Aerial photos of abandoned developments show what happens when cities grow too fast

He hopes his research serves as a warning to urban planners and governments.

They imitate the renderings you might find in marketing literature for a new complex. "You get a gauzy sense of the scale and ambition of the project without any real sense of the actual detail or texture of the place," he said.

Marcinkoski has explored over 50 incomplete or unoccupied developments in Spain and other parts of the world. His book is packed with aerial images like this one.

"It is the story of a widespread subscription to urbanization activities as the ultimate panacea for a country's long-standing economic and social ills," he added.

But the government's population-growth and economic forecasts never materialized. "The story of Spain is not the story of a few greedy developers," Marcinkoski said.

Seven million homes were erected in Spain during the economic boom. Public venues and tourist centers also popped up to support the anticipated masses.

Between 1980 and 2009, Spain rose from a "peripheral European actor" to the ninth largest economy in the world, according to Marcinkoski. Things were looking up.

In his research, he identified a common thread among these abandoned, incomplete, or partially occupied developments. They usually spring from a financial crisis.

"Governments today see urbanization as a means to an end," Marcinkoski told Business Insider.

An airport in Ciudad Real, Spain, sat vacant just three years after it was constructed. It cost 400 million euros and served 10 million fewer passengers than expected.

Source: El Economista

While builders planned for 25,000 vehicles to traverse the AP-41 every day, in 2015 it received fewer than 700 cars daily. Sights like this are not uncommon.

Source: ABC Actualidad

The projects come in all shapes and sizes. Opened in 2006 and bankrupt by 2012, the Autopista AP-41 turnpike stretches from Madrid to Toledo, Spain.

But speculative urbanization is a dangerous instrument. Cities may throw multi-million dollars at infrastructure that will never be used.

Speculative urbanization is, essentially, the embodiment of the "build it, and they will come" mentality. You might think this suggests a forward-thinking approach to growth.