Ghost Towns

[erbse]

I also suggest reading this recent article to understand the issues of misallocations addressed by that report a little better: Misinvestment is a bigger problem than overinvestment in China


Enough with this for now. This shouldn't turn into a dogmatic political debate after all.

Please go on with more interesting examples of ghost towns. Thanks.

[Lindemann]

Belchite, Spain

This town was destroyed in 1937 during the Civil War, and later it was kept in ruins as a memorial.









image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr

[TEBC]

amazing

[mobus]

The ghost town of Belmont, Nevada, USA

[cloud32]

Originally Posted by cloud32

Well, I'm really surprised this isn't on here yet:

The booming tourist section of the (still inhabited) port of Famagusta on the island of Cyprus was quickly evacuated when the Turkish Army invaded the Northern half of the island in 1974. This led many of the Greek residents to flee the area and leave their buisnesses and homes behind. The area is now in the UN controlled buffer zone between the Turkish north and Greek south, which prevents the residents from returning, to but it briefly. Here is the wikipedia article for more information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varosha,_Famagusta

Heres another interesting website with many images:

http://sometimes-interesting.com/201...gusta-cypress/

EDIT: I've been trying to put some before and after shots streight onto this post but i've been trying for an hour and cant work it out. Those links have pretty good images anyway

Aha, got it. Images are from the second website:







Before and after:


A crane 1970s style:




Plus many more...

[mgk920]

After the Kickapoo River flooded one too many times in 1978, the village's business district was relocated to higher ground on its outskirts.

See:
https://maps.google.com/?ll=43.39457...27595&t=k&z=15
The abandoned buildings were all then removed, leaving a strange-looking 'hole' in the village's center, which is now a park.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldiers_Grove,_Wisconsin

------------

Also, although not yet a full ghost town, Ontonagan, MI lost its major economic activity a few years ago when the local paper mill closed and will likely become one.

Mike

[weweng20]

it should've be developed .. it seem the place was nice!!

[gsegal]

wow!

[Commandant]

From Timothy Neesam (GumshoePhotos):

Cavusin (Turkey) was founded around 400 AD, but abandoned in the 1950s, due to rockslides and erosion.

image hosted on flickr

[Paper Ninja]

Originally Posted by erbse

I also suggest reading this recent article to understand the issues of misallocations addressed by that report a little better: Misinvestment is a bigger problem than overinvestment in China

[/I]

I had to see what Genghis Khan Square looked like. There's that woman who has to sweep the whole thing by herself.

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/taakerblom/5463635049/

[datoriprogram]

Laver - Sweden. Built for one purpose, a mine - abandoned when the mine was abandoned, some 50 years ago or something. This is the only ghost "town" I know here in Swe. 350 people worked there, so it isn't huge.



Here's the gallery: http://www.vonklopp.se/images/laver/

Sorry, couldn't copy the images. It isn't so much to see, but since it's rare in the nordics I guess it's something at least!

A future ghost town in Sweden might be Kiruna, since it has to be "moved" to allow more mining beneath or something.

Found more!
Grängesberg





More: http://www.pixbox.se/pic_show_id32836410.html


Farmagusta and Chernobyl are the "classics" of course

[Severiano]

China has a few Ghost towns because local bureaucrats paid people off, or needed to increase GDP or whatever. I don't believe in the China bubble myself. Sure there will be ghost towns in China. Many housing projects will never be at capacity. However the government is extremely concerned with stability. A housing crunch like in the US could never happen. The government taken enough precautions to ensure a bubble burst will not happen. The CCP simply wouldn't survive it. China's economy is driven by exports, so there may be a slowdown due to the Economic crisis in America and Europe, but not a crash. the EU and US still need certain commodities made in China, and are not willing to manufacture them at home. Other countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam do not have the infrastructure to replace China in the manufacturing sector. Worst case scenerio for China would be a slow screeching halt in growth. There will not be any kind of bubble bursting bank defaulting crisis here.

[TEBC]

What is the biggest ghost town in the world?

[ThatOneGuy]

Dubai in 100 years

[MARIZALLON]

whew thats creepy..

