Spanish 'ghost towns' slowly come to life Concrete skeletons still haunt Spain, ten years after the 2008 global economic crisis caused a decade-long housing boom to go bust, bankrupting developers and leaving unfinished housing projects dotted across the country. But buoyed by Spain's economic recovery some of these "ciudades fantasma", or "ghost towns", are slowly coming to life, such as Valdeluz near Guadalajara, some 60 kilometres (40 miles) northeast of Madrid.