Model Cities Look Great, But I Couldn't Live There

"Biggest Little Cities: Models for Urban Planning"
Wired (February 29, 2009)

"Michael Chesko is no architect. He's not a structural engineer or an urban planner either. But he just spent more than 2,000 hours constructing this highly detailed, nearly perfect scale model of midtown Manhattan. Chesko cut, sanded, and glued the mini metropolis—now on exhibit at the New York Skyscraper Museum—using only an X-Acto knife, a nail file, and a Dremel (and lots of balsa wood). But the 50-year-old software engineer was having fun; he's been building little cities since he was a kid.

"Model cities aren't just for show; they can have real utility. In 1957...."

There's a video (3:51), which may or may not load in your lifetime, and fifteen photos of model cities. As the article says, they're not just for show. Some are used for engineering studies. City planning is another use.

Cool photos, a video that still hasn't loaded, and background on scale models of cities: this is a pretty good resource.

That video still hasn't loaded: but the little 3/4 circle icon spins around very smoothly.