China is the Country with Most Ghost Towns in the World

In the recent years, China has risen with a stunning mobilization of constructors, architects and engineers, as smaller settlements were transformed into cities, to host rural inhabitants

Many of these cities are still suspended, waiting for their inhabitants; others have remained frozen after social policies and urban strategies have not given the expected results. Kai Caemmerer, the famous photographer has documented these so-called "ghost towns" under the Unborn Cities series.

The photographer, who lives in Chicago, does not disclose the exact places where the project involving six of these cities and did not make any comment about the ideological machine that makes them soar into frantic pace. The images taken by Kai Caemmerer speak for themselves, telling the stories of these settlement hybrids, which he compares with some mausoleums dedicated to a paradoxically future.

For the Westerners, says Caemmerer, China's approach regarding the housing problem and migration is counterintuitive: instead of developing cities around existing settlements, they build mammoth cities in areas where no one lives. Later, residents of rural areas are directed to the brand-new cities: some adapting, others leaving for foreign spaces, unable to get used to the rules and geography of these incredible buildings.

It is estimated that 40% of the 300 million Chinese will be welcomed into a so-called ghost town by 2030. They will mainly be moving from smaller cities in the “chengzhenhua” system.