Why is Kangbashi called a "ghost town"?

The American "Time" magazine published an article saying that Kangbashi, Inner Mongolia, China is a "ghost town" with luxurious buildings but no one inhabiting it. Kangbashi, which took five years to build, was originally intended to be the city center that Ordos showed off to the outside world, but now it is considered a "ghost town" with a population of tens of thousands.

The first reason is that because China is a developing country with a vast land, abundant resources and a large number of people, it is naturally the most popular and has certain regional needs for our unique nation. Although China has a vast territory, The population is also very dense.

In terms of the density of first-tier big cities, few other cities have sparsely populated problems, but Kangbashi New District in Ordos City shows a very sparse population situation, so there are This statement.

The second reason is that Kangbashi New District in Ordos City, as a border area, always brings to everyone a state of very rapid development. In this fast-paced development pace, it makes everyone see There are relatively few people arriving, also because of the vastness of this area and the sparse population, which naturally makes people feel very scary.

And if the architecture is very developed but still looks so strange, it will make everyone feel that it is out of tune with the development phenomenon of China as a whole, and will naturally remind everyone of the so-called ghost town state.

Extended information:

According to the National Scientific and Technical Terms Approval Committee, ghost cities refer to cities that have been depleted of resources and abandoned, and are geographical terms. With the advancement of urbanization, more and more new urban areas with new plans and high-standard construction have appeared. These new urban areas are vividly called "ghost towns" because of their high vacancy rate, few people living in them, and darkness at night.

From a regional perspective, the lack of supporting functions in most "ghost towns" is mainly due to two situations: insufficient absolute size and relative uneven distribution.

The absolute lack of volume makes the construction volume of basic commercial, public services, municipal and other supporting facilities within the entire "ghost town" planning scope between the construction volume of the new town's leading functions such as residence, business, and industry. It is not proportional, and it is common for the volume of supporting facilities to lag significantly behind the construction volume of leading functions.

Even if the total amount of internal supporting measures in the "ghost town" can meet the demand for the planned population introduction, when planning the new town's zoning land, most design units fail to reasonably determine the construction location of supporting facilities. This leads to the unreasonable phenomenon that similar supporting facilities are too densely distributed in some locations in the "ghost town", while other locations are in short supply.

The spread of ghost towns across the country stems from local governments’ reliance on land finance, but the root cause lies in the central government’s performance evaluation model of local governments. For example, higher-level governments issue assessment targets for fixed asset investment to lower-level governments every year, causing many places to find ways to engage in large projects and heavy investment in repeated construction. Empty cities and ghost towns are an extreme manifestation of investment stimulating the economy.

The domestic economy is transforming and its structure is adjusting. However, the performance evaluation mechanism from superiors has not been able to transform simultaneously. The evaluation of GDP, fixed asset investment, investment promotion and other indicators still dominates the behavior of local governments. effect. If the assessment mechanism cannot be substantively changed, it will inevitably lead to local officials putting old wine in new bottles and changing their land and finance vests.

Empty cities and ghost towns are so prevalent that the blame must not only be placed on local governments, but also on the need to reform the performance appraisal mechanism.

Similar ghost towns:

1. Qingshuihe, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia: Rebuilding a city

2. Bayannur, Inner Mongolia: connecting the northwest with North China and Northeast China It is an important transportation hub, an important national border economic cooperation zone, an emerging industrial city, and a characteristic service industry base focusing on trade logistics, tourism services, financial trade, etc.

3. Erenhot, Inner Mongolia: a major economic and trade channel open to the north across the country, a regional international logistics center, a commodity distribution center, and an import and export processing base.

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia_Ghost Town