Shanghai Urban Planning and Exhibition Hall

The Shanghai Urban Planning Hall, despite its incredibly unexciting name, is a major achievement in urban planning and formidable tourist attraction in Shanghai.  It is located in the heart of the city; right off of the People's Square, next to the Shanghai Municipal Government Building.  It is also a hallmark of "the New China" taking shape; illustrating the progressive steps that the Chinese government is implementing to modernize their country.

I can say from experience that by far the most impressive attribute of this building is the fourth floor model room.  Continually being updated, it displays what the Shanghai skyline will look like in 2020.  The sheer scale of the model is enough to overwhelm someone.  Visitors can peer from the Oriental Pearl to all the way to the new 2010 Expo site and beyond.  All in all, this model takes up almost 600 square meters, allowing visitors to walk all around the city, and even see it form a bird's eye view on the floor above.  The building also highlights some of the new developments being green-lighted by the city, including environmental cleanup, and updated port and airport terminals (though to be honest, the ones now seemed pretty good to me).  

This is definitely a good way for any visitor to get a sense of the scale of the city as well as its major initiatives.

Source:      http://61.129.65.84/live/travel/destdetail.asp?id=29