LAS VEGAS

Las Vegas represents a continuing collective attempt to create a city as a unique work of art. As a 1940s frontier town in the middle of an otherwise empty desert but near the construction site that became the Hoover Dam, Las Vegas initially benefited from the absence of laws forbiding gambling. When enterpreneurs decided to build hotels initially for southern Californians on a holiday, it began to assume its current identity. After a dormant period, consruction increased rapidly in the 1990s...