Cities In A Box in 6 Months

Selling a city isn't dissimilar to selling any high-concept product: "First, you have to dissect your partner group: who are we speaking to and what do we need to say to them?" said Tom Murcott, Songdo's chief marketing officer and a former Grey Advertising executive. In this case, the constituents are a skeptical Korean government, Seoul residents tired of living in soulless apartment blocks, and Chinese mayors on the prowl for prestige projects.

On Songdo's opening day in 2009, Mr. Gale announced his intentions to build as many as 20 sequels. The first was slated for Changsha, another of China's tier-two cities, but Gale couldn't come to terms on the deal. His local partners went ahead anyway, based on the master plan KPF had prepared.

"We delivered in six months what took seven years in Songdo," said Mr. Murcott. "We know it can be done, and we know it's replicable."