Empty Cities

It is strange and somehow disturbing to think of cities and towns being empty, abandoned and devoid of life. And yet, there are places like this; cities and towns which are vacant and uninhabited and which seem lost without purpose. The reasons for these empty cities, however, are varied.

Nova Cidade de Kilamba, Angola

The new city of Kilamba in Luanda Province, Angola

Nova Cidade de Kilamba is the name of this housing development which is situated 30km from Angola's capital city, Luanda. Built by the China International Trust and Investment Corporation, this town can house 500,000 people with its 750 eight-storey apartment blocks. There are also over 100 commercial premises and 12 schools.

The development covers 5,000 hectares, and yet, it is unnaturally quiet here. The silence is almost deafening. You see, apartments here generally cost somewhere between $120,000 and $200,000 and yet, the average Angolan lives on less than $2 a day 1. There is no real middle class in Angola, a group who could actually afford to live in such a development.

Tomioka, Fukushima, Japan

The town of Tomioka in Japan is located near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was badly damaged by the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. At the time of the disaster, the town had an estimated population of 15,839, with 6,293 households. One resident remained after the tsunami hit the area, a fifth-generation rice farmer called, Naoto Matsumura and his dog, but people are slowly moving back to the area.

Varosha, Famagusta, Cyprus

Before the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, Varosha was a thriving resort town favoured by the rich and famous. Since that time, Cyprus has been a divided country separated by a green line and Varosha, the abandoned southern quarter of the Cypriot city of Famagusta, has been an uninhabited ghost town.

Back in 1989, I stood on a nearby hill and looked with binoculars at the abandoned Varousha, which was enveloped by a high fence of barbed wire. In the years that have followed, little has changed.

People left that place in a terrible rush and if the could return, they would see the clothes that they were wearing back in the 1970s, still in the cupboard; their 1970s car in the garage and their old TV, records and radios, waiting for them.