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MVSEVM · THE CITY
SPECIAL EXHIBITIONShips of the Atlantic World 1550-1750NOW SHOWING
Closes August 31
SPECIAL EXHIBITIONShips of the Atlantic World 1550-1750NOW SHOWING
Closes August 31
URBANICITY PRESENTS

The City

How cities became cities — from the first crossroads to the skyline

◆ 51 GALLERIES  ·  220 WORKS  ·  MEMBERS ENTER FREE
★ ON VIEW TODAY

The Cargo Apron at Night

Freighters nose-open under floodlight - the airfield as the new port city.

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Plan your route

A lobby map that remembers where you’ve been and what you still want to see.

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Ask the curator

A curator stands in every room to answer your questions, in voice or text.

The Jefferson Room

The spiral of technology — no beginning and no end.

The Galleries

eleven revolutions and the Jefferson Room — how the world of 1725 became the world of 2025
GALLERY ∞
The City Model
The central gallery. The entire city in model - every wing of the museum opens onto it, and it opens onto the…
6 worksEnter →
GALLERY I
The World Timeline
Origin story of cities — the chronological spine from first crossroads settlements to the modern metropolis (…
6 worksEnter →
GALLERY II
American Cities
Case studies in the American urban experiment — form, housing, mobility, economics, crime (cities.* contrast …
10 worksEnter →
GALLERY III
The Modern World City
A world gallery of contemporary cities and their trajectories.
6 worksEnter →
GALLERY IV
The Classroom
A teaching space devoted to the museum at first; convertible later.
7 worksEnter →
GALLERY V
The Walking City
Hall twin of site.ssm_halls the-walking-city - the claim on the wall is the hall claim, verbatim.
6 worksEnter →
GALLERY VI
The Port City
Hall twin of site.ssm_halls the-port-city - the claim on the wall is the hall claim, verbatim.
6 worksEnter →
GALLERY VII
Coal and the Clock
Hall twin of site.ssm_halls coal-and-clock - the claim on the wall is the hall claim, verbatim.
6 worksEnter →
GALLERY VIII
Why Buildings Rise
Hall twin of site.ssm_halls why-buildings-rise - the claim on the wall is the hall claim, verbatim.
6 worksEnter →
GALLERY IX
Going Up
Hall twin of site.ssm_halls going-up - the claim on the wall is the hall claim, verbatim.
6 worksEnter →
GALLERY X
The Tenement and the Terrace
Hall twin of site.ssm_halls tenement-and-terrace - the claim on the wall is the hall claim, verbatim.
6 worksEnter →
GALLERY XI
The Company Town
Hall twin of site.ssm_halls the-company-town - the claim on the wall is the hall claim, verbatim.
6 worksEnter →
GALLERY XII
The Machine and the Ward
Hall twin of site.ssm_halls the-machine-and-the-ward - the claim on the wall is the hall claim, verbatim.
6 worksEnter →
GALLERY XIII
The Cooled Room
Hall twin of site.ssm_halls the-cooled-room - the claim on the wall is the hall claim, verbatim.
6 worksEnter →
GALLERY XIV
The Sunbelt Bargain
Hall twin of site.ssm_halls the-sunbelt-bargain - the claim on the wall is the hall claim, verbatim.
6 worksEnter →
GALLERY XV
The Return Downtown
Hall twin of site.ssm_halls the-return-downtown - the claim on the wall is the hall claim, verbatim.
6 worksEnter →
GALLERY XVI
The Tower Again
Hall twin of site.ssm_halls the-tower-again - the claim on the wall is the hall claim, verbatim.
6 worksEnter →
GALLERY XVII
The New Mills
Hall twin of site.ssm_halls the-new-mills - the claim on the wall is the hall claim, verbatim.
6 worksEnter →
GALLERY XVIII
The Moving City
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GALLERY XIX
The Precinct and the Patrol
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GALLERY XX
The Ward and the Ambulance
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GALLERY XXI
The Schoolhouse
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GALLERY XXII
The Commons and the Canopy
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GALLERY XXIII
The Crossroads
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GALLERY XXIV
The Airfield
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GALLERY XXV
The Alley and the Margin
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GALLERY XXVI
Rails and the River
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GALLERY XXVII
Metropolis and Hinterland
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GALLERY XXVIII
The Horse and the Motor
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GALLERY XXIX
The Aqueduct and the Larder
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GALLERY XXX
The Lights and the Arena
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GALLERY XXXI
The Crowded Floor
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GALLERY XXXII
The Edge and the Gradient
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GALLERY XXXIII
The City Profiles
Seventeen cities read as evidence rather than as places: population, density, housing, mobility, economy. Eac…
17 worksEnter →
GALLERY
The City in Focus — The Decade Panels
Exhibit-walk points: trending city per decade, Most Important Building, company, job, team, citizens; click-t…
0 worksEnter →
GALLERY
The Earliest Cities
COMMISSION #7955: Mohenjo-Daro, Jericho and the first-cities story.
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GALLERY
Ancient Babylon
COMMISSION #7955: scale model with the Hanging Gardens.
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GALLERY
Damascus, Cut in Half
COMMISSION #7955: the time-comparison table — Paul-era Damascus beside the present city.
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GALLERY
The Seven Hills of Rome
COMMISSION #7955: the hills and the Forum.
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GALLERY
Alexandria and the Ports
COMMISSION #7955: the ancient seaport compared with LA, New York and Baltimore in dioramas.
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GALLERY
The Federal Triangle 3-D
COMMISSION #7955: White House to Congress as a 3-D webpage — federal buildings gleaming white, the modern cit…
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GALLERY
Texas in the City
COMMISSION #7955-I: the Texas cities networked in relief; the rest of the state deliberately blank.
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GALLERY
The River Room
COMMISSION #7955-I: the Mississippi past Vicksburg through New Orleans to the Gulf; derricks and refineries o…
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GALLERY
Chicagoland
COMMISSION #7955-II: Chicago-Milwaukee-Northern Illinois as one contiguous system.
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GALLERY
The Megalopolis
COMMISSION #7955-II: the northeast corridor, Boston to Richmond, in one diorama.
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GALLERY
The Pacific Northwest
COMMISSION #7955-II: Seattle, Vancouver and the islands of the Salish Sea.
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GALLERY
France, with Large Paris
COMMISSION #7955-II: the primate city against the country.
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GALLERY
Great Britain Map Room
COMMISSION #7955-II: the industrial cities and London, a giant diorama.
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GALLERY
The Asia Gallery
COMMISSION #7955-III: the sixty-foot map — China, the Koreas, Japan, the South China Sea. The world needs to …
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GALLERY
The Great Desert
COMMISSION #7955-IV: Himalaya to Nile — Tibet, the Caspian lands, Iran, Iraq, the cradle, Mecca, Cairo, the L…
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GALLERY
Africa, and the Projection Room
COMMISSION #7955-IV: the continent marked NEW — biomes, peoples, emerging cities; Peters vs Mercator vs Robin…
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A membership museum — no ads, no feed

Urbanicity is a place to think, not a place to be sold to. Your visit is yours: we remember your route only to draw your own map.

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