Confounding the sceptics, a $35bn city is finally rising from the mud on reclaimed land off the west coast of South Korea after years of being mocked as a fantastical pipe-dream.
But while Songdo city’s developers claim it could become north-east Asia’s trade hub when it is completed in 2014, they warn that much depends on how long the credit crunch lasts and on “Fortress Korea” cutting much of its notorious red tape.
