Few cities bring to mind such images of sheer excess as Las Vegas. Located in the middle of the arid Mojave Desert, at the southern tip of the state of Nevada, Las Vegas is an oasis of life, energy and money - a city whose raison d’être is entertainment.

Over 35 million people visit Las Vegas year round, staying in the city’s 150,000 hotel rooms. According to the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, Las Vegas is now the fastest growing city in North America with an estimated two acres of land being developed every 24 hours, and seeing approximately 50,000 people annually choosing to make the city and suburbs their home.

Ironically, Las Vegas’ beginnings were, if anything, humble. In the 18th century, the spot where the city now stands earned the named Las Vegas (Spanish for ‘The Plains’), because of a natural spring that created greenery in the dry desert. The city itself was founded in 1905 (as a stopover on the Union Pacific railway between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City) but it remained a remote backwater until the 1930s.

In 1931, however, gambling was made legal and Las Vegas quickly began to assume its present character. At first, it drew the droves of workers building the nearby Hoover Dam. Soon, it became a gambling and vacation mecca for the entire country - it attracted stars like Frank Sinatra, Elvis and Liberace and became America’s premier entertainment hub.

The 1990s saw a trend towards building enormous hotel complexes competing with one another for the title of largest hotel in the world, and it has not let up to this day. The competition was won by the city-like MGM Grand, whose capacity of over 5,000 rooms has yet to be bettered, although the Bellagio, the Wynn Las Vegas and the newly opened Palazzo have certainly raised the bar in terms of lavish luxury and unchecked hedonism.

Today, Las Vegas is booming like never before. Entertainment so dominates Las Vegas that it is the backbone of the city’s economy, creating vibrant hotel, retail and hospitality industries. The city’s sheer exuberance in attracting visitors has created something along the lines of a city-sized theme park. Its residents lead normal lives in normal suburbs, but to visitors, it is an endless playground of neon lights, hotel lounges, topless revues, live entertainment and casinos.

By 2010, the face of the Strip is expected to be completely transformed following the completion of Project CityCenter and Echelon Place, two multiple high-rise, mixed-use residential and commercial developments that will boast the latest in contemporary urban design and architecture.