Total potential value: £1,957,087,618

Located in Chenzhuang Village, 20 miles outside of Beijing is Wonderland Amusement Park. The 120-acre plot was designed to be the largest amusement park in Asia and took inspiration from the already popular Disneyland theme parks.

In 1998, following financial difficulties the project was abandoned, leaving half-built structures including a Cinderella style castle and other medieval-themed buildings.

Local farmers quickly reclaimed the land for themselves, growing various crops and allowing their livestock to roam freely amongst the decaying buildings.

The structures were finally demolished fifteen years later in May 2013 and after numerous planning permission applicants, construction of a luxury shopping outlet was approved for one third of the land, with work completed in 2015. However, with no other approved plans, the other 80 acres remains untouched.

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Total potential value: £1,052,658,866

Opening in 1969, Spreepark (formally known as Kulturpark Plänterwald) was the first of its kind in the East and West of Berlin.

Attracting over 1.5 million visitors annually, the amusement park went through many changes over the years, slowly turning into a more Western-style theme park with rollercoasters, water courses and an English village. The Ferris wheel however remained the star attraction, with an upgraded version unveiled for the 40th anniversary of the socialist republic.

In 2002, due to growing debts and declining visitor numbers the park closed for good. Whilst a number of the attractions were shipped to Peru, many remained, including the Ferris wheel.

Guided tours were offered to the public for three years from 2011, before the city of Berlin bought the land in 2014 and stopped all tours. In August 2014, major parts of the park were destroyed in a fire, with indications suggesting it may have been deliberately set.

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Total potential value: £367,352,524

North Brother, along with its sister island ‘South Brother’, are a pair of small islands located in New York City’s East River, south of the mainland Bronx.

Claimed in the 1600s by Dutch explorer Adriaen Block, North Brother Island remained uninhabited until 1885 when Riverside Hospital moved there.

The quarantine hospital was founded to treat and isolate victims of diseases such as smallpox and tuberculosis. Mary Mallon, otherwise known as Typhoid Mary, was confined to the island for over two decades until she died there in 1938, with the hospital closing shortly after.

Over the years there have been multiple discussions on what to do with the island, including selling it, converting it into housing for the homeless and extending the Rikers Island jail. Now an accidental bird sanctuary, the island is off limits to the public, with the latest suggestion of transforming the area into a park seemingly also abandoned.

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Total potential value: £335,766,769

A small island located between Venice and Lido, known to the locals as an ‘island of ghosts’, Poveglia was originally used as a check point for all goods and people coming to and from Venice by boat.

However. when the first bubonic plague hit Venice in the 14th century officials set up large burial pits for corpses outside of the main city, including one on the island.

For centuries to follow Poveglia continued to house thousands of people infected with the disease, with boats often required to ship the bodies across to the island. Local authorities were forced to incinerate thousands of bodies to prevent further spread of the disease. During an excavation on the island, more than 1,500 skeletons were discovered buried in the ground.

The 20th century saw the island’s existing buildings converted into an asylum for the mentally ill, where legends suggest one of the doctors conducted experiments on his patients. The island was eventually abandoned and shut off in 1968 when the hospital closed.

Aiming to raise funds, the Italian state auctioned a 99-year lease for the island in 2014. Hoping that the buyer would redevelop the hospital into a luxury hotel, the highest bid was eventually rejected due to the plans not meeting the conditions set.

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Total potential value: £274,744,000

Located 9 miles off the coast of the city Nagasaki in southern Japan, the island known for its undersea coal mines, has stood abandoned since 1974.

The coal mines, first discovered in 1810, saw the island inhabited from the 1890s for over 50 years, with around 15.7 million tons of coal excavated during that time.

In 1916, Japan’s first large reinforced concrete building was built to house the rapidly growing numbers of workers. Following the Second World War and the end of forced labour on the island, Hashima became a company town of sorts, with schools, a cinema and bars built.

Following the introduction of petroleum, coal mines across the country began to shut, including Hashima. The mine officially closed in early 1974, with residents cleared off the island a couple of months later.

Since abandonment the island has continued to attract interest worldwide, with multiple television programmes and movies shot there, including James Bond Skyfall in 2012.

In 2004, it was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List and in 2009 the island re-opened to the public, with sightseeing boat trips now offered from multiple operators.

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Total potential value: £250,163,258

The now ghost town, located in the Namib, southern Namibia, was founded in 1908 when a nearby worker discovered a diamond and German miners quickly settled.

By 1912 the town of Kolmanskop was founded, built in a German architectural style. The town’s amenities included a hospital, ballroom, power station, school and the first tram in Africa, with a railway link to Lüderitz.

In its heyday, the site was producing a million carats a year - equivalent to 11.7 per cent of the world’s total diamond production.

By the early 50s the town was in decline, due to the depleting diamond-field and by 1956 the town was completely abandoned.

Kolmanskop is now popular with photographers who travel from worldwide to photograph the sand covered Edwardian town.

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