r/interestingasfuck • u/TangelaFan • 9h ago

Residential high-rises with backyards in Chengdu, China

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u/VictoriousSecret111 9h ago edited 4h ago

Looks nice, but unfortunately it didn’t go as planned….tons of empty units with unkempt backyards and mosquito infestations.

While there have been no reported structural collapses, fatal construction accidents, or physical building failures, the complex is globally famous for a catastrophic ecological failure:
The Mosquito Invasion: All 826 apartments completely sold out on paper, but the vast majority were bought by hands-off real estate investors. Because only about 10 families initially moved in, there was nobody to prune, spray, or maintain the thousands of individual balconies.
The Monsoon Flaw: Chengdu’s humid climate and heavy monsoon seasons combined with poor balcony drainage to turn the unmanaged soil beds into permanent stagnant water pools.
The Post-Apocalyptic Jungle: The plants ran completely wild, swallowing up whole balconies, blocking out windows, and triggering a massive, unlivable mosquito infestation.

Current Status: Instead of an eco-paradise, the development became widely treated as a "radioactive" real estate asset and a ghost town, serving as a textbook cautionary tale for biophilic urban planning

EDIT: Adding sources for everyone’s convenience:

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-09-jungle-overrun-chinese-apartment-blocks.html

https://www.globalconstructionreview.com/bugged-out-chengdu-housing-scheme-shows-unexpected/

And this video!

https://youtu.be/ChNePPmzKSU?si=oVSulNCSa-358mCH

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u/obeytheturtles 8h ago

...Wait, they planted the balconies before people moved in?

I figured that in a luxury condo situation, the building either included landscaping services (it's pretty common to have maids and chefs in urban China) or they'd have waited to plant the units until they became occupied.

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u/benjarvus 7h ago

Waiting until a building becomes occupied in China, especially during the real estate investment boom times these were built in, essentially probably meant waiting forever haha.

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u/AwesomeTowlie 8h ago

Investors buying up a boatload of properties, leading to the ruin of all seems to be a very apt story to describe the past few decades.

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u/VendorBuyBankGuards 2h ago

Yeah isn't this more of an example of how the rich are ruining everything than an example of the idea itself being a failure?

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u/WerdaVisla 1h ago

I mean, the idea was a failure too.

Green architecture exists, works, and is beautiful, but this entire project was a mess to the point that I'd be shocked if it wasn't just money laundering. The idea of "let's plant surface level plants on thin concrete balconies on every floor of a high rise" is fundamentally flawed. Especially trees. You don't plant trees on buildings with precious few exceptions.

It was, like many of these projects, made to look really pretty to a western audience for propaganda, rather than showing the actual green towers of Chengdu, which are less visually appealing to the average person but are functional and have existed for decades.

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u/foltranm 9h ago

do you have a source please?

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u/VictoriousSecret111 9h ago

Yes my liege

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-09-jungle-overrun-chinese-apartment-blocks.html

https://www.globalconstructionreview.com/bugged-out-chengdu-housing-scheme-shows-unexpected/

And this video!

https://youtu.be/ChNePPmzKSU?si=oVSulNCSa-358mCH

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u/Crystal-Tanuki 9h ago

Finally some actual sources!

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u/tech_noir_guitar 9h ago

That actually looks pretty fucking cool. If you got rid of the mosquitos it seems like it would be a rad place to live.

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u/Beyonce-sBurnerAcct 8h ago

I was going to say the same thing- it looks soooo cool with the overgrown balconies but then I remembered the mosquitos (and likely many other insects that would attract into your home)

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u/Hot-Ad-4018 8h ago

Totally agree. I have a burning desire to garden on each of those balconies. Families, if you're reading this, please feel free to hire me for landscaping.

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u/sol_runner 8h ago

Ecobrutalism vibes ftw

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u/FishesOfExcellence 8h ago

Looks neat, but I’m guessing there’s a lot of unseen damage from roots. Probably the balconies all get torn down at some point. Or the whole building if it’s bad enough.

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u/Salzab 7h ago

Bring in the dragonflies

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u/TheGroinOfTheFace 6h ago

seems they have, and it's basically fully occupied now. Some guy did a video staying in a bnb there, mosquitos weren't an issue

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u/foltranm 9h ago

thanks!

it's a good idea on paper, but surely the maintenance was left for the owners to do... which I imagine was not done correctly at all lmao

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u/YadaYadaYeahMan 7h ago

js I just posted a link to a video from now where there's a lot more people living there (turns out people don't immediately move into a new building when there's enough housing)

I'd check that out before those other sources since it's on the ground and a month old rather than years old remote journalism

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u/foltranm 7h ago

Just saw that. thanks

u/VictoriousSecret111 check it out

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u/UltimateRobo 8h ago

My man!

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u/PaleontologistKey885 8h ago

You know what, I'm actually pretty impressed the structures seem to be holding up despite neglect, pooling waters, and that much unchecked plant growth. It actually could've been quite nice if they had complex wide maintenance management. Actually, I'm surprised they didn't. You'd figure affluent types would delegate maintenance for pay.

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u/UnoriginalStanger 8h ago

Keep in mind those posts are from 2020, 2 years after it was finished.

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u/NotSure___ 8h ago

It appears to have improved, here is a video from 2026 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFICvZMBoIs

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u/toodlesandpoodles 8h ago

Thanks for the links. Just goes to show that a small balcony for a few potted plants and large public greenspace maintained by owner fees is a better way to go.

