Over the last 25 years, the number of new cities being built around the world has more than doubled compared to the previous 50 years. While some have been branded vanity projects, others are vital investments to help weather the impacts of climate change or relieve congestion in crowded capital cities.

No matter the motivation, vast sums of money are being spent on ambitious future developments, often with disappointing results. Read on to discover 13 cities of the future that are currently under construction, ranked by their staggering price tags.

All dollar amounts in US dollars. 

Over in the Persian Gulf, Kuwait is also creating a coastal city from scratch, but without building any artificial land in the sea. Instead, engineers are excavating canals out of the salty marshland, effectively carving out a city (pictured 20 years apart in 1994, left, and April 2024, right). The sand is being reused to build up the land for residential development.

The developer will not reveal the cost, only conceding it's a multi-billion dollar project, and when completed the city will be home to 250,000 people.

Not surprisingly, reshaping and creating 125 miles (200km) of beaches and shoreline has taken a very long time. Packaged into 10 phases, construction started in December 2002 and was initially estimated to take 25 years. Today, the city's population is unknown, but only three construction phases – and 53 miles (84km) of beaches – are reportedly finished so far.

While many of the city’s streets are yet to be excavated and constructed, marine habitats have flourished within the new waterways. Researchers confirmed that after five years of opening to the sea, the habitats in the artificially created waterways are as abundant as those in similar open sea natural habitats in Kuwait.

Envisioned to be twice the size of nearby Mumbai and proposed as one of the 21st century’s swish, interconnected 'smart cities', the new city of Dholera and pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered a plethora of potential nearly 20 years ago.

Areas dedicated to manufacturing and commercial zones would be connected through sustainable mass transport. Dholera would also have links to new high-speed rail and a world-class airport. All these ambitious plans would eventually support a city of two million people and 800,000 jobs by 2050.

Making this dream city a reality has proved difficult. The land is low-lying and prone to flooding, which has put off potential investors despite generous incentives from the government. Further financial blows included private investors defaulting on land payments and major companies, including business conglomerate Tata and semiconductor manufacturer Foxconn, withdrawing plans to open factories in the city.

Despite these challenges, government officials reported in 2023 that construction on phase one was nearly complete. However, deadlines for transportation infrastructure, including major road connections, are behind schedule. The airport is expected to open in 2026, and the rail link in 2031. Billions of dollars have been spent to build 'India’s Shanghai' but whether the smart city will achieve its lofty goals remains uncertain.

A nation made up of small islands, the low-lying Maldives faces extreme threats from rising sea levels. It's also struggled with a growing housing crisis over the last few decades.

In 2010, developer Dutch Docklands and the Maldivian government launched an initiative to build a floating city that would withstand rising sea levels and stimulate coral growth. Named Maldives Floating City, it would offer 5,000 homes and tourism facilities, and be located a 10-minute boat ride away from capital city Male.

The project had a slow start, and the initial agreement was delayed due to changing political administrations. More than a decade passed before the final permits were secured in 2022 and design work was completed. Construction began in June 2023 and is scheduled to run for up to five years.

Marine engineering work is underway for the floating platforms that will support buildings and the barrier islands that will provide protection. The whole city is expected to cost $1 billion (£800m).

Development firm Rendeavour purchased 5,000 acres of land from a former coffee farm in 2008 with the goal of building a new Kenyan city about 12 miles (20km) from Nairobi, which is home to more than five million people and one of the world’s most congested and polluted cities.

Planners envisioned a mixed-use and mixed-income development that would provide schools, medical facilities, shopping districts and office parks while retaining one-third of the land for green and recreational spaces for its 250,000 residents.

Construction started in 2015. Around $500 million ($410m) was spent to build the city from scratch, including all new roads and utilities and residential and other properties.

The government has allocated Tatu City a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) status, which offers huge tax advantages to businesses willing to locate there. At the start of 2024, the city reported that 78 businesses were in operation, employing around 15,000 people, while more than 4,500 students were enrolled in the city’s schools.

An estimated $1.5 billion (£1.2bn) has been invested by public and private partners over the course of the project. However, allegations of tax evasion, money laundering and extortion have marred the new city’s reputation and tied up its management in legal battles.

