushed to invest or make it their secondary residence.
06:47Today, Thames Town, like most of the nine cities, remains deserted.
06:52This neighborhood has turned into a ghost town,
06:55full of elegant houses and shops, but devoid of any life.
07:00Our next stop is not very far away.
07:02Welcome to Naipidao, one of the most unique capitals in the world.
07:07Imagine a metropolis, emerging from nowhere,
07:10built in the middle of rice fields and sugar cane plantations.
07:13In 2005, Myanmar unveiled to the rest of the world this brand new capital,
07:18called Naipidao, which means Royal City.
07:22According to some rumors, its construction would have cost up to 4 billion dollars.
07:27This surrealist city is six times larger than New York.
07:31Everything is designed on a monumental scale.
07:34The arteries have up to 20 routes and stretch out at eye level.
07:38There is a safari park and at least two golf courses.
07:42Unlike the rest of the country, the electricity supply is stable,
07:46and many restaurants offer free and fast Wi-Fi access.
07:50But a size problem persists.
07:52The place is abnormally empty.
07:54Its strange urbanism and its heavy atmosphere have even earned it international fame.
08:00The BBC's Top Gear team went there and never came back.
08:04They devoted a special episode to it, during which they looked for the perfect time,
08:09played a football match on deserted avenues
08:12and organized a speed race on one of the huge unoccupied boulevards.
08:16Looking closer, you can see some municipal workers in fluorescent green vests.
08:22They roam these roads, sweeping them meticulously, even if they are already immaculate.
08:27But what's the point of such an interview if no one wants to live there?
08:30Naipidaw is accused of being dull, expensive and devoid of essential infrastructure.
08:36The whole place seems to illustrate the adage,
08:38build and they will come.
08:40A bet that this city has manifestly lost.
08:43Let's now take the direction of the United States.
08:46In Pennsylvania, there is a city on the brink of fire.
08:49Centralia, an almost ghostly locality.
08:52Since 1962, a coal fire covers these streets and could still burn for two and a half centuries.
08:58It all started with an attempt to clean up a local discharge,
09:02which maliciously burned underground coal veins.
09:05Over the years, the inhabitants have deserted their cities,
09:08while the flames dug up threatening gulfs and charged the air with toxic gases,
09:12including carbon monoxide.
09:14In 1992, the state bought most of the land, leaving behind only a handful of residents,
09:20who agreed to return their property to the authorities after their death.
09:24Centralia was condemned and under these silent streets, the fire continues to rage.
09:29So, among these ghost cities, which would you choose to visit?
09:33Tell us in the comments.
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