Unfinished Ambitions

• Prize
  Bronze in Architecture/Others Architecture
• Photographer
  HUI ZHAO, China
• Date of Photograph
  2025/2026

China suffers the painful aftermath of its burst real estate bubble, with no clear end to the turmoil. The 2008 four-trillion-yuan stimulus fueled a housing boom, which collapsed amid deflation, economic slowdown and plummeting birth rates, leaving local governments in heavy debt and many projects in ruins. This drone-shot photo series documents these abandoned infrastructures, recording overdevelopment’s cost and prompting reflection on rational urban planning.