Described as one of the fastest-growing areas in South Africa, the site of today’s Waterfall City on the outskirts of Johannesburg was farmland less than 20 years ago. The owner, Waterfall Islamic Institute, partnered with real estate investment trust Attacq, which bought land rights in 2008.

By 2016, the continent’s largest mall had opened on the site, paving the way for a mixed-use smart city with everything from private schools to retirement villages and five-star hotels with the aim of drawing in investment from around the world.

It’s one of the biggest property development projects in the country’s history, transforming farmland and fields into homes, shops and offices – and it’s not done yet. With a 2027 completion date, the developer announced in late 2024 that it intends to spend another $1.1 billion (£900m) on the city. Older estimates put the total cost at $5.8 billion (£4.8bn).

At least $1 billion (£820m) has already been spent on building the city’s infrastructure. As of 2021, around 12,000 people were already living in Waterfall, with 26,000 employed there. Global companies like advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and tech giant Cisco have opened offices in the new development.

However, all of the investors and property owners are merely leaseholders, with the land owned entirely by the Waterfall Islamic Institute, in accordance with Islamic law.

The goal of Sri Lanka’s new Port City is to compete with the likes of Dubai and Hong Kong, offering a marina, financial centre and a variety of high-end residential properties along the waterfront adjacent to the capital city Colombo. To incentivise global firms to set up shop, the mixed-use development has been deemed a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and will include a duty-free shopping mall.

Launched in 2014, the 25-year project is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), receiving assistance from Chinese banks and construction firms.

Building the city is a mammoth task requiring the creation of an artificial landmass. Construction started in 2014, first by creating the reclaimed land where the city will be located and dredging tonnes of sand, as much as 65 million cubic metres.

More than a decade later, the project is moving out of its heavy civil stages with numerous milestones passed in 2024, including completion of the breakwater ringing the new peninsula and Sri Lanka's Parliament approving offshore banking regulations, attracting the attention of international financial firms. 

Construction for Port City Colombo is expected to take 25 years at a cost of $20 billion (£16bn). Once completed, it's hoped the city will be home to 80,000 residents.

Indonesia’s capital city of Jakarta is quickly sinking due to groundwater depletion – and rising sea levels are making the situation even worse. The government announced an ambitious plan in 2019 to move its capital to the jungle, 800 miles (1,300km) away, to a new city called Nusantara. This will be the seat of the government, and by 2045, it's expected to have a population of two million people.

According to some estimates, Jakarta, home to around 11 million people, could be fully submerged by 2050.

Clearly, time is of the essence and construction is already underway for various government buildings (pictured) and other properties. The cost of the project is forecast to be $35 billion (£29bn), with most of the funding coming from private investors.

However, critics fear that Jakarta will remain the country’s economic hub – government operations accounted for just 4% of economic activity in 2023 – or even continue to grow, meaning it's still vulnerable to the environmental and infrastructure challenges it faces today. 

Also known as Al-Madina al-Zarqa, Oman’s new city outside Muscat was intended to be a residential and tourism hot spot with a population of 200,000 when it was unveiled in 2005. Plans included luxurious villas, apartment complexes and public amenities like schools and healthcare, 5-star hotels and multiple world-class golf courses.

Construction had been scheduled for a 15-year duration with the expectation that it would become the country’s third-largest city upon completion.

Design and construction started in 2006 for the first phase under a contract worth $1.9 billion (£1.6bn), but stalled due to financing issues, which were further exacerbated by the financial crisis. Over the next few years investors reportedly tried to revive the project without success.

In late 2023, a development company backed by the Oman Investment Authority restarted the Grand Blue City project, awarding another contract to build the first phase. Back in 2006, the total cost of the new city had been estimated at $20 billion (£16bn). This is now thought to be closer to $37.5 billion (£31bn).

As with many cities on this list, the congestion and pollution of Seoul spurred the planning of a new city back in the 1980s. A public-private partnership launched the project in 2003, creating a masterplan that would take advantage of every advancement in digitalisation through collaboration with tech firms.

Boasting cutting-edge sustainability and smart city technology, this idyllic suburb wouldn’t just rival Seoul; the developers aimed to create a global economic hub for the entire region. At the 2004 groundbreaking, pictured, it was announced Songdo would be built over 10 years at a cost of $20 billion (£16bn).

The results are mixed. Songdo boasts a laundry list of high-tech city planning amenities, such as streets lined with sensors to measure traffic flow and automated waste tubes that sort recycling from rubbish. There’s ample green space, too.

