It is strange, of course, to hear how newly built cities and houses remain empty. Of course, if there is a price tag "up to heaven", but some minor inconvenience would not stop those wishing to live in new apartments.
In 2002, 25 kilometers from Seoul, construction began on SongDo, the city of the future, which was supposed to turn the idea of wealthy residents of the capital of South Korea about life in a modern metropolis.
But everything turned out quite differently …
Located just an hour's drive from Seoul, the eco-friendly city, filled with technological infrastructure and greenery, was supposed to contrast with the overpopulated capital, whose residents suffer from endless traffic jams, pollution, heap of buildings and a lack of urban space.
15 years later, in a city designed for 300 thousand people, almost no one lives, and the infrastructure and high-tech buildings are not used by anyone. The few who have decided to settle in the promised high-tech utopia compare SongDo to an abandoned prison.
The construction of the "first smart city" cost $ 40 billion. Residents were offered a new eco-friendly environment with a large number of parks and green areas, as well as everything they need within walking distance - shops, entertainment, clinics and schools.
Investors were told that they are investing in a future educational and business center in Korea, which will soon compete with the leading Asian megacities.
Promotional video:
Project image of the city.
It was planned that the city will cope with the problems plaguing large metropolitan areas: the amount of garbage, exhaust from cars, traffic jams and a polluted public environment. They wanted to reduce the number of transport to a record low - the roads were built only for long-distance movement, mainly local residents had to move by bicycles and use public transport.
This is how the advertising images of the city look:
In fact, the project failed: the few who moved to Songdo say that nothing works in the city, most of the buildings are dusty boxes, and the vacant lots in the place of which future projects were planned remain untouched, giving the entire city the appearance of abandoned construction site.
The authors of the project failed to solve the main problem - to populate the city with people. And how to do it, if almost all large settlements developed naturally, and in this case they expected to attract people to the artificial city created from scratch.
This is what Songdo looks like today:
Empty bike paths that were supposed to become the circulatory system of the city, wastelands, unused computer terminals and a single garbage disposal system that was supposed to collect all garbage from buildings using pneumatic pipes, sort it and convert it into electricity.
Technological solutions made with a view to the future in 2002, far by modern standards, seem odious: no one today uses outdoor computer terminals to video chat with neighbors, and environmentally conscious residents of large cities often sort their own garbage.
This is how a blogger described his impressions of the visit for Korea Expose:
“Songdo is a unique view of the city: completely artificial, carefully designed, completely clean and practically empty. This is a human desert."
Ian James.
The blogger added that Songdo resembles Chernobyl rather than the city of the future, and local residents complain that the city is completely devoid of life - no culture, no theaters, no entertainment. All operating establishments cost fabulous money, and invested investors continue to build new areas, labeling everything in English, in an attempt to lure expats from Europe, New Zealand and the UK into the city.
