I'm not a city planner, and this is just my fantasy, so... ? I think this is part of building to a larger initial scale and using partnerships to bootstrap the

I'm not a city planner, and this is just my fantasy, so... ? I think this is part of building to a larger initial scale and using partnerships to bootstrap the city. If you think about what features a thriving major city has, and which of those might be seeds to populations, things like universities and community colleges, large corporate campuses (if those ever matter again), and transportation/logistics hubs could be very good draws. Plus you'll need housing for the construction workers, food and services for them, etc. I would imagine that in the unlikely future of something like this happening, there would be major investors from philanthropists, corporations, that would help start the seed institutions as well. It's been a while since a billionaire started a new prestigious university with their name on it. Maybe Bezos, Buffett, or Page is game. Maybe Google or Amazon wants a new campus that's designed for a partial work-from-home employees and near suitable WFH housing with easy transportation to campus? One thing to keep in mind is that the centrally-planned Chinese cities that were criticized as ghost towns are now populated. Housing is expensive, and if there's a place with available housing, it'll likely be filled.