However, residents have reported that life in the city is “cold” and “deserted” even though 210,000 people live there. And the big businesses envisioned for filling offices and commercial spaces in the mixed-use development haven’t yet materialised.

Construction is expected to finish in 2025, and total costs are likely to reach $50 billion (£41bn).

Egypt is also building a new capital in an extensive megaproject launched by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s government in 2015. Located about 30 miles (45km) away from the current capital Cairo, the project aims to alleviate issues of congestion and overpopulation in the city of approximately 22 million people.

Government offices will move to the New Administrative Capital, and officials hope to attract international banks and businesses to a new financial district, boosting trade across the continent.

Construction broke ground in 2016 and is well underway on the megaproject, which is estimated to cost $59 billion (£48bn) by the time it's completed.

In 2024, developers confirmed that phase one of four was almost complete. As many as 1,500 families already live in the city, and 48,000 government employees work there, although many are believed to commute from Cairo.

Phase two had been forecast to start in 2025, but severe money problems are throwing that into question.

There’s a similar tale to be told of Malaysia’s Forest City with an even more dire ending. Country Garden, China’s biggest developer, launched the project in 2016 as part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This, too, would be a smart city with sustainability at its core, even relegating vehicle traffic to underground streets.

Advertised as a “quiet, safe and relaxing island to live”, Country Garden expected one million people to eventually call the city home, and the price tag was set at a cool $100 billion (£82bn).

But problems started immediately and then snowballed. The Malaysian government criticised the project for being a “city built for foreigners” as properties outpriced locals and attracted members of China’s middle class looking for second homes. Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck, meaning travellers couldn't come. In 2021, fearing excessive borrowing on the part of developers, the Chinese government started to limit lending and denounced property speculation.

According to the latest reports, only 15% of the city has been constructed, and around 1% is occupied. Put off by vacant apartments and empty commercial spaces, the few people who do live there have opted for a new name, 'Ghost City'. Country Garden reportedly carries $200 billion (£164bn) of debt from the unfinished city.

Just north of the capital Jeddah, King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC, pronounced like the dessert) had grand prospects of becoming one of the country’s economic hubs, thanks to its new port facility and a station on the Haramain high-speed rail line. All of this would be accompanied by manufacturing facilities to make use of the logistical offerings connecting the region, creating one million jobs.

The company behind the project also planned to attract younger Saudis to live in the city by designing it to embrace a modern lifestyle, similar to the cities they experienced while studying abroad.

Groundbreaking took place in 2005, with the city projected to have a population of two million and an estimated construction cost of $100 billion (£82bn). However, 20 years later, just 10,000 people live in KAEC. Slow construction is largely to blame for the city’s woes, with only 25% of the development reportedly completed. This has had a knock-on effect, making real estate prices too high to compete with Jeddah and providing too few properties to allow the significant creation of businesses and jobs.

This has all been compounded by a shortage of funding. The privately-held city trades on the Saudi stock market and isn’t necessarily viewed as financially sustainable. Meanwhile, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has turned his attention and money to other projects…

Announced in 2017 and expected to cost $1.5 trillion (£1.2tn), the Saudi Prince’s latest pet project is a series of megacities called Neom. A major component of this is The Line (pictured), a mirrored city that would be home to a projected population of nine million people.

Residents would live in two skyscrapers each measuring 1,640 feet tall (500m), 656 feet wide (200m) and 106 miles (170km) long. The roadless city would be pollution-free, offering residents everything they need within a five-minute walk, with a high-speed rail connecting one end of The Line to the other in just 20 minutes.

Criticism of the megaproject has come from all angles. Concerns have been raised that climate change will make the region too hot to be habitable, that the single rail connection is vulnerable to security threats and that the technology envisioned for the city’s operations doesn’t yet exist.

Mathematicians in Austria ran the numbers and revealed that the linear concept would be inefficient, suggesting a circular design instead. The New York Times reported that The Line, despite its supposed 'small footprint', would displace a tribal community already living in its place.

Though seemingly unfathomable outside of a sci-fi novel, construction has started on the unconventional megacity. However, it’s already been significantly scaled down, with the 106-mile length reduced to just 1.5 miles (2.4km), and the population projections down to just 300,000 residents.

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