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With a population that's grown from 2.5 million to 20 million since 1950, Cairo is among the most congested cities in the world, and its inefficiency costs Egypt 4% of its GDP every year. The bold solution - to build an all new administrative and residential capital, totally from scratch, 45km away from Cairo in a place where before there was only desert.

Jonathan Glancey travels from Old Cairo to this new and as yet unnamed metropolis, touring the enormous ghost town as it springs into life.

The numbers are impressive. The so-called Sisi’s City will cover 270 square kilometres - the same size as Singapore island, house 6.5 million inhabitants, boast a 10km green area larger than New York’s Central Park. The new city will house all of the Egyptian governments 34 ministries, as well as the stock exchange and central bank.

While other cities have risen out of the desert, the likes of Las Vegas and Doha still did so somewhat organically. Here we have an entirely pre-planned city. But can such a project possibly predict and satisfy the needs of its inhabitants? Will the Egyptians have learned the lessons of the past 100 years of urbanism and be able to build a truly functioning city from scratch?

Presented by Jonthan Glancey
Produced by Dom Byrne
A Just Radio production for Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 4