Hear ye, hear ye: yesterday Kenya embarked on the journey to create a full-fledged city from a whole lot of nothing. Construction has begun on Konza Technology City, the $14.4B—yes, billion with a 'B'—future IT hotspot plunked in the middle of the savannah, some 40 miles from the nation's capital city of Nairobi. The city, nicknamed "Africa's Silicon Savannah" is expected to "spur massive trade and investment as well as create thousands of employment opportunities for young Kenyans," says the nation's president Mwai Kibaki. By 2015, more that 20,000 IT jobs are expected to spring up from the project, and that number inflates to 200,000 by the projected completion date, 2030, numbers that don't include the bodies needed to operate the planned college campus, hotels, hospitals, and research facilities. It's excellent news, if it all works out, but between this undertaking, the two pop-up cities supposedly arising in China, and the myriad other bonkers proposals for manmade cities of the future, it seems at least one is bound to turn sour—but, hey, maybe let's stay optimistic for once? Maybe?
· Kenyan Silicon City Under Construction [Dezeen]
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