{
 "site": "dholera.blog",
 "url": "https://dholera.blog/essays/the-presale-city-trap/",
 "title": "The presale city trap: why new cities fail before they exist",
 "author": "Bhavik Sarkhedi",
 "date": "2026-08-03",
 "primary_query": "why new cities fail",
 "verdict": "Presale financing is the sharpest failure signal in the whole dataset: the four cases that sold the city before an economy existed score 0, 1, 1 and 2 on financing durability. Dholera scores 4, on statutory and sovereign money. That is a real structural difference, and it still does not buy the anchor. Dated 3 August 2026.",
 "sources": [
  {
   "label": "The Greenfield Index: the full interactive board",
   "url": "https://dholera.blog/index/"
  },
  {
   "label": "Sarkhedi (2026), Why Greenfield Cities Succeed or Fail, preprint, free download",
   "url": "https://dholera.blog/library/"
  },
  {
   "label": "NICDC DMU report, 30.06.2026",
   "url": "https://api.nicdc.in/upload/image/dmu-Report.pdf"
  },
  {
   "label": "Dholera SIR official: about",
   "url": "https://dholera.gujarat.gov.in/about_us"
  },
  {
   "label": "PIB: semi-high-speed rail approval",
   "url": "https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2260624"
  },
  {
   "label": "Tata Electronics newsroom",
   "url": "https://www.tataelectronics.com"
  },
  {
   "label": "GUJRERA portal",
   "url": "https://gujrera.gujarat.gov.in"
  }
 ],
 "license": "Quote freely with attribution and date."
}