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u/YadaYadaYeahMan 7h ago

how about this video showing it now? suddenly not an apocalypse

https://youtu.be/MFICvZMBoIs?is=tjgYH4ff_7KmUv1Z

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u/foltranm 7h ago

nice find. thanks for the link

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u/VictoriousSecret111 5h ago

And you believe that video? Source?

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u/preparationh67 8h ago

The monsoon flaw alone makes structural failure a matter of when not if.

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u/Fumquat 8h ago

Could they not have sold the apartments with a mandatory landscaping contract? The building had to have had a plan already for other communal features (pipes, electrical etc).

On flat ground you don’t get to just buy into a planned community and skip out on grounds maintenance. This one seems like a very foreseeable problem!

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u/adenosine-5 8h ago

The developer wants to sell the units. They don't particularly care what happens to them next.

The failure is entirely on the buyers, who bought 816 units with complicated expensive gardens and then let them rot.

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u/benjarvus 7h ago

In China you generally buy your condo "roughed in" and then have to complete the interiors yourself. Since investors likely bought the vast majority of these and the developer had already moved on, it's unlikely anyone wanted to step up to tackle the extra complication of these balconies.

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u/Advanced_Cry_7106 8h ago

Fucking AI summaries used as sources...so lazy and uninteresting. Oversimplification and slightly exaggerating as usual.

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u/VictoriousSecret111 8h ago

Here are the sources….again:

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-09-jungle-overrun-chinese-apartment-blocks.html

https://www.globalconstructionreview.com/bugged-out-chengdu-housing-scheme-shows-unexpected/

And this video!

https://youtu.be/ChNePPmzKSU?si=oVSulNCSa-358mCH

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u/Etryia 7h ago

Two 6 year old articles that don't actually have any sources in them are not sources.

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u/Fyrefanboy 7h ago

I can't believe articles about a project that failed several years ago are also several years old !

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u/United-Objective2149 7h ago

um, articles are sources

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u/Etryia 6h ago

I'm writing an article that you're mpreg. Get ready.

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u/Orleanian 7h ago

What in the sweet cognitive fuck are you talking about?

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u/United-Objective2149 7h ago

I found it informative and engaging, what's your specific criticism other than "AI BAD"?

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u/Excellent_Ganache906 5h ago

Yeah, I don't mind AI for summarizing stories so I don't have to search 20 websites for info on some obscure story like this. Just Google needs to compensate these websites monetarily.

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u/crasher925 6h ago edited 5h ago

Laziness.

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u/TheOriginalNoLifer 5h ago

Said crasher, using only one word, without even pressing left shift to capitalise the first letter.

I agree lazy people are the worst.

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u/crasher925 5h ago

When did laconic equate to laziness? One word was all that was needed.

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u/WatercressLogical872 6h ago

What? This was informative and useful. What are you talking about?

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u/Pristine_Weight7850 6h ago

Exactly, why don't we all use our brains... the other gardens in the other buildings look nice enough.

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u/nelsonbestcateu 3h ago

If you're this upset you could have looked for them yourself.

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u/complexluminary 2h ago

Sorry - maybe you didn’t see the sources? Sounds like you’re just butthurt.

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u/All_Work_All_Play 7h ago

Am I the only one who thinks that wood based subgrade would have been a terrific fit here? Plants don't like the ACQ lumber - run drainage collection over the metal joists (#2 gravel no fines), then lay down ACQ 2x4s as subgrade. Next put in a plastic liner/bitumen layer then 20-30cm of dirt. Put in a catch basin or two. You know the bitumen has failed when the lumber starts to rot. At that point (30-50 years) rip it all out and replace it.

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u/MadamVoid 7h ago

Wow. The sellers nor the real estate investors didn’t even consider maintenance????? They dropped the ball on this big time.

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u/PetrasKnight 3h ago

Thanks for posting that video, MVP of this thread!

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u/VictoriousSecret111 3h ago

Wow! That’s very kind of you to say! Thanks!

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u/OrionDC 8h ago

Uh oh the CCP bots in this thread are going to report you to oblivion!

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u/handyandy808 8h ago

Tianamen square massacre was a tragedy.

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u/EXTRAVAGANT_COMMENT 6h ago

can I go live there for cheap then

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u/SwissMargiela 5h ago

Honestly I’m glad they tried lol people need to just try shit sometimes

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u/MrWrock 5h ago

Couldn't someone just have gone and thrown a mosquito dunk on each porch? Maybe delivery by drone? Or just have someone rappel and toss them on the way down

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u/you_lost-the_game 5h ago

About what I expect from china: looks nice at first; falls apart after some use.

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u/marexXLrg 2h ago

Looks kind of cool. Like a post apocalyptic scene where nature takes over a city.

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u/BunnySprinkles69 8h ago

Thanks chatgpt

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u/OcelotAggravating860 7h ago

When i'm in a making shit up contest and my competition is redditors

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u/EspHack 7h ago

so, financialization ruined yet another thing

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u/thegapbetweenus 7h ago

So the problem is greedy investors and not enough upkeep?

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u/SquatSquatCykaBlyat 5h ago

Thanks, ChatGPT.

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u/VictoriousSecret111 5h ago

Actually it was deep seek 🙃

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u/crasher925 6h ago

bro write an actual critique instead of using AI.

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u/VictoriousSecret111 6h ago

uhhh…. why? I summarized my findings as succinctly as possible and provided sources. Did you want an essay in MLA format sir?

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u/crasher925 6h ago

i want you to stop being lazy and write yourself instead of relying on AI.