Anyway, I've just been calling it the Urban Texture Atlas Project, because I started making a texture atlas before doing any actual modeling.  Only when I'd collected 75-90% of the little bits and pieces I thought I'd need did I begin the modeling process.  The goal is to have several large modular environment pieces and a number of smaller detail props all sharing the same large texture map.

Cool.

Very Cool.

My compliments!

Looks super cool!

looking good, is it intended for distance work or for close up environments as well?

These buidings aren't for close ups, but rather to surround more highly detailed areas where characters might interact.  They should be OK for fly-overs/fly-throughs, or any scene where the eye might be distracted by fast movement or whatever is happening in the foreground.  I'll have to get the render time down (or get a faster computer ) before doing any serious animation with them.  These pics at (1000x600) already take 15-30 minutes to render (I haven't timed it yet).  I attribute that to the deadly trifecta of IDL, displacement mapping and depth-of-field.  If any one of those are optimised in the next version of Poser (fingers crossed) I expect a huge time savings.

I grew up doing scale models (cars, then sci-fi) and did stop motion for a few years.  I've always been told that model scales are irrelevant to CG, but I've since come to see scale not as a fraction of size, but of detail.  Think of a model car, for example...  As the model becomes smaller, at what scale do certain details disappear or become simplified?  Where a 1/18 scale car might have antenna and modeled wipers, by the time you get down to 1/35 scale the antenna has been omitted and the wipers are now molded into the glass.  If you look at the level of detail in the Grand Theft Auto games, you might say the cars in GTA III are approximately 1/43 scale (about the detail of a typical Hot Wheels), whereas those of  GTA IV have about the same level detail as a 1/12 or 1/16 car (distinct trim and mirrors, modeled interiors).  Similarly, the detail of GTA III's figures are about 1/18-1/20 scale (permanent clothing, sculpted hair) with the figures of GTA IV appearing closer to 1/10 or 1/12 scale... 

I found this important to keep in mind as I didn't want to spend a lot of time micro-detailing background scenery that would never be noticed.  If these buildings were actual models such as on a model train layout, they would be about 1/100 scale.  There are no interiors, for example, and almost all detail is displaced geometry.  Adding smaller props like trashcans and vending machines would give the impression of a much more detailed setting.  I'm still not sure yet how to deal with power/phone lines.  Even when attempting detailed interiors I find things like power cords and signal cables to be too much trouble for what they add to the image.

The above props (including the two encircling rings of "distant lights") also share the texture atlas. 

Awesome. Really interesting project... and great points regarding "level of detail" and your approach to that.