What takes most cities eons to build, Shanghai can do overnight. Consider this: Just a decade ago, the city had four metro lines; now there are a dozen. The Jin Mao Tower was the tallest building in the neon-streaked financial center of Pudong; it has since been surpassed by the Shanghai World Financial Center and the nearly completed Shanghai Tower, which will be the second-tallest building in the world (after Dubai’s Burj Khalifa) when it’s finished next year. Still, what fascinates about this city is how little seems to have changed in the maze of lanes that have (thus far) eluded the bulldozer in the Old City or the former foreign concessions. Here, residents haggle over freshly caught fish in tiny markets or doze in lawn chairs on summer afternoons, ignoring the pounding jackhammers. Shanghai is remaking itself to become a “City of the Future,” but what’s so alluring is how much old-world character remains.