A joke as it may be, this actually far more appealing to me!

I know what you mean. I love seeing places that are meant to contain loads of people but which are almost empty. It's very J.G. Ballard. In fact, I got most of those images simply by dong a search of 'Ballardian'

These also came up, which I really like:

I was obsessed with this picture as a kid (as well as most of the illustrations in the Star Frontiers rule book).

I love this one!