Egypt built a brand new administrative capital city in the desert entirely from scratch because Cairo became too congested, polluted, and chaotically overcrowded to function properly.

A closer look

Egypt built a brand new administrative capital city in the desert entirely from scratch because Cairo became too congested, polluted, and chaotically overcrowded to function properly. Rather than fixing the existing infrastructure of an ancient, historically vital metropolis, the government simply threw billions of dollars at the sand to build a hyper-modern oasis exclusively for bureaucrats, complete with Africa's tallest skyscraper and massive artificial lakes. It is the architectural equivalent of moving out of your messy apartment because you refuse to wash the dishes, leaving the poor citizens behind while the political elite relocate to a sterilized, dystopian smart city