The World's Biggest Abandoned Megaprojects

from it abandoned Japanese island that is hiding a dark and troubled history behind its crumbling walls to a towering abandoned skystrapper in Venezuela that was once inhabited by around 5 000 squatters in this video we'll be taking a look at the biggest abandoned Mega projects in the world we start with the Wonderland amusement park located just a mere 20 minute drive away from the Chinese capital of BG Wonderland amusement park was supposed to be the largest amusement park in Asia plans for it were drafted in the early 90s the park would cover a total area of 50 hectares on an undeveloped corn field by comparison it would have been about the same size as the famous Tokyo Disneyland in Japan Chinese property developer rainwood group hoped for Wonderland to become the company's Flagship project and for the property to drop millions of visitors from the nearby Mega City construction on Wonderland amusement park began in the 90s the plan for the site was to create a Disneyland style theme park with the iconic Castle centerpiece and medieval themed buildings and walls surrounding it unfortunately in 1998 halfway through Wonderland's construction all work on the site was suddenly stopped and the park was left abandoned locals starting to bring up theories as to why the massive project was suddenly put to a complete halt some stories suggested that Park's location was cursed while According to some rumors a mask gray was Unearthed during the construction but despite all these rumors the truth was far more plain and simple after Financial disagreement with the local government and farmers who had been working on the area even before the construction began the entire project was put into a complete stop the developers were not able to come to a consensus with the locals over property prices and unfortunately had to abandon the project as negotiations were struck the project would have uprooted the livelihood of farmers and their families and they weren't willing to just give up their only source of income as rainwood and all their workers hurriedly left the site the half attractions in the property simply crumbled and nature slowly took over over the years as the location was left abandoned the local farmer simply reclaimed the land and resumed working and cultivating plants amidst The Backs drop offer derelict medieval fantasy an attempt to revive the project was initiated by the developers in 2008 but It ultimately failed once again as the build structures were already too crumbled and worn down Beyond repair five years later the surrounding structures were eventually demolished putting an end for any hope for the project to be completed number four the Memphis pyramid since the city of Memphis in tennis is named after the historic City of Memphis and Egypt Mark Harris came up with an ambitious project for his hometown men to mimic its ancient namesake his original plan was to create three pyramids that would all be situated along the Mississippi River mirroring the famous Giza Pyramid complex these three structures would be built at a scale two-third the original size and resembled the exact same position of its Egyptian counterparts the project was conceived in hopes of creating a name for the City of Memphis by creating a landmark that would represent the city to the rest of the world similar in Wayne to Street Lewis Gateway Arch or Paris Eiffel Tower however this ambitious plan didn't come to fruition until marcar's son John horse revived the idea in the 1980s the new proposals grabbed the three pyramid complex in exchange for one main pyramid that would stand 98 meters tall and have a base of 180 meters making it one of the biggest pyramids in the entire world after his concept was adopted by tennis entrepreneur John tigrid construction on what would ultimately become the Memphis Pyramid began in September 1989 but even before the building finished construction and opened its doors two years later the Memphis Pyramid already had many different problems many of the planned amenities to be built in the building were ultimately scrapped because of financial difficulties these included a music museum a radio station an observation deck and outdoor theme park and a Hard Rock Cafe so when the Memphis Pyramid opened in 1991 it served as a basketball arena and the opening was a huge success the entire building was filled with more than 21 000 visitors however on this all-imponent day for the pyramid the toilets inside of the Arena backed up and flooded this basement as the city's sewers transfer system failed to keep up with such a number of people over the next few years the Memphis Pyramid would be used for many different purposes and events such as basketball tournament concerts and even a boxing match between Lennox Lewis and Mike Tice that became the highest grossing boxing event in history at the time although the Memphis Pyramid was turning a profit with the many different events it was hosting it didn't have a permanent tenant that would ensure its long-term profitability so in 2001 the city of Memphis attempted to relocate an NBA team into the city with the Memphis Pyramid serving as their home area the city spent an estimated 7 million dollars to retrofit the facility to become a suitable venue for the Memphis Grizzlies but after the Memphis bit of it served as a Grizzlies home for the total of only three years they left to move to the newer and more modern FedEx forum which opened in 2004 and because the city's contract with the Grizzlies the pyramid could only ever be used with the team's approval leaving it mostly abundant over the next decade a committee was even created in order to explore possible long-term future uses for the abandoned building same considerations that were brought up were to convert the pyramid into an indoor theme park a casino or a shopping mall however none of these ideas ever came into froosh the original idea for the pyramid had failed and it remained empty but despite being left weakened for a very long time there was hope for the Memphis Pyramid American Retailer Bass Pro Shops came into an agreement with a city of Memphis for a 55-year lease of the pyramid to convert it into a one giant store so today the Memphis pyramid is home to the largest bass pro shop in the entire world along with an archery and shooting range and even a laser arcade ever since the Big Chain the pyramid's new Thailand has found new success in the location with 3 million people visiting in its first year number three Hashima island 15 kilometers Southwest of the city of Nagasaki in Japan lies a small island just a measly 500 meters across at its longest Point Hashima island seemingly stuck in time is home to dozens of concrete buildings seawalls and ruins built at the third of the 20th century almost perfectly preserved by its isolation Hashima island is a symbol of Japan's rapid industrialization and its dark history hidden behind the world of this abandoned site Hashima was first inhabited back in 1887 when a substantial amount of undersea coal was discovered in the area Mitsubishi then bought the island and started the construction of a coal mining facility along with sea walls that surrounded the entire Island and protected it from Thai food by 1916 the company started to construct many different amenities for the growing number of workers living on the island they built a seventh floor apartment a school a hospital a community center and even