The project - Scalable Cities - is a work in progress which has been developing under the singular title - The Scalable City. The full, Scalable Cities project will be a persistent, multi-user virtual world, accessible via downloadable clients as well as through visualization portals exhibited at public venues such as museums, galleries and conferences. To understand the goals of the Scalable Cities, it is important to understand how the Scalable City has developed the conceptual, aesthetic and technical base - all of which are extended in the full "cities" version.