I watched a great documentary on Astana on a plane, just a few weeks ago. The president is one of these gets-what-he-wants types and pulled no punches in designing a new skyline. The picture of the top is the worlds biggest tent because the construction is mainly of air filled strips of plastic.
Some completely mental Turkish engineer and architect worked on it for 24 hours for almost 12 months to get it finished in time for something (presidents Birthday I think..) anyway. The surrounding temperatures in Astana, in the winter are around -40c so they decided to build a huge all-year-round resort inside it. Shopping mall, spa centre, hotels and another shit-load of entertaining shit.