Scholars Mind

Projects That Never Finish

As returning scholars might remember, some big projects take much too long to finish—high speed rail in California, the Haunted Chocolatier, these outlines. Some never get there at all. Explore the following examples of projects that weren’t finished on time, then discuss with your team: What factors, if any, did these delays have in common? How would you have overcome them? And are there projects out there in the world today that you predict will suffer a similar fate?

Barcelona's Sagrada Família has been under construction for 143 years. Asked about the pace, Gaudí shrugged: 'My client is not in a hurry.' Some projects simply never get there.

Key concepts

Scope Creep
When a project keeps growing beyond its original plan, pushing the finish line ever further — each added ambition is reasonable alone, but together they can make a project endless.
The Political Project
A megaproject tied to one leader's vision often stalls the moment that leader leaves — Indonesia's new capital, Nusantara, lost momentum almost overnight after a change of president.
Too Big to Abandon
When so much money and prestige are sunk that stopping feels impossible, a project limps on unfinished — a sunk-cost dynamic at monumental scale (though economists debate how often continuing is truly irrational versus a rational bet that finishing is still worth it).

Every work — at a glance

  • La Sagrada Família — Antoni Gaudí (building)

    A vast Gothic–Art Nouveau basilica in Barcelona, under construction since 1882 — the world's longest active building project, designed by Gaudí to take generations ('my client is not in a hurry').

  • Nusantara Capital City — Indonesia (megaproject)

    Indonesia's planned new capital in East Kalimantan — a 'green, digital' moonshot championed by President Jokowi, whose cranes fell idle after he left office and his successor lost interest.

  • Ryugyong Hotel — North Korea (building)

    A 105-story pyramid-shaped hotel in Pyongyang, begun in 1987 and left a hollow concrete shell for decades, earning the nickname 'Hotel of Doom'.

  • Wonderland Amusement Park — China (megaproject)

    A would-be theme park near Beijing, abandoned mid-construction, its half-built fairy-tale castle left rusting in farm fields for years before demolition.

  • Berlin Brandenburg Airport — Germany (megaproject)

    Germany's flagship airport, which opened roughly nine years late after fire-safety failures, planning blunders, and cost overruns — a notorious embarrassment for a country famed for efficiency.

  • Milan Cathedral — Italy (building)

    The Duomo of Milan, whose construction stretched across roughly six centuries before completion.

  • Crazy Horse Memorial — Korczak Ziolkowski (monument)

    A colossal mountain carving in South Dakota honoring the Lakota leader Crazy Horse, begun in 1948 and still unfinished over 70 years later — now controversial, as a non-Native family has profited from it.

What to know

  1. 01
    What did these delays have in common? Not bad luck but structure. The economist Bent Flyvbjerg found megaprojects almost always run over on two forces: optimism bias (planners genuinely underestimate difficulty) and strategic misrepresentation (they lowball costs to win approval). Add scope that keeps growing, funding gaps, and leaders who move on — and chronic delay becomes the predictable result of how big builds get sold. The Crazy Horse Memorial, begun in 1948 and still unfinished, is the pattern at its extreme.
  2. 02
    Unfinished isn't always failure — the Sagrada Família and Milan Cathedral were conceived as generational works where slowness is the point, so the examples split into cautionary disasters and patient masterpieces.

Across subjects

For most of history, a building outliving its builders was normal, not a scandal. Medieval cathedrals like Milan's Duomo took three to six centuries; the mason who laid the foundation knew he would never see the spire. The Sagrada Família is the last heir of that patience.

Theme connection

Every megaproject answers 'not yet' — for reasons from inspiring to tragic. Is never finishing a failure? One side points to Berlin's airport and the Crazy Horse controversy: billions wasted, trust broken. The other points to the Sagrada Família and Milan's Duomo, where a centuries-long build is itself the triumph. Telling one from the other is the skill.

Practice

Check what you've read

Pick the best answer — you'll see why each option is right or wrong.

Question 1 of 2

SOCA project that keeps expanding past its original plan is BEST described as suffering —

Question 2 of 2

SOCBerlin's airport, Indonesia's Nusantara, and the Ryugyong Hotel stalled for all of these reasons EXCEPT —