entertainment facilities such as a cinema a swimming pool and many different shops in 1959 the island reached its peak population of 5300 people living in this tiny plot of Island however by the turn of the late 1960s petroleum quickly replaced gold as Japan's main source of energy many cool mines across the country were forced to shut down because of this and Hashima school facility along with its population started to dwindle down after most of the residents left Mitsubishi officially seized operations as the island was slowly left abandoned the island continued to exist as a cold town for the next 30 Years but without a single person permanently inhabiting the place its industrial era buildings started to slowly crumble as nature reclaimed the island by 2002 Mitsubishi relinquished ownership of the island and transferred it to the town of takashima and then eventually to the city of Nagasaki Hashima island soon became the subject of curious explorers looking to uncover the history of this island and its abandoned building so in 2005 access to the island was reopened by the city of Nagasaki for journalists just a few years later the island also became accessible to the general public and now serves as a popular tourist destination for those wanting to see a glimpse of daisho and shova era architecture in the same year the Japanese government started a bit to include Hashima island as a UNESCO world heritage site citing the importance of the historical ruins and well-preserved architecture on the island however this move was quickly opposed by the boat the sun art and South Korean government because of the Island's dark history that Japan purposely left out in the UNESCO application from the 1930s up until the end of the second world war Hashima island became the site of countless acts of human rights violations we're in Korean and Chinese prisoners of War were forced to work under extremely harsh conditions a very rough estimate of 130 up to 1300 forced laborers reportedly lost their lives on the island because of exhaustion malnutrition and poor working condition despite Korea's opposition to the UNESCO bid Hashima island is now considered as a world heritage site and is visited by thousands of tourists each year number two Berlin Temple of airport as one of the first airports in the German Capital Berlin templehof is a site that has witnessed and lived through many of the country's most historic moments officially designated as an airport in 1923 Berlin Temple have served as the main and only air traffic Hub in the area during the late 1930s Berlin Temple off quickly became one of the busiest airports in the world thanks to its close proximity to the German Capital following the fall of the Berlin wall and the reunification of Germany in 1989 Berlin Temple off soon became one of the three different airports all serving one city that used to be divided one of the next years Berlin templehof continued to function as a regular commercial airport until in 1996 a resolution from the city government of Berlin was announced that would ultimately lead to the airport's closing unlike the other projects in this video Berlin Temple of actually served its intended purpose and was only ever abandoned because of its age as a means of concentrating old domestic and international air traffic in the city to a singular Central airport templehof and the neighboring title airport were planned to be closed down and replaced by the New Berlin Brandenburg Airport many berliners refused the decision and the referendum was even held to keep the airport open the referendum ultimately failed and the last commercial flight from Berlin Temple of took off on the 30th of October 2008. after that the city of Berlin announced that they would transform the old airport into a city park with a budget of 60 million Euros in an event attended by thousands of people the so-called Temple of rafaeld opened and is now the world's largest Inner City open space with a total area of 380 hectares even surpassing the famous Central Park in New York some of the cities is three can still be seen today such as parts of the old terminal along with the hangars and even The Runaway can still be recognized even after the chain today the old airport also serves as a location for different events such as music festivals and fear and finally the number five the toridi David also called Venezuela squatter skyscrip at a height of 170 meters and a total of 45 floors the Tori did David in the Venezuela's capital city of Caracas in the country's third tallest skyscraper construction began in 1990 and was supposed to be a mixed use of residential and office space located in the middle of the highly urbanized Capital however just four years after work on the skyscraper began construction was abruptly stop because of the Venezuelan banking crisis the government immediately took control of the tower in its incomplete State the building lacked any of the most basic utilities and services necessary for a building like the toradi David to function it didn't have any electricity running water windows and in some areas the walls weren't even complete in 2001 the government of Venezuela even attempted to auction off the building along with the other structures in the complex but nobody was entrusted in purchasing the rundown and incomplete building at the same time as all of this was happening the entire city of Caracas was suffering from a housing shortage that saw hundreds of thousands of people without a home because of this the citizens of Caracas soon made their way into the buildings inside the complex and occupied it seeing as the Towering skyscraper had been left abandoned for more than a decade now the complex was occupied by as many as 200 homeless families looking for a place to call their own by some estimates about 40 percent of the entire City's homeless population were living inside of the tower the towers residents soon began to create their own Utility Services with an improvised adequate system even serving residents up to the 22nd floor with running water motorcycles were even used to taxi residents and visitors between the first 10th floor through a series of winning bats and ramps the building even had its own saloons barbershops parking garage and even an unless dental clinic by the year 2011 the population of Doherty David grew to as much as 2 500 people and even peaked at one point and around 5000 individuals in 2014 after careful planning and discussion with the towers residents the Venezuelan government launch program that would relocate the hundreds of families from the Torre de David into new government provided home in a new city south of the capital what do you think about these abandoned Mega projects let us know in the comments below if you want to see such more videos please like the video and subscribe our Channel

Channel: Known Facts

Views: 2,618

Keywords: abandoned megaprojects, megaprojects gone wrong, failed megaprojects, abandoned buildings, abandoned places, urban exploration, history, engineering, construction, travel, tourism, colossal failures, boondoggles, white whales, ghost towns, ghost cities, ghost projects, urban ruins, post-apocalyptic, lessons learned, what went wrong, why were they abandoned, what remains today, future of abandoned megaprojects, future of megaprojects, future of construction, future of engineering.

Id: GDO2r3gKzEs

Length: 14min 45sec (885 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 19 2023