The project leans heavily on diaspora fantasy rather than everyday Senegalese experience, revealing a gap between imagined futures and the lived realities of those on the ground.

Yet the ambition is so vast and the timeline so extended that it raises familiar questions: who benefits first, and who may be left waiting outside its gates? A national future built from the ground up, but still relying on the conditions beyond it to make good on its promise.

For some, it's a model of safety and good urban planning; for others, it's a walled-off world for the wealthy that reinforces exactly what Guatemala is trying to overcome. A utopia that only exists because of everything outside of it.

Positioned at the base of Mount Fuji, it's less about showy futurism and more about experimenting with a new model of everyday life where innovation is constantly being tested, adjusted, and woven into human routines. A city designed to prototype the future in real time.

It promises streamlined logistics and modern faculties, but also raises concerns about creating an enclave that thrives while the rest of the urban economy struggles to keep up. A new industrial future, but not one where everyone gets to come along.

The whole tech + nature pitch feels very on-trend, but when these future cities are placed right next to brand new airports, it's hard not to read them as part of the push to move people out of major metros and into state-planned satellite hubs. #newcities

The vision remixes tropical lifestyle perks with tax incentives and shiny new architecture, but the reality includes shaky infrastructure, talent shortages, and tough competition from established African tech hubs. A bold economic pivot with high hopes and very real hurdles. #newcities

The fact that they elected a SpaceX exec as mayor and the city still has to coordinate beach and road closures for launches makes the whole governance setup feel more like an extension of the company than an actual municipality. #newcities

The whole pitch hinges on becoming an "innovation hub," but when Alatau City is actively courting Korean firms and importing the whole K-Park model, it makes me wonder if the city is being built for local innovation or just to host outside tech players who already have the capacity. #newcities

With yacht marinas, commercial districts, green corridors, and tax incentives to draw in global capital, it's a bet that urban mega-projects can reshape an entire region's economic future. A city designed not just to be lived in, but to compete on the world stage.

It's framed not just as a modern development, but as a "virtuous city" grounded in values like compassion and sustainability. A practical housing solution wrapped in a bigger vision of how people should live together.

A futuristic dream turned cautionary tale about what happens when hype, finance, and urban planning fall out of sync, leaving a city waiting for residents who never came. It shows how even the most spectacular visions can stall when the foundations aren't there to hold them up.

It's luxury, spectacle, and engineering ambition all rolled into one, funded partly through NFTs and bold imagination. What if "travelling" eventually meant just living on a moving city at sea?

It blends urban life with a functioning ecosystem, treating the city and nature as one interconnected organism. What if cities actually prioritized the planet instead of just talking about it?

Wild how a project once pitched as the "New York of Africa" ended up shifting into just another suburban development. When the funding dried up and COAMC pulled back, the smart city vision basically dissolved, leaving those empty roads as a reminder of how fragile these grand plans really are.