As seen from above

Because of Madison's lack of urban hallmarks, America’s 82nd-largest city is underrepresented in popular culture. Nevertheless, many a local artist has tried to immortalize our town’s "skyline" like that of a bigger city. Decider took a look at a few artistic renderings of downtown to determine whether Madison’s urban enough for a gritty cop drama, a glitzy theater district, or a futuristic monorail.

Untitled, by Asa Burton
Medium: Black-and-white gelatin-silver print.
Where to find it: At Escape Java Joint, above the door to the electrical room.
Features: A mini-metropolis reflected on Lake Monona as a series of eerie white lines. Glowing balls of light hover like UFOs as a 500-Watt Capitol lords over the tiny, dark streets.
Postmodern or podunk? Postmodern. The pitch-black lake is a perfect breeding ground for a ’50s sci-fi monster like The Blob, while the Monona Terrace area, scribbled with electric-white streaks, looks like a carnival ready to host the 1908 World’s Fair.

Untitled, by George Lawrence
Medium: Kite-aerial black-and-white photograph
Where to find it: On Flickr, or in the Wisconsin Historical Society's archives.
Features: Madison as it truly looked in 1908. The Capitol building, which had burned down in 1904, is being rebuilt, and the isthmus, dotted with tiny houses, seems much wider than it really is due to the perspective of the camera.
Postmodern or podunk? Podunk. While this photo probably appeared quite cosmopolitan to most Wisconsinites at the time it was shot, it’s hard to imagine a city with so little concrete today

"Madison Skyline 2008," by Craig Wilson
Medium: Kite-aerial digital color photograph.
Where to find it: On Wilson's Flickr page.
Features: The ultramodern Monona Terrace, flanked by an efficient-looking highway, with layers of office buildings rising from the background.
Postmodern or podunk? Surprisingly postmodern. While the office buildings aren’t tall, they complement the scale of the Terrace, whose shape makes the image feel like a scene from Futurama, or, at the very least, The Jetsons.

Untitled, signed “Vody SDG”
Medium: Painted wall mural.
Where To Find It: At Amy’s Café.
Features: A ramshackle array of downtown buildings, complete with a crooked cartoon Capitol, a peeling blue Lake Monona, and a magenta sailboat stamped with Milwaukee’s area code rather than Madison’s.
Postmodern or podunk? Podunk. While the frame for the picture—a fake window that’s painted to look like it’s made of crumbling plaster—has a touch of Dada to it, the city center looks like the handiwork of a crackhead third grader, not Marcel Duchamp.