[Reposted] Surprise Design for Expanded Brent Cross Shopping Centre (possibly so, but this isn't it)

Link to BBC web site

"The distinction of being the world's biggest ghost mall, or emptiest shopping centre, may belong to this vast complex on the outskirts of Dongguang, a city of 10 million.

"You may think the mall would be booming, with a population of that size, but the vast majority of its 1,500 stores have been empty since it was finished in 2005.

"It has been hurt by poor transport infrastructure. As one blogger puts it, 'unfortunately it was built in the middle of nowhere'. [Ah, Brent Cross's proposed 'Living Bridge', then!]

"When Australian broadcaster SBS visited, they found a solitary toyshop owner who waits days at a time to sell a toy. 

"It is not as though the developers did not try. They threw in a canal, windmills and replicas of the Campanile from St Mark's Square in Venice and the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The mall's website says it is 'bound to be a miracle of commercial history'.

"Netherlands-based blogger Mathilde Teuben, who visited two years ago, writes:

"It's a building where you can see that there was some activity earlier - though very little - but it's like a ghost town."

"The very few shops that are there are deserted of customers. It was also funny to see some of the promotional posters for the mall, which mostly depicted happy Caucasian children."