(Image: OxFCAF, cc-nc-sa-3.0)

In what could be the ultimate example of urban art, this incredible scale model of central Shanghai – set in 2020 – fills an entire room of over 100 square metres on the third floor of the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum. Neatorama rightly points out that the vast creation is probably the largest scale model in the world.

(Image: OxFCAF, cc-nc-sa-3.0)

It’s hardly surprising, since Shanghai boasts China’s most populated urban area. With over 25 million people living in a greater metropolitan area covering more than 2,400 square miles, any scale model was going to be a mammoth undertaking – especially one set almost a decade into the future.

(Image: Roitsch, cc-nc-sa-3.0)

Shanghai began as a humble fishing and textiles town that boomed during the nineteenth century due to its strategic port location. By 1930 the city was a financial centre, but the coming of communism in 1949 saw its international influence decline. That all changed over the past two decades, when Shanghai once again became a global city. Clearly, the city’s urban planners envision an even greater metropolis by 2020.

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