8 fake cities that utterly failed

In recent years it seems many high-flying architects have eschewed regular residential design in favor of grand schemes that float like lily pads or hover like helicopters. Instead of custom-designing dwellings for the rich and famous, many instead reach for full-scale, sparkling utopias. Now, as then, most proposals don't see the light of day, but for the few that do get the funding (and the over-bold developer) to break ground—a number of such examples are not (yet) failures, including the world's first zero-carbon city and a Kenyan metropolis—there is almost always a bit of a media flurry.

Below, eight pop-up city flops from around the world: