The future of Timbuktu, Mali, as it fights against desertification

THIS PROJECT WILL OUTLINE THE FUTURE HISTORIES OF 10,000 REAL-WORLD CITIES AND TOWNS AS THEY FACE-UP TO LOOMING ECOLOGICAL CHALLENGES. THIS WEEK, WE FORECAST THE FUTURE OF XANADU, CHINA. Xanadu was the capital of the old Mongol empire. At its zenith in the thirteenth century, when Kublai Khan was emperor, it was home to at least one hundred thousand people, with maybe a million more traders, civil servants, and diplomats arriving and leaving over the course of the year. Xa