[MattTheTubaGuy]

The CBD of Christchurch, NZ has been closed for nearly 1 1/2 years now, some parts will probably still be closed at the end of this year.
On the 22nd of February 2011, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck just south of the city and only 5km deep. as a result of this, 185 people were killed, many buildings were severely damaged, and several collapsed.
1 1/2 years later, more than half of the buildings have been demolished including the vast majority of the older 'historic' buildings, plus the tallest high rise (to roof).
in total, at least 16 buildings greater than 10 floors are being demolished, leaving less than 10.
more than 50 buildings 6 floors and higher are being demolished, most already complete, several currently being demolished, and probably a few more that haven't been announced yet.
I have made a map showing all the demolitions that I know about. there are probably more that I don't know about, and this only includes buildings 4 floors and higher!
Here are a few before and after shots from my own photo collection: (photos coming soon)
EDIT: changed my mind, it is too depressing! :-(
here is a gallery of photos though

[TEBC]

Originally Posted by MattTheTubaGuy

The CBD of Christchurch, NZ has been closed for nearly 1 1/2 years now, some parts will probably still be closed at the end of this year.
On the 22nd of February 2011, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck just south of the city and only 5km deep. as a result of this, 185 people were killed, many buildings were severely damaged, and several collapsed.
1 1/2 years later, more than half of the buildings have been demolished including the vast majority of the older 'historic' buildings, plus the tallest high rise (to roof).
in total, at least 16 buildings greater than 10 floors are being demolished, leaving less than 10.
more than 50 buildings 6 floors and higher are being demolished, most already complete, several currently being demolished, and probably a few more that haven't been announced yet.
I have made a map showing all the demolitions that I know about. there are probably more that I don't know about, and this only includes buildings 4 floors and higher!
Here are a few before and after shots from my own photo collection: (photos coming soon)
EDIT: changed my mind, it is too depressing! :-(
here is a gallery of photos though

But people can walk through?

[MattTheTubaGuy]

Originally Posted by TEBC

But people can walk through?

nope, the only people allowed in the red zone are contractors for demolitions and repairs, a bus for people to view the inside of the red zone, plus the occasional celebrity.

For a couple of months after the quake, the whole entire CBD was closed to the public, but since then, the 'red zone' has shrunk.
The red zone a lot smaller now, but the parts that are open are mainly open now because there isn't actually anything left to present a danger!
Some blocks only have 2 or 3 buildings left, and a lot of the buildings that are left are abandoned, so they still have stuff in them from before the earthquake.
in all, more than 1000 buildings have been demolished, or will be. so far, less than 10 new buildings have started.

Also, several whole suburbs are being abandoned because they have been damaged so badly. more than 5000 homes are being demolished, and the land will probably never be built on again. this map shows the red zones.

[TEBC]

Originally Posted by MattTheTubaGuy

nope, the only people allowed in the red zone are contractors for demolitions and repairs, a bus for people to view the inside of the red zone, plus the occasional celebrity.

For a couple of months after the quake, the whole entire CBD was closed to the public, but since then, the 'red zone' has shrunk.
The red zone a lot smaller now, but the parts that are open are mainly open now because there isn't actually anything left to present a danger!
Some blocks only have 2 or 3 buildings left, and a lot of the buildings that are left are abandoned, so they still have stuff in them from before the earthquake.
in all, more than 1000 buildings have been demolished, or will be. so far, less than 10 new buildings have started.

Also, several whole suburbs are being abandoned because they have been damaged so badly. more than 5000 homes are being demolished, and the land will probably never be built on again. this map shows the red zones.

Thats sad... People is not allowed to get their stuff back even with help from authorities?

[MattTheTubaGuy]

Originally Posted by TEBC

Thats sad... People is not allowed to get their stuff back even with help from authorities?

some people got their stuff back, but it depended on how safe their building was. some buildings, everything was able to be retrieved, however some, especially the older brick buildings, were demolished with everything still inside simply because it was too dangerous.
here is an example of a 'dirty demolition':

By mattthetubaguy at 2011-07-28

There was a small 2 storey brick building that had many old photos and negatives that were going to be digitized, unfortunately all lost because the building was deemed too dangerous.