In 2020, Akon initiated plans for Akon City in Senegal, envisioning a solar-powered, advanced metropolis inspired by Wakanda. However, the project's lack of governance planning led to stalled funding and construction issues. The Senegalese government ultimately confirmed the project’s nonexistence. This oversight is common among ambitious urban planners. As celebrities and others create futuristic cities, they often neglect crucial governance details. Such omissions reveal a broader failure of imagination regarding local democracy and highlight issues within urban creation thought processes.
Akon's failure to plan for governance stalled funding and construction, creating questions he could never answer, leading to the Senegalese government confirming the project no longer exists.
With the world stuck, more celebrities, oligarchs, and governments are seeking to create futuristic, paradigm-shifting new cities that offer no new ideas and often no details about governance.
Some urban creators are authoritarians, believing they can dictate to future city residents, while others avoid difficult governance questions to focus on completing projects.
This fundamental failure to think about governance demonstrates a planetwide lack of imagination in local democracy and government.
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